Recently, the Public Safety Parliamentary Committee held an emergency meeting to study how the G20 event descended into a mess and who in the federal government was responsible for decisions made. There remains many unanswered and serious questions: Why was downtown Toronto selected against the advice of the Toronto Mayor and others? How did the security costs reach the unbelievable $1 billion figure? What was the role of the Prime Minister’s Office in managing security tactics? How did this G20 costs and management compare to other international summits hosted by others?

What transpired at that committee was disheartening and outrageous.

Conservative MPs decided to obstruct the committee from conducting its job. They denied witnesses who were there at committee from sharing their experience or professional opinion. Instead, they hogged the microphone and spoke meaninglessly until the clock ran out. For two hours. Witnesses who travelled to Ottawa to inform Canadians and Parliamentarians were shut out completely. Bob Dechert, a Conservative MP who was at the meeting admitted that their deliberate plan was to exclude Canadians from speaking before the committee. Mr. Dechert explains the logic (if you want to call it logic) behind why he didn’t want to give Canadians the opportunity to speak: “They want to have the media attention to talk about how they were handled by the police…” Aaron Wherry, a MacLean’s magazine political reporter mocks Mr. Dechert here and his shocking explanation.

In response to that outrageous statement, I wrote a letter to the local paper, the Mississauga News which got published today. Here it is:

“Dear Editor:

(Mississauga-Erindale) MP Bob Dechert has demonstrated unimaginable arrogance by bragging about his role in denying Canadians the opportunity to speak in front of a parliamentary committee.

Mr. Dechert and his Conservative colleagues blocked credible voices such as the Canadian Civil Liberties Association from speaking in the House of Commons. Why?

According to Mr. Dechert, “They want to have the media attention to talk about how they were handled by the police.” I guess he believes he is the only one entitled to “media attention.”

I’ve heard of such restrictions in countries that are not known for their democratic values, but to see it happen in Canada is truly sad.

Arrogance and disregard of public interest will be the downfall of the Conservatives in the next election. Until then, we need to let them know that such behaviour is unacceptable.”