G20 summit to bring leaders, attention and perhaps chaos to Toronto

While the policiticans and talking heads have all explained how the G-20 summit will be an ideal chance for Toronto to show the world the positive features of the city, almost liked a paid week long advert for Canada’s largest city. The reality however is that the massive security undertaking for the event will end up in disrupting many of the most famous parts of the city. The best chance in years to promote the city is being hampered by the need for safety reducing ease of transport in the city centre.  It seems that these quotes below my Minister Rob Moore and Mayor David Miller were made before the security planning was completed. Said Moore:

“The promotion effort for the G8 and G20 will highlight both of Toronto’s main convention centres and the Deerhurst Resort complex in Muskoka, generating worldwide publicity and branding Canada as a world-class tourism and convention destination,”

While the Mayor added  “The city is proud to host the G20. We’re pleased to showcase the city to the world.”

Metro Convention Centre, Toronto

Truth being that the arrival of some 20,000 delegates coupled with unknown numbers of media will cause congestion and security disruption unlike anything seen before in Toronto. The Mayor has suggested that unless it is critical that you are downtown that weekend that you would be better off “enjoying another part of the city”.

So when the eyes of the world watch Toronto the city’s residents and tourists will need to plan events that don’t fall within the G-20 ‘traffic zone’ as its being called. This will impact areas famed for sporting events, musicals and restaurants and brings into question just how to showcase a city when some of the prime attractions are off limits or even closed down. Mirvish Productions have stated that they will cancel the popular musicals Rock of Ages and Mamma Mia! during the week of the summit, due to unclear traffic information and disruption in the “traffic zone” — where both hosting Theatres reside. The closing of tourist attractions worries Klaus Schuller, director of The Second City, the famed comedy theatre who would be packed normally during the weekend. He said:

“What area of the city are you showcasing? Is it going to be people just hanging out in their hotel restaurants? If we’re showcasing Toronto and we’re spending close to a billion dollars on security arrangements and we’re basically going to hold people inside a fence, I really hope the organizers are making some effort to encourage conference attendees to get out of their hotels and go see something. My biggest fear really is that Torontonians and GTA residents will get the message for a healthy part of the summer that downtown Toronto is not where they want to be. The city has got to do whatever they can to turn that message around.”

Even rail services will be impacted with VIA Rail Canada stating that trains will terminate at suburban stations that weekend instead of running into Union Station. It’s also a large concern for restaurants and bars, wanting to offer normal business hours but also keenly aware that resultant protests all too often turn violent. The arrival of the media army makes this the most visible protest opportunity for many groups and as history suggests trying to keep the peace at a highly charged summit is not always easy.

Officials in Toronto feel this month will provide the ideal test to show the city’s capacity to host huge events, unfortunately the event itself might lead to to it seeming that you’re visiting Disneyland only to find half of the rides are closed. Even the Blue Jays relocated their series with Philadelphia to the National League city due to expected chaos.

Let’s hope the right balance of safety and access can be found as the world leaders and the related circus arrive this month.