Who’s Really to Blame for Toronto G20?

Nearly two years after the G20 fiasco in Toronto, two reports issued last week by Ontario's Office of the Independent Police Review Director concluded that several senior officers of the Toronto Police Service acted unlawfully. Their preparations for the event and the orders they gave during the weekend are being blamed for the abuses committed by some rank and file officers, including beatings, kettling, mass arrests, and the horrific conditions at the detention centre.

But the police should not be left to bear the blame alone. They were only following orders. And those orders came right from the top. It was Stephen Harper who decreed that the downtown core of Canada's largest city be turned into a war zone, at the cost of over a billion dollars, all for the sake of a photo op lasting a few hours.

Or was there more to it? Did Harper intend to send a message to Toronto? To Canadians? We'll never know his real motivation. But we do know we couldn't count on our other elected leaders to protect us from his premeditated and cold-blooded show of force: Dalton McGuinty's provincial government secretly aided and abetted the illegal suspension of civil liberties, while Toronto mayor, David Miller, congratulated the police on a job well done.

In what was this generation's version of the October Crisis/War Measures Act, "… the G20 was a demonstration of just how stupid, arrogant, and brutish official Canada has become." And Christopher Hume has much more to say in this scathing indictment of the politicians ultimately responsible.

One can argue that Trudeau panicked and overreacted (certainly, no good reason has ever been provided for his decision). But at least the FLQ were real terrorists. They had carried out bombings. They had kidnapped a Québec cabinet minister and a British diplomat. They would later murder the cabinet minister.

By comparison, the so-called Black Bloc are hooligans, their vandalism the same as that seen after a Stanley Cup game. But while the hooligans were allowed to smash windows and burn a police car, unmolested, in front of the TV cameras, 5400 police were deployed to violate the civil rights of thousands of law-abiding Canadians.

Certainly any police officers guilty of crimes or misconduct should be held responsible and suffer the consequences. But so should the politicians.

As Catherine Porter points out, during the G20, politicians and police trampled our rights and most of us just sat back and let them do it.

Always thought it couldn't happen here? Think again: it already has.

Follow me on Twitter: @AeneasLane

Club Carlson Special Report

Just after I got through complaining in this month's Points and Miles post that I was disappointed by recent offers from the hotels, airlines, and credit card companies, along comes the best offer in quite a while. So good, it's worth a special post so you can take advantage of its time-sensitive registration.

Club Carlson is the loyalty program of Carlson Rezidor Hotels. Its brands include Radisson and Radisson Blu, upscale and luxury hotels in North America and Europe; Country Inn and Suites, mid-scale hotels in North America; as well as Park Plaza and Park Inn.

Carlson has been aggressively expanding and upgrading its properties the last few years and its points promotions have often been the most generous, as it seeks to become as well known as the major players such as Hilton, Starwood, and Marriott.

To take advantage of these offers, you first have to be a member of Club Carlson. It's simple to join, and if you use this link (courtesy of The Points Guy), you might even get a 4500 point sign-up bonus.

The following information comes courtesy of The Loyalty Traveler, who received advance information directly from Club Carlson:

• For the first 100 000 Club Carlson members who register for the offer, a stay at any Radisson or Radisson Blu between May 15 and July 15 will earn 50K bonus points.
  
• For the first 35 000 Club Carlson members who register for the offer, a stay at any Country Inn and Suites between May 15 and July 15 will earn 44K bonus points.
  
• For the first 20 000 Club Carlson members who register for the offer, a stay at any Park Inn between May 22 and July 22 will earn 44K bonus points.
  
• If you are not among the limited number of registrants, you will still receive 15K bonus points for registering and staying.
  
• Members can register and earn all three bonuses.
  
• Registration opens at 1:01 a.m. E.D.T. on May 15 for the Radisson and Country Inn offers, and on May 22 for the Park Inn offer.
  
• The registration pages with full terms and conditions are here: http://www.radissonbignightgiveaway.com/, http://www.sogocountry.com/, http://www.parkinnoneplusone.com/.
  

I plan to register for the Country Inn promotion first and then the Radisson. There are only two Park Inn locations in Canada, in Montréal and Vancouver, so achieving this bonus is not realistic for me. Since my wife is also a Club Carlson member, we will both register.

We will look for properties with rates less than $100 per night (I've already found a Radisson and Country Inn for under $80). This is called "mattress running". We're simply looking for the cheapest way to stay a night in order to get the points (if you actually need a hotel stay somewhere, all the better).

Staying one night at each brand will earn us a combined 200K points. That's assuming rates of $100 with taxes included, because Club Carlson awards 20 points per dollar and 1000 points for booking online.

So we've spent $400 to get 200K points; what will that get us?

For 9K points per night, 22 nights at the Radisson Hotel Orlando - International Drive in Orlando, FL. That works out to $18 per night.

Or the Country Inn and Suites in Scottsdale, AZ for 15K points. 13 nights at $30 per night. Breakfast included.

Some of the best value is found at the highest redemption level of 50K points. You can live like Bev Oda, staying at luxury hotels in New York, Paris, and London for $100 a night, and no taxes.

Offers like this don't come along all that often, so I'll be taking full advantage to build up my bank of Club Carlson points to use for stays in warm-weather locations next winter.

Follow me on Twitter: @AeneasLane

From Canada, with Love

One of the features available to me as blog author is the ability to see who is reading me. Not on an individual level; just the countries where page views are coming from. And while over the lifetime of my blog (just over two years now) Canada is still ahead and the U.S. number two, for the last few months the largest share of my readership has been coming from Russia.

This curious situation has me puzzled. What is it that hundreds of Russians (or the same Russians hundreds of times) find so appealing about my blog? After all, I live in a small Canadian town and I generally write on subjects, that if not of interest primarily to Canadians, at least tend in that direction.

So I've been thinking: what is it about my blog that would interest Russian readers?

Of course the first thing that came to mind was hockey. Both Canadians and Russians are passionate about hockey. Every Canadian of my generation still remembers the series of games between our two countries in September 1972 and the 3-3 tie between Central Red Army and the Montréal Canadiens on December 31, 1975 – the greatest hockey game ever played. But I seldom mention hockey in my blog (except to poke fun at Don Cherry) because I find the state of today's game – as represented by the NHL – to be depressing.

So if not hockey, maybe travel? Like Canadians, Russians live in a cold country. I'm betting that, like Canadians, Russians revel in our all-too-brief summers and would like to get away to somewhere warm when the cold winter winds blow. But I've never mentioned Aeroflot and had never heard of its frequent flier plan, Aeroflot Bonus, until now (I just looked it up).

Ahem, beverages? Russians have a reputation for enjoying vodka. Well, why not, they invented the stuff. So maybe my Russian readers are looking for ways to add some variety to their diets. So here's a classic drink from the 1950's, when vodka was first becoming popular in North America, the Moscow Mule. Over ice in a short glass, combine 50 ml. of vodka, 25 ml. of lime juice, and 150 ml. of ginger beer (or use ginger ale for a milder taste). Stir gently.

But I've got an uncomfortable feeling that my Russian friends are not reading me because they're interested in hockey, travel, or cocktails. I suspect, rather, that they're laughing at me.

Now, I sometimes try to be funny, but that's not what I mean. As a university student, I read a lot of Russian literature – Tolstoy, Chekov, Dostoyevsky – and I know that Russians have a great sense of humour, but they're also a people with a long history, a history that has been hard, more often than not. So that sense of humour is sometimes dark, because it has often been needed to sustain them through difficult days and nights.

So when I complain about the greed of our business class, the unfairness of our government's policies; or the autocratic tendencies of Stephen Harper, I imagine Russians shaking their heads and chuckling, "You don't know what hard times are, приятель."

Thanks for reading.

Follow me on Twitter: @AeneasLane

Black is Back

Mr. 500 Words likes to think of himself as enlightened, socially progressive, compassionate. Ah, who am I kidding? I'm just a big softie.

So I can't tell you how delighted I am to see Conrad Black back in Toronto.

I mean, given all Stephen Harper's talk about being tough on crime and criminals, I was just floored when he rolled out the red and white welcome mat for the foreign felon before he was even released from his Florida prison cell.

And while I'm heaping praise on the P.M. for his big-heartedness, let me give a big shout out to the rich folks of Toronto's Bridle Path neighbourhood. No NIMBYism here: just a warm welcome for a humble ex-con to his Park Lane Circle halfway house.

Makes me proud to a Canadian. And I bet it makes you proud too, Con (I can call you "Con", right? Or do you prefer "Blackie"?).

So I, too, want to do my part and help you adjust to life on the outside.

They say prison changes a man, but Toronto has changed, too, in the five years you've been away, and if you're going to survive these mean streets, you're going to have to know the score.

First of all, there's a new mayor, guy named Ford, and he makes Mel Lastman look like Winston Churchill. I know you used to work for a newspaper, so the thing you need to know about Ford is, he hates reporters. But you have a car, so you should be OK. Oh, one more thing: if you're walking in the park and a big, angry guy runs up to you and tells you to drop your phone, just do it, OK?

Remember when your mom told you not to run with scissors? Well don't even walk with them in Toronto. The cops might shoot you. Seriously, man. And while you're at, get rid of the prison blues and orange jumpsuits; they look too much like hospital gowns.

And depending on who's in town, you might want to avoid large (or even small gatherings) downtown. Find other ways to occupy your time. And for heaven's sake, leave the bubble pipe at home. I'll explain later.

So, Con, even though you're down to your last $80 million and a handful of mansions, I want you to know you still have friends.

Good luck, dude.

Follow me on Twitter: @AeneasLane

Points and Miles: May

I don't know whether you've noticed or not, but it seems that over the last six months or so, points and miles offers, especially from hotel chains have become less lucrative.

One possible explanation for this is that the improving American economy (yes, it really is improving, at least for businesses) has resulted in lower hotel vacancy rates, and thus higher room rates, meaning less need for the chains to offer incentives to fill otherwise empty rooms.

As for airlines, competition has been reduced by mergers (Delta took over Northwest, United merged with Continental, Southwest bought AirTran), and the carriers have been cutting routes and retiring older, less fuel-efficient planes in response to high oil prices. This has meant fewer seats to fill, and combined with the improved business climate, less need to entice fliers.

On the credit card front, credit has gotten tighter, not just in the U.S., but in Canada as well; and reduced competition (BMO took over Citi's Canadian credit card portfolio and TD acquired MBNA's) has meant that rejections are more common, annual fees higher, and sign-up bonuses more meagre.

Throw in the fact that both Aeroplan and AirMiles, Canada's two most popular "loyalty" programs, recently devalued their programs and it looks like the glory days of point and mile travel bargains are behind us.

This may partly explain the current popularity of such "buy-a-deal" sites as WagJag and Groupon, but pitfalls abound with these deals, so buyer beware.

Anyway, points and miles programs aren't going away: they're hugely profitable for one thing. It just means we have to work harder and smarter to get the best value from them. So here are a few good offers for this month.

The Choice Privileges MasterCard usually offers a sign-up bonus of 8K points, but until June 13, you'll get 16K. That's enough for two free nights at many Choice Hotels. All the details are here.

Starwood Hotels (Sheraton, Westin, etc.) is offering CAA/AAA members a range of discounts and special offers at properties in the southern U.S. and Caribbean through the end of 2012. Check them out here.

And for Aeroplan members, earn either a 1500 mile or 16 500 mile bonus when you complete a range of partner activities during the month of May. You have a head start if you have an Aeroplan-branded credit card and/or are flying Air Canada during the month. This page will tell you what you need to know. I love this one, because it's a challenge to see how I can maximize my activities with a minimum of spending.

I'll let you know how I did when the points post.

Follow me on Twitter: @AeneasLane