A Preface from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper
Niagara At Large has been following reports of excessive force by federally sponsored riot police at last June’s G20 summit in Toronto for the past eight months, and has come to a fundamental conclusion – the abuses of the basic rights of Canadian citizens to assemble and express their views in what is supposed to be an open democracy were plentiful and beyond all reason and have yet to be addressed by a federal government entrusted to uphold the constitutional laws of Canada.
In that spirit, Niagara At Large is posting the following Youtube commentary and video on this site for your information. Whether you agree with the following or not, share your views below. Join in an important debate about where we strike a balance between security and civil liberties in our country.
Here is the Youtube commentary and video.
Stephen Harper on Democratic Protest and State Force (Libyan uprising / Toronto G20 Summit)
On Feb 21 2011, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper sent out a press release condemning the violent crackdown on anti-government protesters by Muammar Gaddafi’s security forces. Gaddafi’s reportedly bloody response rightly deserves condemnation but does Harper have a leg to stand on as a democratic and human rights advocate?
Harper funded the largest mass arrests in Canadian history during the June 2010 Toronto G20 Summit. Harper shut down Parliament in 2008 when he thought he might lose his grip on power and claimed to be averting a coup d’etat!
The intended comparison in this video is NOT between Canada and Libya or Harper and Gaddafi but between Harper’s rhetoric (standing up for democracy and human rights) and his record (mass detention, police brutality). The intent was to show how his condemnation lacks credibility because of his record on protecting human rights.
(Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest anc concern to residents in our greater Niagara region and beyond.)
Niagara At Large 
Not exaclty, perhaps, what you were expecting… be that as it may —-Personally, I am distressed by the G20 expense on taxpayers, the lack of accountability by the Harper government, the overkill on all accounts. For example, the money spent on expansion of the North Bay Airport or on Hunstville. I have long-time friends living in both places who tell me not one plane came to the expanded airport, and Huntstville residents and retailers were dumbstruck during the minimal time spent there. Full stop.
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What would people expect from this group of Fraser Institute and Calgary School thugs who hates the idea of DEMOCRACY and is in bed with Corporate interests where they someday hope to be appointed to the senate or other plumb patronage job. Harper bitter hatred for the Liberals is chronicled in the book “Harperland” written by Lawrence Martin and his origins with the National Citizens Coalition whose purpose for existence was/is the elimination Canada’s Universal Health Care and the Canadian Wheat Board. SO What the hell would you expect from this nut case?
What happened in Toronto at the G20 (A PM Martin initiative) was basically a re-run of the WTO gathering in Seattle where the same ??? “Black Block” had free reins while the Gestapo police looked on and did nothing . I firmly believe that the “Black Block” is nothing more than police operatives whose goal is to make protesting a thing of the past. In other words control the masses and use the cops to be the bullies.
Every time I see a police Officer I wonder if this is one of the G20 Gestapo whose actions made Canada another haven for the dictatorial corporate Elite by suppressing legal dissent.
Within the past two years the Republican packed Supreme Court (Lawyers) in the USA gave Corporations unlimited power when they repealed the McCain/Finegold Election Funding Bill. NOW they can legally buy the Government and will not need Lobbyists to poison the morals of Elected Officials.
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It is pleasing to see the usually domestically conservative CBC and reporters such as Doug Draper highlighting the experiences of peaceful protesters at the hands of Toronto’s policing establishment. Contrary to the CBC’s documentary title “You should have stayed home”, I now feel stronger that myself, and many others, should have been there to lend our voices to a peaceful protest for the ideals of which I am generally in total agreement.
What angered me most, aside from the police brutality and mass imprisonment, was the offensive language used against the young Quebec woman who was arrested, along with so many others for no reason. The anti-French Canadian racist language coming from these voices of authority against this woman was disgustingly harmful and divisive to our country’s ongoing struggle to maintain national unity and clearly showed an undisciplined and unprofessional policing behavior. It was the police not the demonstrators that took on a mob mentality. So much so that it left me with the feeling that the whole policing establishment should undergo psychological examination and renewed sensitivity training.
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And we think the middle east is far off! If we fail to remove Harper with his thugs and his corporate agenda at the next election, we’ll all be on the street.
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