G20 protester-turned-Green Party candidate hopes to put ex-Toronto police chief on election hot seat

The first time Tommy Taylor crossed swords with former Toronto police chief Bill Blair, it was unexpected.

The Green Party candidate taking on Blair in the riding of Scarborough Southwest was among the thousands of protesters rounded up by riot police during the G20 Summit in Toronto in June 2010.

He was handcuffed and detained for almost 24 hours — 20-plus locked in a cage without being charged — an experience the writer and actor recounted in a viral Facebook posting and later in the stage play “You Should Have Stayed Home.”

Now Taylor is the Green Party candidate up against Blair, who is running for the Liberals in the riding held by New Democrat Dan Harris. The Conservative Party of Canada has no candidate listed for the riding.

“Bill Blair has been a serial violator of the Charter,” says Taylor, who won the Green nomination Tuesday night.

“That really concerns me, that the Liberals would be pushing someone like that to go to Ottawa.”

It has been suggested that Blair is a top prospect for justice minister in a Liberal government headed by Justin Trudeau.

“That brings the G20 back to life, because his failures of accountability on that demonstrate a kind of character that we don’t need to see more of in Parliament,” Taylor tells Yahoo Canada News.

He hopes to put democratic reform and civil liberties on the Scarborough Southwest election agenda but it’s not just about the former police chief.

“Bill Blair is emblematic of some larger issues, as well, like the Liberal Party and Bill C-51,” he says, referring to Liberal MPs’ support for the Conservatives’ controversial security bill.

The police response to G20 protests in Toronto was the largest mass arrest in Canadian history and one of the most controversial events of Blair’s tenure as police chief.

There were demands for his resignation and a public inquiry after more than 1,100 people were arrested.

A 300-page report by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director of Ontario found that inadequate planning led police to overreact to protests “causing an almost complete clampdown on all protesters and the mass arrests.”

Charter rights were violated and “it is fortunate that, in all the confusion, there were no deaths,” it said.

The Ontario ombudsman issued another report that decried a special provincial regulation passed to enhance security for the summit as unconstitutional and not justifiable in a free and democratic society.

“The value in hosting international summits is that it permits the host nation to primp and pose before the eyes of the world,” ombudsman Andre Marin wrote.

“Ordinarily Ontario and Canada could proudly showcase the majesty of a free and democratic society. The legacy of the passage and administration of Regulation 233/10 is that we failed to do that well.”

For Taylor, it was a life-changing experience that led him, ultimately, to politics.

“I think fear has reigned a little too long and I think Canadians are ready for a new direction,” he says.

Blair’s campaign team did not respond to a request for comment.

He has his work cut out for him in Scarborough Southwest.

Harris received 14,119 votes in 2011, compared to 12,830 for the Conservative candidate and 11,699 for the Liberal candidate. The previous Green candidate garnered 1,635 votes.