Whiny Toronto Wants More Money

[August1991]

Toronto Mayor David Miller said Monday that he's sending the bill for damages and compensation from the G20 summit to the federal government.

Police vehicles were burned, bank windows smashed and storefronts vandalized Saturday as a small band of militant protesters ran riot in the downtown core.

As the city that resembled a police state on the weekend resumed business as usual Monday, Mayor David Miller called on Ottawa to assume financial responsibility for the mess.

"This is a federal responsibility. It's their conference," Miller said at a news conference.

The mayor did not have a cost estimate of the damage, but said he felt businesses and employees deserved compensation, "and the city will be asking the federal government to do exactly that."

CBC

A federal responsibility, they imposed this cost. Never enough.

Thank God for those shrubs in Alberta with fat wallets - what would we do without them?

Edited June 28, 2010 by August1991

[Smallc]

Thank God for those shrubs in Alberta with fat wallets - what would we do without them?

Excuse me, but, what the hell are you talking about? Do you think that people in Toronto don't pay taxes?

[Born Free]

CBC

A federal responsibility, they imposed this cost. Never enough.

In fact the feds should do just that. Many store owners would appreciate it if Harper were to fund the fixes for the problem that he created in the first place.

Cheers,

[Smallc]

I thought Toronto had taken out insurance?

[Bonam]

The damage has to be repaired, and it is gonna come out of taxpayers pocket's one way or another. It would be extremely unfair to expect businesses in the area to have to pay themselves for repairing damage caused by thugs that the government failed to stop, knowing full well they would be there.

[Mr.Canada]

The companies knew the risks of remaining open and chose to do so anyways. Some of their neighbors boarded up their windows and some have had screens installed since the King Riots 20 years ago. The businesses need to take responsibility for themselves.

[ZenOps]

Nah, they aren't taking money from Alberta.

They are taking money from the farmers and tradeworkers to pay the military. Very Kim jong Il, million man army or a really well paid smaller militant force.

Keep them Toronto citizens in line, show them whos boss. Y'know abuse of power, lol.

You can't really blame Toronto, many did not want the conference there.

I was just wondering where the tanks were?

Edited June 28, 2010 by ZenOps

[kimmy]

I thought insurance should be picking up the damage.

Again, though, the decision to hold this event in downtown Toronto was a really, really, really questionable decision right from the start.

Just the economic effect of having all of those businesses closed alone must be extraordinarily costly.

-k

[Michael Hardner]

Insurance policies frequently won't cover such things, from what I'm told.

[Wilber]

The companies knew the risks of remaining open and chose to do so anyways. Some of their neighbors boarded up their windows and some have had screens installed since the King Riots 20 years ago. The businesses need to take responsibility for themselves.

Here we go, the victim is always responsible for his own misfortune. So this riot was the merchant's fault, now I understand. Never mind the damage, what about the lost of income suffered by those who had to board their business' up so the feds could throw their party? If you are so adamant that people should take responsibility for themselves, how about the government taking responsibility for its actions rather than dumping on the people who were harmed by its decisions.

[Keepitsimple]

I heard James Rajotte on CBC Newsworld saying they would look at claims on a case-by-case basis - which if they do it, makes sense. However, they should not have to pay for lost business due to the closing and quite frankly, I'm not sure what they should be responsible for as a result of vandalism. I would think that any business would have to have insurance to cover that. So I think it's wise to look at it on a case-by-case basis to see if there is something compelling that should be considered.

[JB Globe]

Some of their neighbors boarded up their windows and some have had screens installed since the King Riots 20 years ago.

King riots? In Toronto?

Excuse me?

Edited June 29, 2010 by JB Globe

[JB Globe]

Here we go, the victim is always responsible for his own misfortune. So this riot was the merchant's fault, now I understand. Never mind the damage, what about the lost of income suffered by those who had to board their business' up so the feds could throw their party? If you are so adamant that people should take responsibility for themselves, how about the government taking responsibility for its actions rather than dumping on the people who were harmed by its decisions.

Next time some river floods in Alberta, f*** those guys!

That's what they get for living on a flood plain!

Right? . . .

It's amazing how this notion of what government owes it's citizens changes so dramatically for some posters here based on if something happens in Toronto versus in their home region.

Apparently their hate-on for this city is so strong it causes them to become completely irrational.

[JB Globe]

I would think that any business would have to have insurance to cover that.

The vast majority of insurance policies for small businesses don't cover damaged caused by civil disobedience.

Corporate policies usually do, because they're more likely to be the target of such violence.

[Michael Hardner]

The Federal Government should pay for this.

I've heard many Toronto people say that they believe Harper picked Toronto as a way to get revenge on the one Liberal stronghold in English Canada. I don't necessarily believe that, but apparently many do.

[Hydraboss]

CBC

A federal responsibility, they imposed this cost. Never enough.

Thank God for those shrubs in Alberta with fat wallets - what would we do without them?

August, even though I'm a "shrub" from Alberta and am revolted at the thought of paying cash to anything going east, how can you blame this on Toronto (god, that hurt to say)? Harper is the overspending, Trudeau-ish moron that spent the cash on this abomination and he should be held accountable for this bullshit. It's not the responsibility of one city to cover for a federal government's screw-up. We all pay the price for our Prime Minister and his Happy Band of Retards in Ottawa.

[g_bambino]

How well it is put here:

The Quebec City protests of 2001 were about 10 times the size of the protests at Toronto's G20 Summit this past weekend. And they were more violent, too — featuring not only tear gas, but also frequent use of rubber bullets and water cannon. Some protestors even got through the security perimeter — which never happened in Toronto...

All of this violence was rightly denounced. And yet, somehow, the country didn't descend into hand-wringing about how Quebec City's image had been irreparably damaged in the eyes of the world. There was no talk of the historic city receiving a "black eye" on the world stage. The city simply cleaned itself up and got on with things...

Here in Toronto, on the other hand, we are in the midst of a spasm of civic mortification. Over the weekend, I listened to radio reporters breathlessly tell listeners that tear gas actually had been used on the streets of "Toronto the Good" — as proof that the city was enduring some Cormac McCarthy-esque apocalypse... One particularly breathless Rosedale denizen compared the violence to "Soweto '76." A Toronto Sun columnist compared a brief detention of some protesters at Queen Street and Spadina Avenue to "martial law..." Naturally, this being Canada, everyone is now demanding a public inquiry.

In times of strain, the city takes on the character of an overprivileged wimp, shrieking and sobbing at the merest civic pin-pricks. We saw this in 1999, when the mayor asked for army troops to help battle the sort of snowstorms that Edmonton and Winnipeg seem to get every other week. We saw it again in 2005, when a series of local gangland shootings caused the media to present the city as a sort of Escape from New York wasteland of nihilistic violence — even though we have one of the lowest per-capita rates of violence in the world. And now, a weekend of scattered protests, featuring even more scattered criminal vandalism, has had the same brain-scrambling effect.

Is it any wonder the rest of Canada dislikes Toronto? We say we want to be a world-class city. But then, when the price tag comes — in this case, in the form of the cliques of idiots who show up at each and very "world-class" G8, G20, WTO, IMF and World Bank conference — we fall to the ground and weep.

Jonathan Kay: Toronto, city of wimps

[Open Government]

Here's what David Miller had to say back in November 2009, just before Toronto was designated as the G20 summit city:

"Toronto would be ready to host the G20 summit of world leaders if Ottawa chooses to move the meeting here, says Mayor David Miller. Speculation has grown this week that the event will be moved here from Huntsville, because the rural Ontario town cannot handle the security and hotel needs of the delegations. Even though such a gathering would bring heightened security, road closings and possibly large groups of protesters, Miller said Toronto would be able to handle it. "We're not going to turn into an armed fortress," he said Friday. Toronto is a major conference-hosting city that has just opened the new Allstream Centre at Exhibition Place meant to hold meetings of this scale, he said. "If the G20 is here, we will be known all around the world. We are a place that can host the world because we have the world here," he added."

I guess Mr. Miller is not prescient.

http://viableopposition.blogspot.com/

[ZenOps]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/map/2008/#

If you zoom into Toronto, its amazing the Liberal stronghold they have, with the two NDP seats too.

Look at that evil hole in Alberta lol. Rahim Jaffer lost to the NDP candidate, ahaha. Man are they crucifying Jaffer now.

[Molly]

How well it is put here:

He's engaging in the same sort of hyperbole that he's denouncing.

[PIK]

The companies knew the risks of remaining open and chose to do so anyways. Some of their neighbors boarded up their windows and some have had screens installed since the King Riots 20 years ago. The businesses need to take responsibility for themselves.

I am for the goverment to help out these business onwers, it is tough enough to be in business without a riot.You should not have to board up your store windows in canada.

[g_bambino]

He's engaging in the same sort of hyperbole that he's denouncing.

Really? I don't see him in the streets demanding a public inquiry and weeping about his rights, his rights!...

[Argus]

I thought insurance should be picking up the damage.

Again, though, the decision to hold this event in downtown Toronto was a really, really, really questionable decision right from the start.

Just the economic effect of having all of those businesses closed alone must be extraordinarily costly.

-k

I question why so many businesses had to close. They never should have had that godawful fence. They should have been content to close off a small area around the convention centre when the G20 were meeting. And if they'd properly organized the protests and guarded against the other idiots who liked to smash windows there wouldn't have been much trouble.

[JB Globe]

So the peanut gallery thinks that the past few weeks in Toronto has been no big deal because . . . Well I guess because some guy in the Post said so. So armed with zero first-hand experience, your opinions really don't matter that much.

The fact is that while the G20 was not a catastrophe, it certainly was a boondoggle because so much of the vandalism and arrests were so utterly predictable and avoidable. THAT is why Torontonians are angry about this . . .

Are we ever going to find out who's call it was to hold the meeting at the Metro Convention Centre instead of Exhibition Place?

A lot of this mess could've been avoided if the location was changed.

Edited June 29, 2010 by JB Globe