A few of us arrived early before being ordered off the property by the police.
A camera-shy Hamilton police sergeant.
Stoically standing on guard protecting private property rights?
This final sign, I think, reflects the view of many of Mr. Sweet's constituents.
Hi Lorne,
ReplyDeleteI have been organizing the Lead Now actions in my somewhat more western neck of the woods. Last night 80 residents showed up at one of our two protest locations. At one office the MP's assistant came out and spoke to me before the festivities began. Our MP (staunch conservative who will not budge on the bill) asked her to bring us doughnuts and promised to read anything we left behind. The assistant said to me, "this office is an extension of parliament and as such is supposed to be accessible to all." Does Mr Sweet actually have the right to keep you away?
Hi Karen,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you got a much more reasonable response than we have at our three protests at Mr. Sweet's office. According to the local police, because the office is located on private property, the owner has the right to exclude us even though, interesting enough, there is another public facility located there, a branch of the local library.
I think that there is little doubt amongst most of us that this edict barring us from the property was at the prompting of Sweet. In fact, as I noted in a post about our protest on June 8 there, Sweet's office manager had locked the door of the office; he later told me it was because of the demonstration taking place at the entrance to the mall.
Not being open to the views of those with another vision is certainly true of the Harper government, and it is a view that Sweet has obviously wholeheartedly embraced.