Stephen Harper pays a visit to Lucky Moose, David Chen

Prime Minister Stephen Harper bought a bottle of maple syrup — Canada No. 1 medium, made by Smokey Kettle Maple Co. in Grimsey, Ont., — for $12.99 (plus HST) at the Lucky Moose Food Mart in Chinatown on Thursday morning. It is unclear why he would come to this shop for maple syrup — the pineapples, for example, were a much better buy, at $1.99 each — and the kids may have found the mango coconut jelly packs more exotic.

But the prime minister’s appearance was not about shopping. Rather, Mr. Harper wanted to be photographed with the most famous person in Chinatown. That is no longer Olivia Chow, the local MP and wife of NDP leader Jack Layton, but rather David Chen, 38, owner of the Lucky Moose. Mr. Chen and two store employees, whom Toronto police charged in May, 2009, after they tied up a shoplifter, became what a judge called a “cause celebre,” a symbol across Canada of honest, hard-working people at odds with a justice system that coddles criminals. Eighteen months after Mr. Chen was charged, the judge in October threw out all charges, concluding that, “David Chen tried to fill the void where the justice system failed.”

Mr. Harper’s visit co-incided with the first reading in Parliament in Ottawa Thursday of a bill to amend sections 34 to 42 of the Criminal Code, a.k.a the Citizen’s Arrest and Self-defence Act. The new wording reads, “The owner or a person in lawful possession of property … may arrest a person without a warrant if they find them committing a criminal offence on or in relation to that property and (a) they make the arrest at that time or (b) they make the arrest within a reasonable time after the offence is committed and they believe on reasonable grounds that it is not feasible in the circumstances for a peace officer to make the arrest.”

The prime minister left Toronto’s Royal York Hotel Thurdsay at about 10:30 a.m., with a bus full of journalists in tow, and arrived at the Lucky Moose just before 11 a.m. On Wednesday Ricky Chan, an investment banker who has supported the grocer, had told him to be at his store at 10:30 a.m. to welcome a visitor, without telling Mr. Chen who that would be. Ms. Chow and Joe Volpe, a Toronto Liberal MP — who had both introduced their own bills to amend the Criminal Code, to decriminalize Mr. Chen’s behaviour — also showed up at the store.

When Mr. Harper arrived at the store Ms. Chow asked permission to translate between Mandarin and English for the grocer, who is her constituent, to Mr. Harper, but the prime minister’s handlers apparently refused.

Mr. Chen — who had arisen Thursday at 5 a.m. to drive the truck to the Ontario Food Terminal, to buy his produce for the day — had changed into a dress shirt (a nicer shirt than he ever wore to his trial last year), over which he wore a black jacket bearing the emblem of Fresh Advancements Inc. (“Produce is our passion”), his tomato supplier.

“I said ‘Welcome to Chinatown,’” recalled Mr. Chen, who came to Canada in 1991, and whose English has improved dramatically since his legal travails began.

“He asked me how the store is going so I said, yeah, the store is running good. He asked me whether we are still getting stuff stolen. I said yes. My wife took a picture of me with him.’’

As for the change in the law, Mr. Chen said, “It’s good now. We hope second and third reading will be soon. Once the law is passed, we will have more power to protect our stuff. Then I don’t need to spend money and time to the lawyer and court. If someone steals they can grab them and they won’t charge the store owner.”

Rob Nicholson, the federal justice minister, and Julian Fantino, the minister of state for seniors, accompanied the prime minister, and each bought maple syrup as well — 250 ml, $11.99 — in glass bottles shaped like a maple leaf.

A few blocks down the street, which was clogged with shoppers walking among the mounds of cigarette butts that melting snowbanks have exposed, Jungle Fruit owner Jeffrey Ng was less impressed by Mr. Harper’s visit. Police charged Anthony Bennett — the same convicted thief that Mr. Chen had tied up — with five thefts of plants from Jungle Fruit. Late last year Mr. Ng succeeded in having Mr. Bennett banned from Chinatown and nearby Kensington Market for three years. Mr. Bennett is currently in jail for shoplifting from a third store.

“When David Chen was having his case going on, [Mr. Harper] wasn’t there for him,” Mr. Ng said. “And now he comes to Chinatown and I don’t see the point of coming down here. I think he’s here for the election. If he really wants to hear peoples’ opinion, he should stick around and ask people what change would really help.”

Chi-Kun Shi, a Toronto lawyer who has helped Mr. Chen, suggested Mr. Harper could have shown more respect by inviting Mr. Chen to Ottawa for the bill’s presentation to the House. “This is a bill that means a lot ot Chinese-Canadians because we are such a quiet lot,” she said. “It is one of the first times when Chinese-Canadians take a leading role in instituting social change.”

Back at the Lucky Moose, Mr. Chen pointed to video stills, printed out from his security equipment, taped to a flat-screen TV above the cash registers.

“This guy stole a Lotto ticket. He stole cheese and ham. This guy stole moon cakes, hid them under the baby in the stroller. This man stole three bags of rice, 18 lbs each.”

But even with the new law, Mr. Chen said he no longer will do citizens’ arrests. “I just take the picture and call the police,” he said.

National Post
pkuitenbrouwer@nationalpost.com