Is Calgary ready for the G-8 summit next month or not? The answer to that question depends on whose scare tactics are believed and which side of the police chief's mouth is operating at any given moment.
Jack Beaton has assured Calgary its police force is ready to handle the expected and otherwise during next month's G-8 summit in Kananaskis. "We're ready," he said, crediting the World Petroleum Congress for the template to handle crowds and protesters.
Yet, from the same police chief, same day, same newspaper, same reporter: "Right now, we're not ready," said Beaton.
The single difference between the two comments is the intended audience: The former is designed for the people of the city closest to the site of the summit. That's Calgary. The latter is designed for the people paying the bills. That's Ottawa.
When the police chief said his department wasn't ready, he was supporting an Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police vote to ask for more provincial and federal cash to prepare themselves for a fight against terrorism.
The Alberta government responded with legislation. Ottawa is expected to respond with cold cash.
Mere days after the latter statement, the Alberta government launched an anti-terrorism bill, well-meaning in intent, but open to abuse. The bill gives the government increased powers to control information, restrict public access to public land and shut down facilities at will.
Complaints will likely be classified in the same category as arguments against all other authoritarian measures: If you have done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear.
This abhorrent shibboleth is used as an excuse for sundry violations of civil and public rights.
The template the police are using for security during the summit consisted of prior restraint on the free movement of the people of this city. For the World Petroleum Congress, Calgary locked down the downtown core, heading off protests by the simple expedient of not allowing anyone without a police-approved reason inside the barricades.
It was not a pretty moment for civil rights, civil liberties or civil society. But, by God, we stopped the protesters cold. We diminished the rights of Calgarians to free speech, but few people complained, having been convinced this was all for our own good.
This is the template the police chief and his cohorts like. Fine. I'm waiting to see how they manage to chain-link the mountains.
It's difficult not to be cynical and sarcastic when one becomes party to the best of chicanery -- public- approved, civic-sanctioned fear, trepidation and demands.
And therein lies the real scam of holding a summit close to the city -- the need for greed.
If a private business tried to winkle extra money out of its suppliers or customers, there would be a stink. But, when the "authorities" do it, we sit back and nod our heads and agree terrorism is a major threat to Cochrane or Canmore, and "something must be done." That "something" is scaring people when they don't have to be and, therefore, justifying a great scam for more money.
Nonetheless, while the provincial government is moving to "protect" us from unnamed, unknown and unseen forces of evil, other branches of public authorities are trying to pick our pockets.
It is, after all, our money coming from Ottawa.
When the police chief says we're "not ready" for a terrorist attack, it is a presumption that the threat of terrorism is real and money and equipment can shut it down.
What terrorism? Protesters expected at the G-8 summit are not, repeat not, terrorists.
To portray them in that light is to trivialize the real kind of terror extant in the world. It also serves to exaggerate the possibility of terror attacks when there is no reason to suspect we are, or ever would be, targets.
The ugly truth is that all the money, all the gas masks and equipment, all the paranoia won't make one whit of difference in the end.
The one kind of terror that can't be predicted or protected against is the kind that takes the terrorist to the grave with it. It is the terror that hit New York City. It is the terror Israel faces.
This is not to downplay the seriousness with which security should be treated, but if anyone believes Rimbey or Rocky Mountain House is in any danger, they need to find another line of work, one that does not offer much opportunity for fantasy.
It is logical to take precautions. It is paranoia to see bombers behind every tree.
Catherine Ford can be reached by e-mail at fordc@theherald.southam.ca
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