Public should have been informed about secret G20 law, McGuinty says

TORONTO, Ont. - Premier Dalton McGuinty admits the province should have told the public about a new law regarding police powers during the G20 summit in Toronto.

The Liberal government has been under fire for weeks for secretly passing a law giving police extra powers to stop and search people inside the G20 security fence and not telling the public.

Police wrongly interpreted the law as giving them the power to stop people outside the security zone.

McGuinty said the province clarified the law for police and wrongly assumed police would tell the public.

He said the government failed to move as quickly as it should have to clear up the confusion.

In fact, it wasn't until the G20 was over, and hundreds of people had been arrested, before the public was told police did not have any extra powers to stop and search people outside the G20 zone.