Source Documents-G20 Summit 2010

Source A: Backgrounder –G20 Website

Group of 20 (G-20)The G20’s basic aim is to get the major economies together to come up with policies to make the world safe for markets. The G20 grew out of the G8, in an attempt to provide an expanded forum for both the richest and the emerging market countries to join “the core of global economic discussion and governance”

The G20 groups the EU and 19 countries — Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Republic of Korea, Turkey, Britain, and the US. It also invites the International Monetary Fund and the Word Bank to be part of the meetings.

The G20 economies account for 90 percent of global output, 80 percent of world trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population.

Last year in Pittsburgh, the G20 announced that it would focus on international economic issues in the attempt to deal with global crises. They are currently discussing how best to make the world safe for markets and capitalism, and, within that paradigm, there are differences among countries.

For example, European countries are pushing for a global tax on banks (background) to pay for economic crises, while Canada has come out strongly opposed (and is, thus far, winning the fight). They are planning to spend a great deal of time talking about the Greek debt crisis, and the crisis in the Eurozone. They are also looking at economic reform and, given its neoliberal orientation, a large part of their reform focus is on cutting deficits, cutting social spending, and chopping public workers gains, viewing them as ‘wasteful’.

Critics call the G20 an unofficial global government promoting neoliberal economics. Whenever there is a choice to be made between the interests of corporate power and the interests of the population, they support the needs of corporations. All the while, they neglect climate change by pushing the issue to the bottom of the agenda.

They see the G20 as playing the role of global cop and global financial ‘reform’ facilitator – without accountability to the people they speak for and at the expense of the poor and dispossessed. This is why there are always protests when the G20 and G8 come to (any) town.

Group of 8 (G8)The G8 is the original economic planning organization of the richest countries of the world (it was the G7 before Russia joined in 1997, and the G6 before Canada joined in 1975). As the G20 has become more prominent in economic coordination, the G8 has begun to take on a different role, focusing more on the ‘soft’ issues of development, the environment, and international security. Critics argue that the focus on these issues is a means to support and provide the infrastructure for access to markets, rather than being an end in themselves. Market-based solutions rule at the G8.

In any case, the G8 may be folded into the G20 at the 2010 Toronto/Huntsville summits. This would leave the G20 as the preeminent body on all these issues – with economic stability and promoting market solutions as its core agenda.

Source B: Background Summit IssuesKey summit issuesG8:Maternal health: Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants to make the plight of mothers and infants in the developing world Canada's "signature" initiative at the G8 summit. "Far too many lives and unexplored futures have already been lost for want of relatively simple health care solutions," he said in a January statement.

However, Mr. Harper has insisted abortion should not be part of the package. Initially, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said the plan wouldn't include birth control, but Mr. Harper quickly reversed course.

The proposal has already proved controversial. During a G8 foreign ministers meeting in Canada in late March, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs David Miliband took issue with the initiative, arguing any effort to improve the health of mothers in poor countries must include access to abortion. "You cannot have maternal health without reproductive health," Ms. Clinton said. "And reproductive health includes contraception and family planning and access to legal, safe abortion."

Related Links: Ottawa Notebook : Conservatives accused of 'willfully ignoring' contraception research Globe and Mail: Birth control won't be in G8 plan to protect mothers, Tories say Globe and Mail: Mr. Harper, 'maternal health' isn't very healthy without a choice Rabble.ca : Stephen Harper's maternal health disaster Maclean's.ca : Harper's G8 "maternal health" plan: 0 for 3 and counting

Iran:Mr. Harper has signalled he wants to see the G8 agree on a unified set of new sanctions aimed at Iran's nuclear weapons program.However, the final statement of a G8 foreign ministers meeting in Gatineau, Que., in March, called for the international community to take strong steps on Iran's nuclear program without mentioning the word "sanctions." Most of the foreign ministers maintain the issue of fresh sanctions belongs with the UN Security Council, where a reluctant China is considered an impediment.

Related links: Globe and Mail: Canada pushes G8 on Iran sanctions International Business Times : G8 foreign ministers to focus on Iran sanctions

G20:Global economic policy: Leaders will focus on banking reforms aimed at strengthening international financial institutions, which were outlined at last September's G20 summit in Pittsburgh. The proposals include requiring banks to keep more reserves, shed more light on various corners of the financial system and curb big bonuses that encourage excessive risk-taking by executives.

Additional measures:

Global bank tax: The contentious issue has split G20 leaders. While the U.S., Britain, Germany and France support a bank levy, Canada is against a tax on the grounds that it would unfairly punish countries that avoided multi-billion bank rescues during the financial crisis. The G20 asked the International Monetary Fund to study how to ensure taxpayers don't foot the bill for future bank bailouts. The IMF's final recommendation will be ready for June.

Balanced and sustainable economic growth: In Pittsburgh, the G20 pledged to avoid self-interested economic policies that threaten the global economy. This kind of measure has been promised before. The twist this time is that each country has promised to submit their economic projections and policies for peer review, the first of which will be in Toronto.

Trade: Canada is pushing for a commitment to reducing trade barriers. Surprisingly, countries have avoided protectionist trade policies. Canada wants countries to stop playing "defense" and go on the "offense."

However, turning pledges into co-ordinated action is facing resistance over timing and substance in some quarters. "We all have a mutual responsibility to deliver on all our commitments to address the weaknesses that led to the financial crisis," the G20's steering countries said in a letter to group members in March. And IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Hahn lamented in a March speech that the lesson from the financial crisis - the need to find global solutions to global economic and financial problems - "is about to be lost."

Source: "Background: Summit Issues." The Globe and Mail. N.p., 28 Apr. 2010. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.

Source C:G20 Accountabilty by the Numbers Info Graphic

Source: "Canadian Civil Liberties Association." Canadian Civil Liberties Association RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.