There are a couple of shocking things about the videotapes of the riot at Queen's Park on a fine summer's day nearly three years ago that are being played this week in a Toronto courtroom.
The first -- and this is a facetious observation made at the end of a dreary winter -- is that there really is a time of year in this country when the grass is green and the trees are full of leaves.
The second is just how incredibly angry everyone was.
Eighteen people were arrested and 40 police officers and six horses were injured on June 15, 2000, when a rally on the legislature lawn against poverty and homelessness turned into a riot.
Protesters threw smoke bombs and bricks. The police pushed back with swinging batons and horses. Curses, taunts, screams and rhythmic drumming fill the soundtrack of the video.
"It was like no other situation," Toronto Detective Sergeant Richard Stubbings testified yesterday in Ontario Superior Court. "The violence we were exposed to as police officers was continuous."
My Lord, it seems a long, long time ago. Did people really act like that? We certainly don't now.
It's an odd thing to note because the Conservatives are still in office and poverty and homelessness are still with us. The reality is, however, that demonstrations at Queen's Park these days are few and far between.
Occasionally, a large-ish group will convene to protest against some injustice or other in their homeland thousands of kilometres away. But hardly ever do you see a sizable group demonstrating -- and certainly not with unrestrained anger -- over something that might actually concern the Ontario government.
This week, for example, a group of students worried about the state of public education organized a midafternoon rally and invited Toronto's 100,000 high school students to attend. Perhaps 100 young people -- and one very loud grunge-rock band -- showed up.
So, are we all happy or is there something else at work? I think it's the latter.
One reason the age of demonstrations is over is that Mike Harris is no longer on the scene. He was certainly the target of the anger at almost every other protest in his seven years as premier.
It comes as no surprise that he still has round-the-clock security a year after he returned to civilian life, because, according to police, he still receives death threats.
Mr. Harris personified the Common Sense Revolution agenda of tax cuts accompanied by reduced spending, particularly on spending programs. In its early years, his government slashed welfare rates, scrapped rent control and pulled out of programs to build social housing.
But he also showed that demonstrations can be ineffective. He simply refused to listen to loud voices and that's why the days of protest organized by labour unions in the mid-1990s did not derail the Harris agenda.
Quite simply, the protest movement ran out of steam or, at least, decided to reassess the tactic of filling the forecourt at Queen's Park to shout at a premier who wasn't listening.
This was particularly true, says New Democrat MPP Peter Kormos, of people who had a stake in seeing welfare rates restored and the minimum wage unfrozen.
"People are no longer just angry, they are angry and beaten," said Mr. Kormos, who appears in the news footage blaming Mr. Harris for all the anger that June afternoon. "A whole lot of folks are just resigned to desperation."
Ernie Eves inherited this calm when he became Premier nearly a year ago. There were a few protesters on the afternoon he was sworn in but generally his life is a breeze compared with his predecessor's.
Of course, it's not as if Mr. Eves pokes people in the eye with a pointed stick. When he spies something that might present a problem in the coming election, he simply gets out his chequebook.
It's quiet. Too quiet.