This week’s G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., failed to deliver any major breakthroughs. But it may have helped preserve unity between world leaders — and restore Canada’s credibility on the global stage.
Martha Hall Findlay, a director of the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, says the summit improved Canada’s global reputation “without question.”
“Canada’s reputation internationally has been dismal,” she told Canadian Affairs in a phone interview conducted from the sidelines of the summit. Hall Findlay cited former prime ministers Stephen Harper’s embassy closures and Justin Trudeau’s performative diplomacy as acts that had hurt Canada’s standing on the international stage.
“[Trudeau’s actions were] a very different embarrassment — of lecturing, wagging fingers, and frankly, saying and doing some things that really suggested that we were not a serious country,” said the former Liberal MP.
By contrast, Prime Minister Mark Carney played the role of statesman well, she says.
“He’s new as our prime minister, but he’s not new to that gang,” she said. “He knows many of those people already … He was presiding over that table, and the messaging that’s coming out is very good for Canada.
“Look, we were all worried about what was going to happen with Donald Trump,” she added. “Who knows what could have happened, [with] his volatility, his unpredictability, his desire for the limelight?”
Trump-Trudeau troubles
The 2018 G7 summit that Canada hosted in Charlevoix, Que., paints a picture of what could have happened.
There, U.S. President Donald Trump described Trudeau as “very dishonest & weak,” after Trudeau said he would not be “pushed around” on steel and aluminum tariffs.
Carney, in contrast to his predecessor and his own feisty campaign rhetoric, struck a deferential tone in Kananaskis.
“The G7 is nothing without U.S. leadership, your personal leadership,” Carney told Trump in front of reporters during a bilateral meeting on June 16.
Even so, the Kananaskis summit did not conclude with a joint communiqué endorsed by all seven nations, as has been the norm in previous years.
Instead, leaders released a series of themed statements to guide international cooperation on a range of global economic, environmental and security issues. These statements covered topics such as wildfire mitigation, critical minerals development, AI, and the Israel-Iran war, which broke out just days before the summit began.
“I was a bit surprised, frankly, that there was as much they were able to agree on,” Hall Findlay said.
“Whether you call it a communiqué, whether you call it a joint-statement, if all seven G7 leaders put out a statement on a critical minerals action plan — and then you have endorsements from [non-member invitees] Australia, India, and South Korea, I think that’s terrific.”
Notably, though, the summit concluded without a unanimous leaders’ statement on the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Speaking to reporters at the summit’s concluding press conference, Carney was asked whether the American delegation was an impediment to a joint statement on Ukraine.
“There would be things that some of us — Canada included — would say above and beyond what was said in the chair’s summary,” Carney said, referencing a document he released outlining broad points of agreement on Ukraine.
“G7 Leaders expressed support for President Trump’s efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” that document says. “They recognized that Ukraine has committed to an unconditional ceasefire, and they agreed that Russia must do the same. G7 Leaders are resolute in exploring all options to maximize pressure on Russia, including financial sanctions.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in attendance at the summit, and thanked Carney for fresh Canadian aid. Carney pledged an additional $2 billion for weapons and equipment, and a $2.3-billion loan to rebuild damaged infrastructure. The loaned funds will come from the interest on frozen Russian assets.
Zelenskyy did not meet with Trump, who unexpectedly returned to Washington after the first full day of the summit due to the Israel-Iran conflict.
French President Emmanuel Macron lauded Carney for maintaining stability within the group. “We shouldn’t ask the Canadian presidency to resolve every issue on earth today,” Macron told reporters on June 17.
“That would be unfair. But he held the group together.”
Moving needles
A key economic development for Canada was the announcement that Carney and Trump have agreed to work toward establishing a new trade agreement within 30 days.
Hall Findlay says she is cautiously optimistic about where this could lead.
“ Donald Trump might say something today and change his mind tomorrow,” she said. “There’s not a whole lot that we can take comfort in, but the behaviour, the sound bites over the last little while… [have] indicated a greater level of cooperation between our two countries.
“I think that’s really, really important.”
But Hall Findlay says domestic regulatory reform will ultimately be paramount for addressing Canada’s economic challenges.
“What’s more important to the potential for the Canadian economy is what the federal government is doing right now about changing legislation to get projects built,” she said. “That will help the cost of some of these projects, which may ultimately make them economically viable.”
She also noted that the G7’s joint-statement on critical minerals was no “panacea.”
“ We have minerals in Canada. We have copper, we have nickel, we have gold, we have a variety of things. We can’t take a page-and-a-half statement from a two-day summit as [indicating] somehow [this] will change the Canadian economy around.
“We’ve known for years that we have had this opportunity in Canada.”
Leave a comment