Trudeau impressed by Blair’s ‘integrity’

OTTAWA— Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, introducing former Toronto police chief Bill Blair as a potential Liberal candidate, says he doesn’t want to be a Monday morning quarterback and second-guess the conduct of police during the G20 summit in Toronto.

“I’m not going to Monday-morning-quarterback decisions made five years ago by the chief of police,” Trudeau said when asked about the summit in 2010. High-ranking police officers were blamed for excessive use of force and widespread violations of citizens’ rights in the face of riots and protests during the meeting of international leaders.

Trudeau said he was impressed by Blair’s strength, his candour and “his integrity in every sense of the word.”

Blair told reporters the G20 summit was “a very, very challenging weekend” and he acknowledged that citizens in Toronto and across Canada were concerned about police actions during the meeting. But he said Toronto police have moved quickly to adopt the post-summit recommendations for improving how officers handle protests.

While saying he was excited to have Blair hoping to run for the Liberals in the riding of Scarborough Southwest, Trudeau said, “Bill is going to have to go through an open nomination” to become a candidate.

He said he opted for the Liberals because of the importance of an inclusive society. Blair has said he was swayed by Trudeau’s commitment to this goal as expressed in a recent speech in which the Liberal leader accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper of stoking public fears against Muslims.

“One of the things I’ve learned is that fear is the basic threat to public safety,” Blair said. With files from Bruce Campion-Smith