The secret law during the G20 and the list of laws passed in Québec to quell protests share a common characteristic: they're virtually impossible to enforce consistently. What good is a law that, once passed, is applied selectively? It places a tremendous amount of power in the hands of police who have proven unable to yield such powers appropriately.
Despite Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent announcements of trade talks with various Asian countries, joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a more important strategic victory for Canada. Bargaining alongside the United States, Canada can get concessions from other countries it couldn't get alone. And as a TPP member, Canada can better safeguard its relationship and hard-won market access to the United States than if it was excluded.
Any sense that the G8 constitutes the apex of global decision-making is long gone. Nor is the G8 the hub of global networking anymore. Whereas the G8 aimed to find a comfort zone in its core membership, the G20 sees values in wider consultation -- with the invitation of five "special guests" (Spain, Chile, Colombia, Benin and Cambodia) to the Los Cabos summit on June 18 and 19.
Even those who are sick of the subject have difficulty escaping the regurgitations of last year's G20 demonstrations that went horribly wrong. Mistakes were made, force was over-used and misdirected, blah, blah, blah. Get over it. Everyone in authority has acknowledged error, and (one hopes) lessons have been learned; the same mistakes will not be repeated next time.
Three odd cases of "justice" are in the news these days, all of them likely to make those who don't commit crimes uneasy. No sane person wants an innocent person wrongly convicted (hence the abolishment of the death penalty). By the same token, no sane person wants a guilty person freed on a technicality. Marian Andrzejewski, Byron Sonne and Michael Rafferty all made headlines for their less-than-usual cases.
Bill C-309 states that anyone who commits an illegal act while wearing a mask at a protest can face 10 years in prison. While we are grateful for such a bill, it isn't good enough. If someone carries a loaded gun while committing a crime, it can be assumed he is willing to use it; I'd argue that any person wearing a mask or disguise at any controversial protest is up to no good, and can be assumed to be contemplating illegal behaviour.
On top of the generalized global interest about Argentina's move to nationalize its largest energy company YPF, the majority owner of which had been the Spanish energy company Repsol, there is a special local twist as the Mexican President Felipe Calderón has been particularly critical of Argentina's move calling it "very regrettable."
In a report called "Left Behind by the G20?", Oxfam looks how every country treats its poorest. Inequality in Canada rose as fast as India's and nearly as fast as South Africa's. Only four have managed to reduce income inequality since 1990 and they are all emerging powers: Brazil, Korea, Mexico, and Argentina.