Restaurants want feds to cover expected revenue loss during the G20 summit

Downtown restaurants are bracing for a massive drop in sales as the city locks down for the G20, and a national restaurateurs associations is calling on the federal government to reimburse the lost the revenue.

“The government is literally putting up barriers between restaurants and their customers,” says Garth Whyte, president and CEO of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA).

“If the government can spend close to $2 million on a fake lake, then it has the money to fully compensate restaurants for their loss of business.”

The 3.3 kilometres of fencing will encircle numerous restaurants during one of the busiest times of year.

The government has promised to reimburse businesses for “losses related to extraordinary security measures,” but business owners will have to follow an onerous process that will cost them even more time and money, the CRFA said in a press release.

The federal government hasn’t committed to compensate owners for property damage that may occur during the summit.

The government has promised to reimburse businesses for “losses related to extraordinary security measures,” and business owners will have to follow an onerous process that will cost them even more time and money. Businesses will not be compensated for property damage that may occur during the Summit.

“The government has created a club with winners and losers,” said Whyte. “For those who weren't invited to the party, this is going to be very costly.”

Expect agents provocateurs at the G20, organizers say

Organizers for upcoming anti-G20 rallies and demonstrations say they expect the police to plant agents provocateurs — police dressed up as activists and provoking a violent response from the security lines.

“There’s no question about it,” said Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, which is co-organizing the June 26 “People First!” rally.

“I’ve watched them in Seattle, jump out of the back of . . . paddy wagons,” he said. “They’ve done it before. I’m concerned about that as a tactic to justify police presence and justify the spending of” more than $1 billion on security.

The Council of Canadians has written to Prime Minister Stephen Harper demanding his assurance that security forces won’t use the undercover agents to incite criminal activity during the upcoming summits.

“I’m deeply concerned that neither you, nor anyone in the government, nor the Integrated Security Unit itself, have ruled out the use of agent provocateurs at the upcoming G8 and G20 summits,” Council chairperson Maude Barlow wrote in the letter. “Out of control spending on summit costs must not be permitted to develop into out of control suppression of charter rights.”

“Three undercover police officers attempted to incite violence in 2007 at the Montebello protest against the Security and Prosperity Partnership. The proof of their actions was caught on film,” adds Barlow. “The Sûreté du Québec was forced to admit that they were police officers, dressed in black and holding rocks. Yet, to date no one has been held accountable and through his silence, Harper appears to have given tacit approval of the use of agents provocateurs.”

See a video (it’s a bit choppy) of those agents provocateurs here.

Young saplings a security threat, police say

Young saplings that line downtown sidewalks are the latest casualty of the G20.

As was done with trash cans, newspaper boxes and bus shelters, police are now removing the young trees partially out of concern that they might be ripped out and used as arsenal by violent protesters.

‘They’re being removed for a couple of reasons: They’re young and require metal stakes to support them – obviously a security issue. Number two, they can be easily damaged or destroyed, and ultimately used as objects to either injure or cause damage,” said Const. Wendy Drummond, spokesperson for the summit’s Integrated Security Unit.

The trees will be replaced after the summit, she said.

Among the saplings to be uprooted are the ones within the security perimeter — assumingly out of range from anyone looking to use Mother Nature to cause a ruckus.

But it’s not all about keeping the trees from becoming projectiles, she said.

“Trees in full bloom have obscure views and observation is key in a lot of our policing.”

As if the fake lake needed any more controversy

From Star reporter Dana Flavelle

Will Harper be amused?

"G20: Go Jump in the Lake" is the slogan on a billboard that will appear Wednesday on one of Canada's busiest highways.

It will be visible to international journalists and world leaders arriving at the Summit via the Q.E.W., just east of Trafalgar Rd.

The billboard, which shows a businessman in full flight, is intended to poke fun at the $1.9 million that summit organizers spent creating a Muskoka-like 'fake lake' in the G20 media centre.

"It's meant to be tongue in cheek," says Geoffrey Bailey, a principal in the ad agency Ignyte, whose clients include the TD Bank.

The ad was created the ad for LifeExperiences.ca, a company that sells experiential gifts online, such as white water rafting, fly fishing or a spa day.

To get the conversation going, LifeExperiences will has also paid for a one-minute ad on CHUM-FM on the Roger, Darren and Marilyn radio show where the popular morning hosts will discuss the billboard's message, Bailey said.

Wonder if Harper will phone in?