If you were wondering a few months ago about the wisdom of spending $1 billion on security to hold a political summit in the middle of urban Canada — and disrupt its commerce and regular routine — then you're probably still wondering today.
Or perhaps you've already decided that G20 and G8 summits are as valuable to long-term economic development as building prisons and then filling them.
The analogy is an interesting one, when you think about it, because the G20 held in Toronto on the weekend often looked more like an exercise in jailing than an exercise in democracy.
That's not to say that Canada's federal government should have an unlimited tolerance for rioters who would rather torch a police cruiser than take part in a peaceful protest. But when you plan a protest magnet in the middle of the country's largest urban centre, then take somewhat-Draconian steps to block relevant protests, what on earth should you expect?
Really? The Toronto G20 event, aside from its huge pricetag, was poorly planned when its location was chosen. World leaders shouldn't be unnecessarily plopped down in a large urban centre when it would make far more sense for them to meet, for example, on a military base.
Military bases are a good place for checkpoints. They are more realistic venues in which to limit political discourse during a big event. Placing summits like the G20 in highly urban environments that by their nature attract activists is simply poor planning.
Yes, some of the media that descended on the eastern home of mediocre NHL hockey this past weekend probably generated coverage that will interest foreign audiences.
But when it was all said and done, more than 900 arrests, often without what would be viewed as legitimate cause in the rest of the country, didn't help Toronto show well. Nor did they help Canada distinguish itself from countries that generally show less regard for the right to peaceful public protest.
While the value of G8 leaders meeting at all can't be seriously questioned, their presence in the nation's financial capital arguably did little good for the country's most populated municipality.
On the other hand, it showed us a little about the Harper government's tolerance for bad choices — and its stubbornness to embrace, at least on this occasion, the wrong coarse of action.
The best way to keep random arrests and organized violence away from major political summits is to put them in places where their presence isn't obviously antagonistic and disruptive.
