The ex cops, politicians and friends of Bill Blair cashing in on legal weed

Chuck Rifici

Former CFO of the Liberal Party of Canada and a founder and former CEO of Canopy Growth Corp. and Tweed Marijuana Inc., the country’s largest licensed producer. Made a killing when Canopy took over Tweed. He's reportedly still a shareholder. Currently, CEO at Nesta Holding Company, “the premiere partner for companies within the cannabis space.”

Potential conflict of interest As the former overseer of the finances of the federal Liberal Party, Rifici's connections to money bags contributors in the party run far and deep. No doubt he's turning a few of them on to the big bucks to be made in the business of weed.

Chilcot Report: Tony Blair Told George W. Bush, “If We Win Quickly, Everyone Will Be Our Friend.”

The Chilcot Report, the U.K.’s official inquiry into its participation in the Iraq War, has finally been released after seven years of investigation.

Its executive summary certainly makes former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who led the British push for war, look terrible. According to the report, Blair made statements about Iraq’s nonexistent chemical, biological, and nuclear programs based on “what Mr. Blair believed” rather than the intelligence he had been given. The U.K. went to war despite the fact that “diplomatic options had not been exhausted.” Blair was warned by British intelligence that terrorism would “increase in the event of war, reflecting intensified anti-US/anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim world, including among Muslim communities in the West.”

Bill Blair took donations from men charged in police union probe

Former Toronto police chief and Liberal MP Bill Blair accepted almost $4,000 in campaign donations from two lawyers last year — three months after they were publicly named as targets of an RCMP probe into police union fraud.

The lawyers are two of five people charged last week as part of an alleged scheme involving top leaders at the Ontario Provincial Police union.

Blair, who was chief of the Toronto Police Service from 2005 to 2015, was elected last October as a Liberal MP for Scarborough Southwest.

Bill Blair: Marijuana Laws Should Be Upheld, Enforced Until Liberals Legalize Drug

OTTAWA — Canadian laws on marijuana remain on the books and must be upheld and enforced even though the government plans to usher in legalization, former Toronto police chief and Liberal MP Bill Blair said Wednesday.

Blair, parliamentary secretary to the justice minister, was among several officials who spoke at an open Senate Liberal caucus meeting focused on the legalization of marijuana.

Jodie Emery Bummed Liberals Gave Bill Blair Leading Role In Marijuana Legalization

OTTAWA — Some members of the marijuana movement are concerned about the government's decision to make Toronto's former police chief a point man on legalizing pot, activist and former Liberal hopeful Jodie Emery said Friday.

Liberal MP Bill Blair, parliamentary secretary to Justice Minister Jody-Wilson Raybould, has been tapped to take a leading role on the file, working closely with the departments of Justice, Public Safety and Health.

Ex-police chief Bill Blair to handle Liberals' pot legalization file

As the Liberal government gets to work on its campaign pledge to legalize marijuana, the former police chief of Toronto will be taking a lead role.

Last month, Bill Blair was named as one of two parliamentary secretaries to the minister of justice. Sources tell CBC News he's been assigned to handle the pot file.

Blair's new role fits with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's attempts to frame the issue during the election campaign.

Attorney General can't clarify which law keeps Bill Blair mum on Rob Ford

Attorney General John Gerretsen said he does not know what law is preventing Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair from commenting on whether Mayor Rob Ford is under criminal investigation.

“You’d have to ask him about what law he’s citing then,” Gerretsen told the Star on Wednesday.

Blair has repeatedly refused to answer questions about any potential Ford link to the Project Traveller drugs-and-guns investigation, whether there is a criminal probe of the mayor’s office, or if police have recovered a video appearing to show him smoking crack cocaine.

Bill Blair witch hunting

Maybe it will all work out for Bill Blair after all.

Here we are, a little more than three weeks from the end of that mass buildup of police in priority neighbourhoods announced after the Danzig Street shooting shocker, and no innocent people have been added to the body count ledger for the summer of 2012. Even the Caribbean Carnival went off without a hitch.

But just when it looked like the stars were aligning in Blair’s favour, another bomb got tossed his way by his arch nemesis at City Hall (evil villain Mayor Rob Ford). There’ll be another police hiring freeze in 2013. Or at least that’s the goal.

Police alone can't stop gangs, Toronto Chief Bill Blair says

Two weeks after Toronto was shaken by the largest mass shooting in its history, Police Chief Bill Blair sees the gang violence at its root not as one neighbourhood’s problem but a social issue that demands solutions from Toronto’s business and community leaders.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Globe and Mail Tuesday, Chief Blair said police keep track of people involved in or associated with gangs – roughly 2,100 – and of those about 500 or 600 are considered “really violent.”

Chief Blair: Spare us the tough on crime rhetoric

Those among the media looking for reasons for Monday’s shooting spree at a Scarborough block party found none at a presser presided over by police Chief Bill Blair at headquarters on Tuesday, July 17.

Was there a gang connection? Is this part of a larger trend? Has gang warfare broken out on Toronto’s streets?

“There’ll be ample time to reflect on the context of this event,” the chief said. “But right now we are dealing with a very specific crime of horrendous violence. And I think it is ab solutely incumbent [on us to] focus our attention on resolving that and bringing those people to justice.”

Police Chief Bill Blair’s blame game

We’ve heard it all before from toronto police Chief Bill Blair.

That he takes “full responsibility” for his police force’s mishandling of the G20, although he makes no apology. That mistakes were made, but in the face of trying circumstances. And, over and over, that he’ll do better. Lessons were learned, etc.

Blair said it all again the Friday before the long weekend, May 18, in a prepared statement read to his civilian overseers on the Police Services Board.

And later to the cameras parked outside that meeting at City Hall, where the latest twist unfolded in the biggest civil liberties failure and mass arrest of innocent protesters in Canadian history.

It turns out charges may now be laid against more than two dozen officers, including as many as four senior officers, in the aftermath of revelations in the Office of the Independent Police Review Director’s (OIPRD) G20 systemic review report released last week.

Why won’t Chief Bill Blair say sorry for police actions during G20?

Say sorry, chief. Please.

It’s a word that has not passed Bill Blair’s lips in all the forelock-tugging and buck-stops-here declarations cascading from a slew of formal post-mortems on the G20 debacle.

Sorry that civil liberties were profoundly breached by his officers, at least 28 now facing disciplinary hearings.

Sorry that wrongful orders were given by his key senior commanders, four of whom have been identified at the very top of the policing pyramid.

Sorry that the tenor of disastrous confrontation was established by his then-deputy-chief: Take back the city.

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair must own up to G20 mistakes or step down

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair still doesn’t get it.

How can that be? Every independent review of G20 policing is worse than the one that came before it. The latest report, by the province’s police complaints watchdog, identified hundreds of unlawful arrests, numerous examples of police using excessive force – code, in some cases, for an outright beating – and rampant Charter rights violations.

To all this, Blair essentially shrugged and issued a casual, things “could have been done better” statement. “If there is misconduct, we’ll deal with that,” he said.

Chief Blair reacts to scathing police watchdog report on G20 police conduct

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said there are things that “could have been done better” during the G20 summit, but refused to apologize for or comment on specific allegations of misconduct by superior officers laid out in a scathing report from the province’s police watchdog.

“I think that there is an appropriate place for that to be determined,” Blair said at a news conference at police headquarters Wednesday, referring to police tribunal hearings.

The chief did not take the findings of the report as fact, instead saying he would reserve his judgment until tribunal hearings are held.

Blair also refused to apologize on behalf of the force for human rights violations that took place during the G20 summit in June 2010, saying his job is to hold his officers accountable.

Lawyer wants Police Chief Bill Blair investigated over G20 arrest

Prominent lawyer Clayton Ruby is calling for an investigation into Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair’s role — if any — in the illegal arrest and search of Jason Wall during the G20 summit in Toronto.

Ruby filed a complaint with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) on Wednesday based on information in the investigative findings from Wall’s original complaint, filed in December 2010.

On Sept. 7, 2011, the OIPRD concluded that Wall, who had been wearing a bandana around his neck, was arrested illegally on June 27, 2010 on a charge of wearing a disguise with intent.

The complaints agency also found there were reasonable grounds to lay misconduct charges against two officers, Const. Blair Begbie and Const. Vincent Wong, who are now subject to a Police Services Act hearing.

Ruby said information in the report suggests Blair ordered the arrests of anyone wearing a bandana, which contradicts the chief, who has stated publicly that “I wasn’t directly involved with operational decisions.”

Chief on the defensive

Strange that the Toronto Police After-Action Review of the G20 hit the news Friday, June 24, the same day a gaggle of black-clad protesters turned up at King and Bay to commemorate the G20 and black blocism and denounce corporate capitalism.

After all, the black bloc and “violence we have never seen before” are the stars of the After-Action Review, while thousands of peaceful demonstrators, many of them traumatized by the police response, only get cameos.

No question, the report, which describes the unfolding of events through the filter of the cop imagination, is a captivating read. It’s written like a movie script, with a 21-page timeline full of drama and foreboding. Its purpose is obviously to prove that police were faced with “sustained, serious and widespread criminality and public disorder” and hence ought to be forgiven their civil liberties transgressions.

I can’t tell, reading the blizzard of details, where the deliberate attempt to derail with the extraneous ends and the honest paranoia begins.

For example: Friday, 3 pm: “Major Incident Command Centre (MICC) advised officers that protesters at Allan Gardens were loading backpacks with stones, bricks and fluids.” Bad news, to be sure. But then we get this ambiguous piece of fluff: officers “seized a number of sticks” from buses carrying protesters from Montreal. For placards, ya think?

3:25 pm: “A group of clowns dip handkerchiefs in vinegar.” So? We all carried vinegar-soaked bandanas for tear gas eventualities. Did they think every act of defence was an incipient rampage?

Saturday, 3:04 pm: “A large amount of smoke” appeared at Queen and Spadina. “MICC directed officers to put on gas masks.”

Actually, it was a rather small cloud of smoke, but in the boomerang dynamics of the day, when police donned gas masks, panicked protesters reached for their bandanas. And so it went.

The section on Sunday’s kettling is titillating mostly for what it doesn’t say. We learn that Toronto police won’t use this tactic again, but we now discover there was an operational conflict on the spot. The MICC, a creature of the Integrated Security Unit, directed at 5:47 pm “that the crowd be boxed in on all four sides.”

But from 6:01 on, field commanders were offering “alternative courses of action,” including opening up an exit, but were overruled by the MICC. Look for the next wave of revelations to focus on the tense relationship between Chief Bill Blair and reps from the OPP and RCMP.

The odd thing about reading all this is the hallucinogenic way it’s possible to see two frames at once: from the street Friday afternoon, the temporary boxing in of protesters at Elm and University was inexplicable; from the vantage point of nervous officers fed a 5:10 report that black blocers were mixing “unknown liquids or chemicals in plastic bags and jars producing black smoke” things obviously looked different. At 5:42, the report says, those in black were “arming themselves with bricks and rocks,” which explains the mysterious disappearance of the friendly cop bike squad and its replacement  by the helmets-and-shields crew.

But where is the sense of proportion in all this? The smash-up brigade was an infinitesimal fraction of a mass protest that should get a medal for patience, good humour and peaceableness.

And that’s what sucks about this review: it’s a pumped-up excuse for the fact that officers lost both their heads and their perspective. Yes, Bill Blair in a fit of seeming transparency is baring some of the operational details. But there is no mea culpa, no meditation on guaranteeing citizen rights in the midst of a security op, no apology on mass detentions or illegal searches.

It’s a document of entrenchment, not one of rapprochement. We’re not on a healing journey, folks.

But there’s no point in a black bloc whitewash either; besides the cruiser-torching and window-smashing, the report has blocers heaving rocks at police (so much for “It’s only property damage”), mixing up molotovs and deftly disappearing and reappearing in small strategic groups all over the downtown, signs of activists on a manic mission.

I was thinking of this last Friday in the business district, talking to folks at the Black Block Party, an attempt – or maybe not – at irony.

They were friendly and articulate, wearing black to mourn the loss of rights, dis black business suits – and highlight black bloc tactics. One said it felt right to be at King and Bay because one of the police cars had been set ablaze here.

Such a misplaced commemoration. Even if you believe only a smattering of the police report, there’s still a political pathology at the grassroots. But then again, there’s one at 40 College, too. Which one is likely to be cured first?

Full Article
Source: Now 

You Still Have Some Explainin' to Do, Toronto Police Brass!

On the first anniversary of the G20 in Toronto, many groups are plaintively calling for the resignation of Chief Blair as a consequence of his responsibility for the glaring errors in policing that weekend.

I disagree -- Chief Blair, but for the G20, has done a terrific job as top cop -- he should stay and his feet should be put to the fire until he provides an explanation for a number of failings, not the least of which is why police stood by and watched thugs set fire to four police cars and watched as thugs smashed and grabbed from stores.

Blair should also provide an explanation as to why police kettled up to 400 citizens on Sunday night for four hours in the rain. A senior officer said that they did so because each of those 400 had to be interviewed by police -- that was untrue -- few were, in fact, interviewed.

The Toronto Police Service "After-Action Review" just released is little more than a bureaucratic recitation of timelines. It does not answer those questions that still make the average citizen shake their heads and embarrass rank-and-file officers because someone ordered them not to do their job and stop the violence in the streets on Saturday afternoon.

Full Article
Source: Huffington 

Hundreds mark G20 anniversary with calls for Blair to resign

John Pruyn says the thought of returning to the site where police allegedly yanked off his prosthetic leg during last year’s G20 summit made him sick to his stomach.

But while speaking at the “G20 Redux” rally at Queen’s Park Saturday, his voice was strong and clear.

“To this day, I still don’t know why I was dragged away (by police) from Queen’s Park. I still feel like I was kidnapped,” said Pruyn, 58, recalling how he was manhandled by police and thrown in detention.

“Bill Blair should resign or should be fired for what happened at the G20,” Pruyn added, referring to Toronto’s police chief. “Mr. Blair allowed the police to beat us ... In effect, he allowed the police to loot and riot.”

PHOTOS: G20 rally

A retired Revenue Canada employee, Pruyn says he was resting with his family at Queen’s Park — after participating in a peaceful protest march on June 26, 2010 — when he was allegedly “attacked” by several police officers, one of whom “ripped off” his leg. He was released without charge a day later. He says police never gave him back his walking aids, or the $33 he had in his pocket. In an interview, he said he can’t discuss the settlement he received after complaining to the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

He was one of nine speakers cheered by some 400 people for insisting that Blair resign, and for demanding a public inquiry into police actions during the summit. Some officers violated police policy by taking off their badge numbers and name tags while rounding up protesters. More than 1,100 people were detained — the largest peacetime mass arrest in Canadian history. Most were never charged. Some speakers also called for charges to be dropped against 56 people still before the courts.

In an interview with the Star Friday, Blair rejected calls for his resignation. A 70-page report released by police Thursday indicated the service was overwhelmed and underprepared to respond to the “dynamic situations” the G20 posed.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Premier Dalton McGuinty have both flatly rejected calls for a public inquiry. Nathalie Des Rosiers, a lawyer with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, described that as “dangerous for democracy.”

“We’re allowing a culture of impunity to develop,” she told the rally. “If we tolerate (police) illegality when we see it, we sanction abuses that go on when we don’t.”

“A truth commission is what we need,” she added.

Police kept a low profile throughout the rally. Rarely were more than eight of them visible at any one time. They sat on bicycles on the edges of Queen’s Park circle. More could be seen patrolling the streets on their bikes. Now and then a couple of officers would ride close to the crowd, but the atmosphere was never tense.

Full Article
Source: Toronto Star 

The two sides of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair

On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the G20 summit, there were two versions of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair on display.

The first was contrite, admitting that there were problems with the way officers handled protests in failing to stop a small group of black-clad vandals from smashing up the downtown, and that administrative “deficiencies” at a temporary detention centre left some arrestees without access to lawyers and medical evaluations.

The second, however, was combative, defending the decision to round up hundreds of peaceful protesters and saying that, despite a months-long review of policing at the summit, he did not know whether the RCMP or other police forces at the Integrated Security Unit headquarters in Barrie, Ont., had given orders that added to the confusion on the streets during those fateful days.

Throughout his six years in charge, Chief Blair has earned a reputation for admitting to, and grappling with, the force’s problems, from racial profiling to a lack of women and minorities serving as police. His handling of such files has burnished the force’s image and built bridges with the community – all of which has seemed very remote over the last year, in the backlash that followed the summit.

On Friday afternoon, he explained the rationale behind the most controversial decision of that weekend, to perform the largest mass arrests in Canadian history. After police failed to stop the Black Bloc during their smashing spree on June 26, the main day of protests, it was necessary to disperse – or arrest – everyone on the streets to prevent Bloc members hiding amid peaceful protesters from doing any further damage, he said.

Full Article
Source: Globe & Mail 

Chief won’t resign over G20

Leaning forward in his chair, hands clasped tightly atop his desk, this city’s unapologetic police chief said he had no regrets and no plans to resign over the G20.

“I believe that when the people of this city have the opportunity to have access to all the facts that are contained in that report, they may then have the opportunity to have a better informed opinion,” said police Chief Bill Blair, who was responding to a Angus Reid/Toronto Star poll, which showed public support for police actions during the G20 has plummeted.

In an in-depth interview on Friday, Blair repeated the point several times. He said anybody with questions or concerns about how the police handled the G20 simply needs to read his report.

“I believe that when the public has access to honest, objective and fulsome accounts of what transpired that they will have a much better understanding of the challenges that police faced,” Blair went on.

The 70-page report, released Thursday, shows that police were overwhelmed and underprepared to respond to the “dynamic situations” the G20 posed.

It does not address allegations of police misconduct. Other bodies are doing that, he said.

The report details a number of areas where police commit to improving in future — they need to figure out how to handle Black Bloc tactics, better administrate mass arrests and extricate criminal elements from large crowds without detaining hundreds of peaceful people.

But given a chance to concede any regrets, Blair declined.

Full Article
Source: Toronto Star