It must be one of those anomalies you come across in the Canadian judicial system. It is justifiable curiosity to wonder why someone as guilty as Chief William Blair of the Toronto Police Service gets to pick the judge to try his co-conspirator Police Superintendant David (Mark) Fenton? The first judge must have been sick from all the B.S. he was subjected to. This second choice judge seems to make a mockery of the process.
But why are Canadians being so damn quiescent? Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair is far guiltier of exceeding his authority than Supr. Fenton. Making Fenton the scapegoat more than four years after their despicable actions makes a mockery of justice in this country. It helps us remember: Canada is a country of law; not of justice.
If you doubt that little homily just ask any lawyer if former Canadian Conrad Black would have even been tried in Canada for stealing from his shareholders. Your lawyer will tell you that you would have to sue the bastard and the only people who would benefit from your lawsuit would be the lawyers. At least the Americans realized that Lord ‘Crossthepond’ belonged in jail and sent him.
And that must be where Bill Blair belongs. More than four years ago we are told Blair asked Queen’s Park what law enabled him to shut down the area of the G20 in Toronto. We heard he was given an act that was wrong for the circumstances, out of date and superseded by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He chose not to challenge the act he was given. Blair chose to ignore the rights of Canadians. He chose to arrest and imprison Canadians without right to counsel, without charge, under appalling conditions and in contravention of Canadian law.
In the three days of the G20 Summit, Toronto’s Bill Blair had a total of 25,000 trained police officers available to him to keep the peace in Toronto. Canadians watched on television while this enormous number of officers walked away as a small group of anarchists, mainly Black Bloc from Montreal, smashed shop windows and burnt police cars in downtown Toronto. Many people thought the police must be busy elsewhere. They were not. They watched on their own closed circuit links and local television as they allowed the mayhem. When they finally did act it was entirely out of proportion. The Black Bloc seemed to be just an excuse.
Bill Blair is leaving Toronto next year. When does he pay for his G20 actions?
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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