A letter to our Municipal, Provincial and Federal Representatives in London.

Elected Representative,

We ask that you answer the following specific questions as they are of great importance to the Canadian people. Please understand that a growing population (especially youth) are becoming further disillusioned from the political process. This happens when fine members like yourselves do not act in our best interest by investigating and answering important questions that we, your constituency, asks of you and this system. Please help us encourage our youth to remain politically active by demonstrating that you are willing to answer the following questions. You should know that we will be posting all of your responses on media sources in and around London. Silence will be considered highly dismissive and a breach of trust.

1) What happened to the $1 billion the federal government spent on security at the past G8 and G20 meetings? We understand that the Toronto police force received $122 million which, in the end, may not be spent entirely. $35 million, as we understand it, went to securing the G8 meeting in Muskoka. This leaves over $800 million dollars. From what we understand, the RCMP received $500 million which was to be used for security at the convention centre. How were these allotments spent and where is the remaining $300 million dollars? Why did our government spend more money on these meetings than any other hosting government in G meeting's past?

2) The public works act, used this past weekend to arrest the largest number of people, in one operation, in Canadian history, was created in 1939 to protect public buildings and prevent the assassination of public figures by German agents. Are you really going to allow this piece of legislation to be used as a tool to suppress the right of free assembly? We are fed up with statements/complaints from our elected officials that youth do not participate in our democratic system - when mass arrests, public beatings and inhumane treatment is the recourse to such engagement - All of which made legal, apparently, by an arcane and antiquated act that was once used to protect the Canadian people from German fascists - it is no surprise that youth have disengaged from the political process. We demand the repeal of this act.

3) Nothing short of a thorough public inquiry, overseen by a democratically organized civilian body, into the on-goings of police activity during the G8 and G20 summit will appease the people's (especially youth's - a.k.a. our future) growing distrust of our political institutions. We demand public accountability for these actions. We refuse to accept the principle that police can go into any public park and tell people, who are assembled to protest, under existing legislation, nor this onerous act from 1939, that they either have to disperse and leave or it will be declared an illegal assembly. This public inquiry should include investigation into the tactics used by the police to manipulate public opinion. The display of fictitious weapons in a press conference, the abandonment of police cars used as bait, as well as the complete absence of police presence during the destructive actions of a few people should be recognized as obfuscation, more precisely - an attempt at controlling the historical narrative of events that occurred. These acts are transparent to our youth and serve only to alienate them further from our political process.In addition, what involvement did the London Police Services have in the G8 and G20 meetings?

4) The austerity measures to be implemented, that were ultimately the result of the G8 and G20 meetings, will further slash our social security net and diminish our living standards. Due to the historical struggles of who will be impacted (low to middle income earners), resistance should be expected - force will be required on the part of those implementing the slashing of public services like health care, utilities, libraries and education. Once the Canadian people understand what those results mean in practice, public protest will be common place, as it should be in a democratic society. Is what we witnessed this past weekend, just the warm up for what is to come? 

Please explain.

Send your response to concernedlondoners@gmail.com

Sincerely,

Concerned Citizen

London, ON Canada