On Wednesday June 23rd, we saw the Toxic Tour march through Toronto to expose the institutions and corporations most responsible for the environmental destruction and social impacts of Canada's extractive industries. With 75 per cent of global mining capital coming from Canada, our country is a major international pillager. The rally travelled from Dundas and Bathurst for over three hours, stopping a few times along the way the denounce various toxic perpetrators, ending on University avenue at the courthouse, across from the American embassy. About 400 people took part, and the action was very well organized, very loud, very lively, and very impactful.

In the wake of the G20 summit, I believe there are three numbers which should be very important to all Canadians.

Number One is in the millions, and it is the amount of damage inflicted on Toronto business owners by the violent protesters during the G20 summit. While an official estimate has not yet become available, it seems very likely that the final tally will be trailed by six zeros.

Number Two is in the very low billions, and it is the total cost to Canada for hosting the G20 Summit. With a bloated security bill exceeding one billion dollars added to the regular cost associated with hosting an event of this stature, the final dollar figure for hosting the G20 will be followed by a caravan of nine zeros.

The G8 and G20 summits are now over, most of the leaders and their delegations have left Toronto, and sections of the security fence will start to be disassembled today.

But many are still unjustly being detained and need to be released, and the city has yet to shed the police-state feeling that has smothered it these past few days.

These summits just never added up to make much sense at all:

Aging Agitator James Laxer, who is constantly on the look out for a demonstration to attend, entered the red zone of the G20 summit this morning.

He rose early to be sure to make it to downtown Toronto before day's end. Much to his surprise as he pointed his ten-year-old vehicle southward, traffic was exceptionally light. He later reported that he had never seen such non-existent traffic in the city. "It looked like downtown Calgary," he uttered. "That's one more achievement the Harper government can claim. They've killed Toronto, long regarded by them as a menace."

The Council of Canadians launched a "Summits Expense Clock" on its website this morning to highlight the excessive costs of the G8 and G20 summits.

Between today and Sunday, the G8 and G20 leaders will have just 16 hours of formal meetings. But given their agenda has not been made public, we had to calculate on the basis of the summits running from Friday at 9 am to Sunday at 12 noon.

By that calculation, our 'summit expense clock' will add $405,180 per minute throughout the weekend.

While that is an outrageous per minute cost, a spokesperson for the prime minister has admitted that the per minute cost of actual leaders' meeting time is an incredible $833,000.