This morning’s lead editorial in the Globe and Mail on the one-year anniversary of the G-20 debacle is the very definition of mealy-mouthed obfuscation. “It’s easy to be skeptical when a police force investigates itself, especially when the investigation gives short shrift to the very events that fuelled public mistrust in the first place. And so while the Toronto Police Service’s “After-Action Review” of policing at the 2010 G20 summit contains good ideas to avert future riots, it leaves some key questions – the “whys” of some of its conduct – unanswered. Answering each of them, beyond just asserting that the police were overwhelmed, is key to restoring public trust.” No it isn’t. To suggest that reviewing and rectifying the behaviour of Toronto cops is the key to restoring public trust after the G-20 would be like saying that the key to restoring the trust of German window manufacturers after Kristallnacht was to review and rectify Nazi police tactics. It’s bowling about dancing; a category error. First, Toronto cops were in the minority among those policing the G-20. Second, the executive responsibility for establishing police protocols that weekend was a function of a tripartite executive involving the city, provincial and federal governments. Laying the issue of “restoring public trust” at the feet of the Toronto cops is idiotic prima facie. The Globe summarizes it’s po-faced maunderings on the issue by announcing: “Yes, the Toronto Police Service was dealt a bad hand. And the rhetoric of critics has been grossly exaggerated: The service’s failings, on the street and in the report, while troubling, do not justify the resignation of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair. But those failings need to be explained more fully than has been done to date.” No shit, Sherlock. The Globe‘s failure to address the elephant in the room – Stephen Harper’s direct culpability in this matter puts a new spin on Newspaper’s long standing epigraph. Apparently, the subject who is truly loyal to the chief magistrate will both advise and submit to arbitrary measures.
