The great G8 (and G20) debate

With the Summits just weeks away, and over a billion dollars in taxpayer money funding the thing, The Runner decided to weigh in if this is just one big circle jerk or a meeting of the utmost importance.

NAY

By Jeff Groat [Lifestyle Bureau Chief]

The age of austerity is upon us – well, maybe after the G8 and G20 meetings to be held at the end of June in Huntsville and Toronto are finished.

The Conservative Canadian government has budgeted a staggering $930 million towards security expenses, bringing in roughly 15,000 armed security agents to lock down Toronto’s downtown financial district while the meetings take place.

The Canadian government is making damn sure the voices of everyday Canadians are not heard, spurning them with a wall of security totalling nearly $1 billion – almost ten times the budget of each of the two previous G20 meetings in Pittsburgh and London.
And for what?

The G8 is an outmoded vehicle for Western-led neo-colonialism of developing nations, using dollars instead of guns to shackle poorer nations to debt financed through the International Montary Fund.

The G20, while global in its makeup, is a ragtag group of egos who are incapable of producing meaningful results on important issues.

But we’d be naïve to think that it’s just world leaders who are descending on Toronto. No, the city will be full of lobbyists, bankers, corporations, and NGOs all looking to sway global policy decisions in their favour.

Too often, this works against regular middle-class folk like you and me on the issues that affect us directly, including the expansion of the Alberta tar-sands, global climate change policy, and the ridiculous idea of progress on nuclear non-proliferation.

Kudos to the people who choose to organize and protest (peacefully) in the streets of Toronto in order to make their message clear; it is obvious that policy-makers do not hold the responsibilities to the people they represent as high as they do their pocketbooks.

It is up to the people to stand in solidarity against this wasteful effort to silence their voices.

The times demand restraint and the times demand real progress on important issues. Not more of the same expensive politicking.

YAY

By Kassandra Linklater [News Editor]

In a matter of a few short weeks the G8 Summit will be well under way in the heart of Ontario’s cottage country.

Canada, as this year’s host country, has gone through pomp and circumstance to make this a historic Summit by hosting both the G8 and G20 Summits back to back.

With a scandalous budget of over $1.3 billion, many Canadians are questioning the relevance of what seems like an expensive photo-op.

While I do question the ridiculously high security costs, (the total cost of BC’s month-long Olympics were estimated at $900 million), and the marketing success of a $50,000 indoor lake, I take issue with the idea that this conference is irrelevant.

My first initial reaction is scoffing. Literally scoffing at the notion that we don’t need soft diplomacy with the current leading economies of the world.

Now for everyone out there who considers themselves too post-modern to care about the Summit that’s fine, but collectively the G20 represents about 85 per cent of the global gross national product and two-thirds of the world’s population. I for one, believe that is worthy of at least a round table or two.

But at the end of the day, this meeting of the minds is not about the leaders.

The majority of the work has been done in the days and months leading up to the event. Ministerial staff have been working away to discuss the issues at hand, and in the state of the world today that involves the economy, an issue that does affect everyday Canadians.

For better or for worse, we live in a globalized world and what happens from across the pond impacts my everyday life.

I am probably showing my political hand here, but I believe a strong economy through taxation is what fuels our healthcare, our daycare, our education system, dare I say our social programs that affect each and everyone of us.

And while I don’t expect the average Joe Canadian to care about issues of maternal health in developing nations and nuclear non-proliferation, know that this summit affects you.