Open Letter to Michael Ignatieff

Mr. Michael Ignatieff
Liberal Party of Canada
81 Metcalfe Street, Suite 400
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 6M8

As you are certainly aware, there were many incidents that occurred during the G20 weekend in Toronto, June 26-27, 2010. Both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty have refused to call an inquiry into actions taken by their offices, hoping that this situation will just fade away. It will not. Too many Canadians are dismayed and angered at what took place in Toronto that weekend.

I am very surprised that the opposition has remained silent, particularly since you served as Director of the Carr Centre for Human Rights at Harvard University. You have not made any statements about the G20 weekend that I am aware of; in fact the last mention of G20 on the Liberal party website was on June 4, 2010. We ask you to explain your position on these proceedings.

Please do not take the stance that police response was necessary due to actions of the ‘Black Bloc’; we want to know why 19,000 police were ordered to stand down while 100 hooligans broke windows; we also want to know why subsequently hundreds of innocent citizens were brutally assaulted, arrested and detained, many without charges being laid. We also want to know why more than $1 billion dollars of taxpayer money was spent for this weekend.

Please make public your position on the request for a federal inquiry into the actions and strategies of the Integrated Police Services along with investigation into the choices made by the Prime Minister’s Office and the Liberal Party of Ontario. If you wish to be our leader, now is the time to show leadership.

Sincerely,

Glenn Coles, Toronto

PS: This open letter has also been posted to the facebook group ‘Canadians Demanding a Public Inquiry into Toronto G20’ with over 56,000 members. We await your response.

CC:
Mr. Stephen Harper, Conservative Party of Canada, #1204 - 130 Albert Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5G4
Mr. Dalton McGuinty, The Ontario Liberal Party, 10 St. Mary Street, Suite 210, Toronto, ON, M4Y 1P9