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Calgary Herald
4 days ago
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Varcoe: 'It produced' – G7 leaders make 148 commitments at Kananaskis summit
Article content 'He (Carney) succeeded in maintaining unity,' French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday in French while speaking to reporters. Article content 'He held the group together with the elegance and determination that characterize him.' Article content By that measure, it largely succeeded. Article content For those who ventured close to the gathering, an hour's drive west of Calgary, security was tight, extensive and obvious. Article content Officials from the G7 Integrated Safety and Security Group didn't say on Wednesday what the expected security costs would be, or the number of officers involved during the summit. Article content But given the previous price tags tied to hosting these events — one G7 watcher estimated the tab at Kananaskis could be near $300 million, although other summits have been higher — was it necessary to shoulder the costs and closure of parts of the popular Rocky Mountain area for security reasons? Article content Article content 'Without question. And why? Because we're a trade-dependent country,' said Hall Findlay, a former federal MP. Article content 'Particularly when you have our neighbour to the south (who's) maybe less reliable than we'd thought for the past five decades, we need friends and allies around the world, both for economic as well as security purposes.' Article content Article content The G7 summit also saw a series of bilateral one-on-ones between the leaders take place, a type of diplomatic 'speed dating' that conference veterans say is invaluable for first-time attendees. Article content Aside from talking with G7 members, Carney also met other country leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, who were invited by Canada to the final day of the gathering. Article content With the joint issues statements — including one released Monday regarding the Israel-Iran conflict — and the chair's closing summary, the G7 countries made 148 separate commitments, said John Kirton, director of the G7 Research Group at the University of Toronto. Article content Article content He noted that the agreements on wildfires and quantum computing were new and significant for the group. Article content Carney also announced Canada would impose further sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, targeting Moscow's 'shadow fleet and energy revenues.' Article content 'It produced a significant performance with meaningful advances across all of its security, economy, technology and democracy priorities,' Kirton said Wednesday. Article content 'If you look at substance, the fact that every one (of the statements) was agreed by everybody, of course, is a major achievement this year, given the unique difficulties members anticipated — and have had in the past — with Donald Trump.' Article content While Trump left early, he met Carney wearing a pin showing paired U.S. and Canadian flags and talked positively about their discussions. Article content For Canada's prime minister, it was also essential to see progress on the trade front with the United States, added Kirton. Article content
National Observer
4 days ago
- Politics
- National Observer
G7 leaders agree to 'charter' on wildfires and pledge global co-operation
Leaders of the G7 have agreed to co-operate on efforts to manage the impacts of devastating wildfires, which are surging for another summer across Canada. The leaders are calling it the Kananaskis Wildfire Charter and it's believed to be a groundbreaking commitment for G7 leaders. It's a timely statement, as Canada continues to face another destructive wildfire season that has forced thousands from their homes. In Manitoba earlier this week, some of the province's 21,000 evacuees were given the green light to return home. "These increasingly extreme wildfires are endangering lives, affecting human health, destroying homes and ecosystems, and costing governments and taxpayers billions of dollars each year," the leaders wrote in a joint statement. Wildfires have been mentioned in past G7 communiqués, but in far less detail. At last year's summit, leaders agreed in a one-sentence commitment to prevent and manage the negative impacts of wildfires. In 2023, wildfires were not mentioned, but leaders reaffirmed previous commitments to reversing deforestation by 2030 — a pledge included in the charter. The charter, published on the final day of the summit Tuesday, lays out steps all G7 countries and five non-member countries will take to prevent fires, collaborate on research and improve community rebuilding efforts. The countries say they will reduce the risk of extreme fires through sustainable forest management and Indigenous land management techniques, such as controlled burning. A pledge to mitigate and respond to the impact of fires on human health is included — an apparent reference to volumes of wildfire smoke that have travelled oceans and crossed borders in recent summers. They also committed to collecting and sharing data and finding better ways to provide timely access to basic firefighting equipment. "This is a really good step forward in international wildfire co-operation," said Ilya Goheen with the University of Toronto's G7 Research Group. He said it's likely the first wildfire charter to ever come from G7 leaders. However, the charter doesn't mention climate change, which scientists say is partly responsible for the more frequent and intense fires seen in recent years. Goheen said leaders may have avoided the phrase to placate US President Donald Trump, who has taken specific aim at dismantling federal policies aimed at addressing climate change. One Canadian climate advocacy organization took notice of its absence. Caroline Brouillette, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada, said the country catered to the "lowest common denominator" to appease the US president and failed the test of its climate leadership. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, in his closing news conference, mentioned climate change as he listed numerous challenges facing the world. He said recovering from wildfires is something felt "intensely here in the Prairies." The charter comes as Canada battles yet another devastating wildfire season and almost one year after flames ripped through Jasper, a town 250 kilometres north of the G7 summit site in Kananaskis. Carney laid the groundwork for wildfires to feature in G7 discussions, formally highlighting the issue as a priority for the gathering. In separate bilateral meetings in Calgary on Sunday, he thanked the leaders of Australia and South Africa for their firefighting support. The charter was signed by non-G7 leaders from Australia, India, Mexico, South Korea and South Africa, all invited to the summit by Carney. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2025.
eNCA
6 days ago
- Politics
- eNCA
What's not being discussed at G7 as Trump shapes agenda
KANANASKIS - Gender equality, climate change, biodiversity, poverty, health, gay rights and more -- the list of issues missing at the Canada G7 from past summits is long. The G7 gathering has been carefully planned to ensure US President Donald Trump agreed to attend at all and Canada is keen to avoid a public dust-up. Official agenda items are the global economic outlook and energy security, with organisers naming priorities as critical mineral supply chains and AI adoption, as well as "international peace and security." Last year's Group of Seven summit in Italy, when Joe Biden was US president, ended with a joint declaration promising better ties with Africa, action on poverty, and determination to tackle "the triple crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss." Such subjects are almost totally absent at the G7 talks this year in order to placate Trump, said John Kirton of the G7 Research Group at the University of Toronto. "There's no point in putting them on the agenda if the Americans will just refuse to discuss them. And if you put too many of them on, Trump wouldn't even come," he said. Kirton added that the schedule was also crowded out by crises from Ukraine to the Middle East, with G7 nations increasingly concerned with defense spending rather than development aid. For the G7 -- founded 50 years ago by the world's leading economies at the time -- such a lurch in priorities poses major questions about the club's purpose and future. But, for the Trump administration, the group is just returning to its original function of promoting global economic stability and growth. "Canada knows its audience and if it wants a unified outcome of this year's G7 leaders summit then it should stick close to traditional G7 values while avoiding controversial topics," said Caitlin Welsh of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. - 'Retreat' from world problems - The impact on the ground has alarmed many campaigners who say the G7 reduction of foreign aid is hitting millions of world's poorest, threatening food supplies, water, education and health. "The G7's retreat from the world is unprecedented and couldn't come at a worse time," said Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar. 'Rather than breaking from the Trump administration's cruel dismantling of USAID and other US foreign assistance, G7 countries like the UK, Germany and France are instead following the same path." Oxfam calculated that G7 nations, which provide three-quarters of all official development assistance, are cutting aid by 28 percent between 2024 and 2026. No joint communique is expected at the end of the summit on Tuesday to avoid the potential failure for all members to agree on the text. But there is one way that the non-US members of the G7 are fighting back -- discreetly. An unexpected item on the agenda is to "boost collaboration to prevent, fight and recover from wildfires." The wildfire issue "allows us to talk about climate change without saying it directly because we know that unfortunately not everyone likes it," a Canadian official speaking anonymously told AFP. Both Canada and the United States are increasingly affected by major forest fires -- worsened by climate change -- including blazes that burned down swathes of Los Angeles earlier this year. Professor Kirton said the wildfire's agenda tactic was "clever rather than sneaky." "They saw wildfires as a point of entry, and one that would work with Donald Trump." Kirton highlighted that wildfires are currently causing damage across the US states of North and South Carolina, both Trump heartlands. "That's getting into his MAGA base," he said. by Ben Sheppard
Calgary Herald
6 days ago
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Wildfires burning issue at G7 as activists doubt it'll translate into action
BANFF — Activists are hoping the G7 summit's focus on collectively tackling wildfires rekindles efforts to suppress the fast-spreading scourge. Article content Prime Minister Mark Carney has maintained Canada's commitment to make wildfire an agenda issue at this week's Kananaskis summit with his statement released earlier this month vowing committing its countries to 'strengthening peace and security, countering foreign interference and transnational crime, and improving joint responses to wildfires.' Article content Article content Article content On Monday, wildfires, whose reach has touched nearly all of the G7 nations, was being discussed in one of the sessions and is scheduled to come up again among nations invited by Canada to Kananaskis. Article content Article content It's no accident Carney is eager to include the problem in high level talks that seek to achieve a joint, international approach, said Prof. John Kirton of the G7 Research Group at the University of Toronto. Article content 'Of course, Carney (as a former central bank governor) was known as the climate financier – he cares a lot and he knows a lot about it,' said Kirton, who was a forest firefighter in the mid-1960s. Article content 'The G7 has done nothing serious on wildfires until now and will be a brand new, out-of-the-blue focus due to Canada.' Article content While wildfires have severely scorched some European nations in recent years, Canada's view of its urgency has been driven by catastrophic blazes that have partly or completely destroyed the towns of Lytton, B.C. and Jasper in Alberta, he said. Article content Article content Data compiled by University of Maryland researchers show that from 2001 to 2023, wildfires burnt 5.4 per cent more territory each year. Article content While the number of blazes hasn't increased, their size and intensity has, with scientists saying climate change has dried forests, making them burn for fiercely and lengthening wildfire seasons. Article content Canada set a record for the amount of land scorched by the fires in 2023 and the following year, a runaway blaze destroyed a third of the town of Jasper and so far this year, large blazes have torched large tracts of the northern prairie provinces, spreading toxic smoke to distant places as far away as the UK. Article content In Calgary, the number of smoke-filled days due to wildfires have climbed dramatically in recent years, from a yearly average of 12 hours from 1981 to 2010 to a record 512 hours in 2023.
CTV News
6 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
What's not being discussed at G7 as Trump shapes agenda
Mounties wait in front of Air Force 1 as U.S. President Donald Trump arrives in Calgary, Alta., on Sunday, June 15, 2025, to attend the G7 leaders meeting taking place in Kananaskis. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh Kananaskis, Canada — Gender equality, climate change, biodiversity, poverty, health, gay rights and more - the list of issues missing at the Canada G7 from past summits is long. The G7 gathering has been carefully planned to ensure U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to attend at all and Canada is keen to avoid a public dust-up. Official agenda items are the global economic outlook and energy security, with organizers naming priorities as critical mineral supply chains and AI adoption, as well as 'international peace and security.' Last year's Group of Seven summit in Italy, when Joe Biden was U.S. president, ended with a joint declaration promising better ties with Africa, action on poverty, and determination to tackle 'the triple crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.' Such subjects are almost totally absent at the G7 talks this year in order to placate Trump, said John Kirton of the G7 Research Group at the University of Toronto. 'There's no point in putting them on the agenda if the Americans will just refuse to discuss them. And if you put too many of them on, Trump wouldn't even come,' he said. Kirton added that the schedule was also crowded out by crises from Ukraine to the Middle East, with G7 nations increasingly concerned with defense spending rather than development aid. For the G7 - founded 50 years ago by the world's leading economies at the time - such a lurch in priorities poses major questions about the club's purpose and future. But, for the Trump administration, the group is just returning to its original function of promoting global economic stability and growth. 'Canada knows its audience and if it wants a unified outcome of this year's G7 leaders summit then it should stick close to traditional G7 values while avoiding controversial topics,' said Caitlin Welsh of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'Retreat' from world problems The impact on the ground has alarmed many campaigners who say the G7 reduction of foreign aid is hitting millions of world's poorest, threatening food supplies, water, education and health. 'The G7's retreat from the world is unprecedented and couldn't come at a worse time,' said Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar. 'Rather than breaking from the Trump administration's cruel dismantling of USAID and other U.S. foreign assistance, G7 countries like the U.K., Germany and France are instead following the same path.' Oxfam calculated that G7 nations, which provide three-quarters of all official development assistance, are cutting aid by 28 percent between 2024 and 2026. No joint communique is expected at the end of the summit on Tuesday to avoid the potential failure for all members to agree on the text. But there is one way that the non-U.S. members of the G7 are fighting back - discreetly. An unexpected item on the agenda is to 'boost collaboration to prevent, fight and recover from wildfires.' The wildfire issue 'allows us to talk about climate change without saying it directly because we know that unfortunately not everyone likes it,' a Canadian official speaking anonymously told AFP. Both Canada and the U.S. are increasingly affected by major forest fires - worsened by climate change - including blazes that burnt down swathes of Los Angeles earlier this year. Professor Kirton said the wildfires agenda tactic was 'clever rather than sneaky.' 'They saw wildfires as a point of entry, and one that would work with Donald Trump.' Kirton highlighted that wildfires are currently causing damage across the U.S. states of North and South Carolina, both Trump heartlands. 'That's getting into his MAGA base,' he said. By Ben Sheppard.
