Canada

An expert in free expression feels Ontario’s solicitor general is attempting to pressure Toronto police to change how they handle protests for political reasons.

This comes after Solicitor General Michael Kerzner issued a letter to the Toronto Police Service (TPS) on Dec. 30, calling out what he described as a lack of enforcement for hate, intimidation and harassment-motivated offences at protests in the city.

But James Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, is worried about Kerzner’s motivations.

“It seems to me that the solicitor general is trying to intervene in how the police work for political reasons,” he told CBC Toronto.