Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much for inviting us to appear before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development to discuss issues related to next year's what is now both a G-8 and a G-20 meeting, which will be coming to Canada in June. As Mr. Sorenson said, my name

Foreign Affairs committee  I think it also gets to this issue of making the G-20, as it is beginning, more transparent and accountable for its decisions. I think as long as you have 20 countries, or eight countries, that are the same every year, they're going to pursue more of their own political interests

Foreign Affairs committee  Perhaps as a reaction to that, one of the things we have learned from this global crisis is just how interconnected we are. Back in September and October there was some thinking that perhaps economies like China, Brazil, or Russia--there are a number of countries that have built

Foreign Affairs committee  In response to your question, what we're facing now or what we're realizing now is that before, we were really dealing with the G-8; they were the governors of the global economy. Now it's clear that more people need to be at the table. So for my organization and others, a strong

Foreign Affairs committee  It really is a key opportunity. France has said that in 2011 that there won't be a G-8 any more, it will just be a G-20. We're in a huge period of transition, and that's why Canada is such a focal point. You know, it's always seen as a middle power. It can bridge the gap between

Foreign Affairs committee  There will be some overlap of organizations. We have 19 members, so that includes the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Quebec.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think, in part, it's a question of travel. There's a precedent for this happening, I believe, for Kananaskis and Halifax. There was some trouble involved when the committee held similar hearings in the lead-up to the G-8. It's in part a question of travel, but also a suggestion

Foreign Affairs committee  We've come together, over 20 groups, as a coordinating committee, and feel the three priorities for next year are climate change, the financial crisis, and a number of issues related to the millennium development goals, which will be up for review next year. I think that might be

Foreign Affairs committee  One thing we struggled with, obviously, was to try to capture all of the issues, but not do it in 100 pages. So there are a lot of elements in there that still need further defining. I mean, there are 43 low-income countries and around 60 least-developed countries, so there could

Foreign Affairs committee  The idea of democratizing the G-20 goes back several years. At the more official level, three studies have been done, two of them by former UNDP administrators, on how to go about structuring such a body. More recently, another was done by the UN Commission of Experts. It was cha

Foreign Affairs committee  Civil society is always ambitious, but I think we're hoping to have something ready by January, at least an initial report that would flesh out the principles a little bit more. If the committee were to have a hearing in February, then it could feed into that.

Foreign Affairs committee  Hello there. My name is Fraser Reilly-King. I'm with the Halifax Initiative, which is a coalition of 18 development, environment, faith-based, human rights, and labour organizations. We focus on international finance issues, with specific attention to the activities and policies

Foreign Affairs committee  We were not consulted either.

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, ideally it would be a global tax—

Foreign Affairs committee  All countries. But, for example, in Europe, if the tax just took place in the U.K. and Germany, that would cover off 97% of financial transactions.