Boom times

Political Bytes notes that it isn't just public meeting spaces that will be shut down for the SPP meeting this August, as the RCMP is floating a plan to cut off the Ottawa River through "temporary safety booms":

On Saturday, the Gazette also identified RCMP plans to install temporary safety booms on the Ottawa River between Montebello, Que., and Lefaivre, Ont., between August 18th and 21st, in time for the North American Leaders' Summit.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is hosting his counterparts, U.S. President George W. Bush and Felipe Calderon of Mexico. The leaders, we're told, will discuss the progress of the Security Prosperity Partnership as well as other hemispheric and global issues.

And the RCMP is determined that nothing interrupts the flow of those conversations.

Based on the notice in the Canada Gazette, public comments may be made on the plan until early August. And it may be worth a note to point out that the SPP doesn't justify the kind of actions which are being taken to sequester the meeting from the rest of the country.

But sadly, it seems entirely likely that there's no more interest in paying attention to the public's concerns now than to dissent around the time of the meeting.