So again I’ve been slacking on blog posting, but things have been busy. We’d been working on getting a very large and rather-out-of-our-comfort-zone (tech-wise) campaign for the last few weeks. It’s definitely been fun and thankfully the craziness had subsided this week. Onto the matter at hand!

So the G20 summit has descended into Toronto. It does not make me happy for several reasons. The city spent the last several weeks erecting giant fences around Front Street West, around York, Bay and Yonge, around the Westin Harbour Castle, and preparing to close all of the Gardiner off ramps in the area, as well as lanes on Lakeshore. Unfortunately we are smack dab in the middle of it.

So the first issue as far as I’m concerned is the disruption of it all.  Anyone working in that zone, was pretty much let off work unless they were essential. Certainly for many workers especially those working the Front St hospitalities this meant lost wages for 1-3 days. Anyone working in the downtown core, or even commuting through via the TTC or GO was suggested to take the days off, work from home, etc, due to delays, protests, etc. More lost wages surely, and more importantly, massive loss of productivity. So the near $2 billion (I believe) they spent on the summit doesn’t even scratch the surface of nixing Toronto’s productivity and tourism for 3 days. Bad enough.

Anyone brave enough to drive into the city may have been met with random full 427 and Gardiner closures as dignitaries came through. I’m told this was going on even earlier in the week as well since many arrived early. More disruption to massive numbers of people’s lives, many whom live and work very far from the summit. Mind you, if you already were downtown, the roads were empty as nobody had any way to even get off the highway around here :) I’d have done some rallying around the once-in-a-lifetime empty downtown core if the police wouldn’t have shot me. Toronto G20 Supecial Rally Stage-o, fighto!

Why put it *downtown* Toronto? Why not put it out by the airport? Easier to get to *from the airport* Why not leave it in Huntsville (where the G8 was)? Sorry to the Huntsville and airport’ians but the disruptions to productivity, wages and lives would have been minimized.

So my second issue with the G20 here was security. I’m not really sure who the security effort was tailored to stop. Today is the day of the biggest protests, and its estimated to be under 10,000 (unlike Montreal’s 50,000, I’m not sure what that says about Montreal), which is almost half the number of police downtown for the G20. Certainly the protestors stand no chance of… disrupting anything. They are just masochists who dream of getting 15 minutes of fame from a news program. The only risk is that commuters and tourists may get caught in the scuffle, hospitals were ramping up just incase…

I assume the other thing that the massive security budget was for was to stop potential terrorist attacks. Of course having Obama here (and others) you are immediately running the risk of having a terrorist attack, domestic or international. This bothers me because you’ve immediately put the people and businesses at risk in the most dense area in Canada! Anyone commuting through Union Station, or even living here where we are, is at risk of some sort of attack. Frankly, if someone had wanted to do something, they could have snuck something or themselves into any of the buildings next to the Convention Center earlier in the week. 151 Front Street W included. Unless I’m mistaken, police did not sweep datacenters, filled with the property and equipment of tens of thousands of unknown individuals (many of whom are from overseas). Not that I’m trying to give ideas to the terroristas, but these are people willing to die for what they believe in, they are pretty dedicated and don’t need tips from a tech blogger. Just as someone who has worked in the area for years, I’m saying it would be trivial even with the big scary fences and police presence.

So my other problem with security is that our government rather silently took away some of our civil liberties during the summit anywhere near the fence to. Too bad on my walk for *coffee* I pass the fence as does anyone who uses Union Station. Better be ready to submit to search and seizure if they don’t like how you look. Thankfully they did not attempt to take my camera when I visited it, but I was certainly escorted off by 5 officers for taking photos. Scariest bit: The regulation also says that if someone has a dispute with an officer and it goes to court “the police officer’s statement under oath is considered conclusive evidence under the act.” Thank god this is only 3 days… but seriously Canada, you are regressing! Again, the government is certainly not acting with the will of the people in mind.

So as far as I can tell, security would have been cheaper and easier *anywhere* other than downtown Toronto. Lot’s of nearby tall buildings, tall buildings that have lots of places to hide a person or tool of evil. The risk to the population of downtown is the highest anywhere in Canada because we are the most dense, and the risk to businesses is highest because this is where all the commerce (and telecommunications!) are. What the hell was going through the heads of the Harper government when they chose downtown Toronto?

The choice of downtown Toronto does not benefit anybody. If Canada really had to host the G20 (and that’s a geopolitical question for people other than myself), why the hell would you host it downtown?  By the aiport, in Huntsville (like the G8 from earlier in the week), ANYWHERE would have been better than here. By putting it here you ensure that you disrupt the most peoples lives, most people’s livelihoods, and put the most people at risk, by increasing the cost of security dramatically, while lowering the effectiveness of you security.

It’s early in the morning, I’ll likely revise the grammar of this post when I’m more awake, but fuck the Harper Government anyway.