Under the regulation, people within five metres of the security area can be asked to identify themselves to police and state the purpose of their visit on request. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

By The Canadian Press

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty will not explain why his cabinet passed a secret law giving police more power to arrest people during the G20 summit in Toronto.

Opposition critics and civil libertarians are outraged the Liberal cabinet not only gave police extra powers to question, search and detain people in the week leading up to the summit, but that they also kept it secret.

The regulation, which took effect June 28 and expires Monday, effectively expands the jurisdiction of the existing Public Works Act to apply to high-security areas around the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, where the summit was held this weekend. It does so by designating the security fence that encircles a large chunk of downtown around the convention centre as a public work.

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