The highly-anticipated visit to Toronto by two former U.S. presidents has yet to yield the kind of protests that might have been expected to accompany their presence.
About 100 protesters are stationed outside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, where former U.S. presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are speaking on Friday afternoon.
But the crowd is a far cry from the hundreds of protesters that were expected to join the anti-war demonstrations taking place across the street from the event.
So far, protesters have been throwing shoes at a poster of Bush, the most recent of the two ex-presidents in Toronto.
In his farewell trip to Iraq last December Bush was pelted with shoes thrown by an Iraqi journalist during a news conference.
That prompted Calgary protesters to hurl shoes along with insults when Bush visited Alberta two months ago, when he made his first speech since leaving office in January.
The "Toronto Coalition to Stop the War," which claims to represent more than 70 groups in the Greater Toronto Area, calls Bush a "war criminal" and wants the Canadian government to treat him as such.
"It's an easy case to be made," coalition organizer James Clark told CTV.ca, "because the war in Iraq was a war of aggression. It violated international law. That alone is merit to charge Bush with war crimes."
Clark says his group will "distribute spray painted red gloves to represent how Bush has blood on his hands."
While Bush is the main target of protesters, the group says "there's still anger at Clinton" because he "supported sanctions which led to the deaths of half a million Iraqi children."
The group also wants to pressure the Canadian government to pull its troops out of Afghanistan.
The pair of ex-presidents, each 62 years old, will spend 90 minutes discussing challenges facing Canada and the U.S.
Clinton recently told the New York Times Magazine that although he disagrees with Bush on many issues, he likes "him personally."
The Toronto event is being moderated by Frank McKenna, a former Canadian ambassador to the U.S.
Tickets range in price from $229 for general admission to $495 for VIP seats.
Some prices have been discounted, as ticket sales remain sluggish. As of late Thursday organizers said up to 500 tickets were still available from a total of 6,000.
The conversation is an offering from "Power Within," a company associated with self-help guru Tony Robbins.
With files from The Canadian Press
