Le't see, this week we've had an earth quake in the Ottawa area. A tornado ripping up Midland. Red alert thunder storms in Parry Sound. If we get word of a plague of locusts heading south from North Bay that would pretty well put a ring Huntsville. Huntsville, site of the G/8. Armaggedon?
Quite honestly the G/8 and the G/20 have had no impact on me. Fortunately I live out of the sightlines of both gatherings and I have a stash of backroads that can get me north or south without driving the 400. But this entire financial function bothers the hell out of me.
Top end is money. The money spent. One billion dollars on security. For what? For what is really a photo-op for 20 world leaders. So the little guys like Steven Harper can get tagged in a photo with the potent potentates he gets to hang out with for a week. But if this thing is worth a billion dollars for security what the hell is the total ticket?
We know all about the indoor fake lake down at the convention center that came in at 57 thousand dollars. It's supposed to give the media menagerie the flavour of Muskoka complete with Muskoka chairs and canoes. God, for 57 grand they could have loaded the entire press posse on buses and drove them to Muskoka. Include stops at the Cookstown Outlet Mall, a little craps at Casino Rama, the obligatory pit stop at Webers for an uber burger, duck into Bracebridge to pick up a souvineer elf hat (complete with pointy ears). And if you really want show them what a trip to Muskoka is all about take them on a Friday afternoon of a long weekend.
It's the money that drives me crazy. Few years ago the media was making a fuss about the Ontario government blowing 250 thosuand on something...I can't remember what. I heard a radio talk show host defend the politicians saying.."It's just a quarter of a million dollars, a drop in the bucket". The arrogance! Tell that to somebody making 50 grand a year. They'd have to work 5 years to cut that kind of cash and that's before tax.
You're in a hospital emergency waiting room over the next week. It's coming up to hour 5 and you still haven't seen a doctor. Top of mind? That billion dollars they spent on security for the G/20, worth every penny. And if I have to wait another 5 hours...well it's just the price I have to pay for having a fake lake.
We have politicans who don't want us get a glimpse of their expenses. Here's how I feel about politicians. If you're in a limousine or flying first class or staying in a 5 star hotel on the tax payer's dime and there's a single mother whose unemployment insurance has run out and she's feeding her kids with foodbank donations,,,YOU ARE NOT DOING YOUR JOB!!!! You were elected to serve the public not to dabble with the rabble's money. And never forget it is OUR money.
Now I know that one of the ideas of holding the G/20-G/8 is to show yourself off to the rest of the world. "Hey look Henri there's down town Toronto. Looks like an armed camp. Call the travel agent. Cancel the Greek Isles, that's where I want to spend our vacation".
This is what I remember from past G/20's. Protests and confrontations with police. 'Cmon. If you're a film crew from Indonesia and you've got a choice between beaming back shots of beaming politicians glad handing each other or a bunch of anarchy advocates going eyeball to eyeball with police what are you going to send back first. Digit to digt to see who's going figit beats politicians any time, unless of course you have shots of Silvio Berlusconi hitting on Angela Merkel. It could happen.
And a couple of things to the protestors. First there was a picture in the paper the other day of a protestor with a mohawk which actually looked pretty cool. But he was hiding his face with a bandana. You want to protest, knock yourself out. But if you're there to promote what you believe in what's the deal with hiding your face. Hiding your face means you have something to hide. Hiding your face means you're a coward.
And funny how the anarchists will meet in a park to plot out the day's agenda. If you're having a meeting to figure out what you're going to do, that means a discussion. It means a majority has to agree. It means you have to vote. A vote needs rules. Rules lead to laws. That's not anarchy that's democracy. You lost. Go home. Even better go up to Huntsviille and wait for the locusts.
How many MRI's etc. could have been purchased, Mcguinty cut much needed funding to older Autistic kids (which he had promised to reinstate but like most of his promises not honoured. Toronto could have added a lot of Subway line for this amount of cash. Or why not just toss it on the deficit.
The security forces got a chance to raid the till, as I have heard some special projects got some back door funding out of this. Just can't fathom what all the cash is going to. I don't think a year in Afghanistan for the forces is this expensive. http://www.nationalpost.com/money+being+spent/3104265/story.html
Your right Rick the security is just the tip of the Iceberg, bet it comes in closer to 2 Billion. Just makes feel angry and nauseous at the same time as I struggle to put 2 kids through school, pay my mortgage and gear up for the pillaging of our wallets when the HST and other taxes slowly swallow us up.
I read that the lake actually cost $57,000.00, just saying.
Love the last paragraph! My morning chuckle. Hope the protests are mostly peaceful.
I saw a figure last week that it was a million. Maybe that was the entire layout. Still, I have a friend who put a pond in his back yard. Bigger than the one downtown and it had a little island in the middle. It's beautiful. Cost him 30 grand.