Raise the Hammer

BobInnes

http://www.mark-state.com, is my political essay website if you are masochistic enough to read through it. Upcoming this month will be http://markstatetoronto.com --a campaign website with plenty of video. But as a Hamiltonian, you can be forgiven if you never tune in. The election in T.O. isn't your fight.

As a member of a group seeking election to eliminate a very considerable deficit figure that's holding the city back in a great many important ways due to income being spent on supporting that debt, I may be justified in claiming to comment for all the Mayoralty candidates by writing that none of us would agree with your take that "Deficit spending is indeed a problem, but only relatively minor. It is fixable." The fact is that deficit accumulation really is a bear to repair, and not minor or easily fixed at all. Our taxes are very comprehensive here in Toronto, and fully 50% of most incomes is spent on them. And the galling thing is that not paying off the deficit but rather increasing it directly results in more taxation for fewer services, not just here, but anywhere. Methods of getting rid of the deficit form the chief bone of contention amongst all of us. I am informed that in the USA, fiscal reform at the federal level has mandated that all major cities clear their deficits, and they are rending their civic governments into hamburger to get it done.

But that's all a commentary for another article. Re police action at the G20: The stakes are high not only in civic governance but in the maintaining of order by the authorities. Nowhere have I stated that I am in favour of unrestrained violence perpetrated against peaceful protest by Police. Quite the contrary. I have called for the entire situation to be put under a microscopic examination of events including orders issued under various conditions and why, and over-the-top-appearing behaviour resulting in the apparent abrogation of civil rights. In this commentary, I further recommend that a judicial inquiry be held and chaired or led by a senior jurist removed from connection with the event, that all events during the protest by all persons in attendance be reviewed and that recommendations be made. Where there are criminal charges to be laid out of those findings, they be brought to court forthwith, and should any of those proceedings produce a verdict of guilty against an officer of the peace, that person be dismissed from his/her force immediately. We depend upon our police to keep the peace, and the trust we place in them must not be broken. Equally, findings of guilty for misdemeanors by attendees must be appropriately punished, and maximum sentences handed down to illustrate that we have no room for those kinds of behaviours in this Canada of ours.

My intention is not to be soft on anybody, but never never to jump on a bandwagon so as to pick a side in the aftermath of an event such as this. Hence, those who side with the anti-police or mob mentality see me as a tool of the media. My response to them is "what media?". Until all the facts are in and appropriately evaluated, I'm inclined to give police the benefit of credibility for now because as a citizen I must place faith in them since I hire them to protect me. And besides, our system of justice insists upon innocence of a defendant in any action and the burden of proof being placed on the plaintiffs and prosecution. But I'm equally ready as a Mayoralty candidate in the instance of having achieved the office to completely remove from my police force any officer, including commanding officers, who through deliberate actions undermines that essential faith placed in him or her by Torontonians.

Mark State 2010 Toronto Mayoralty Candidate