This weekend will provide a defining moment for the developing countries of the G20, which have elbowed their way into the clubby confines of the G8 and are now poised to tilt the world’s balance of power. It will also be a defining moment for Stephen Harper, the man who, in many ways, has placed himself at the centre of this transition.
When Mr. Harper first came to power, he was viewed as a parochial leader with little interest in foreign affairs. But over the past year he has engineered a significant shift in Canada’s foreign policy, evolving from a reluctant statesman to an adept manipulator of foreign policy. In the process, he is expanding beyond the country’s long-standing allegiance to the Euro-American alliance and toward a firmer embrace of China and India.
The fruits of that effort were evident on Thursday, when Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Ottawa for a state visit, armed with the promise of a new beginning for the Sino-Canadian relationship. The two leaders pledged to take steps to substantially expand trade volume, and Mr. Harper acknowledged they have “have yet to realize the potential of our relationship.”
Indeed, this weekend’s gathering of world leaders is the culmination of a behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign Mr. Harper began last fall. Sources said the Prime Minister was concerned that Friday’s G8 meeting would be diminished without the presence of the G20, which is rapidly emerging as the premier forum for global diplomacy.
Weeks before the world’s leaders convened for a meeting in Pittsburgh in September, Mr. Harper began agitating for a G20 meeting in Canada. South Korea, which is chairing the G20 this year and hosting a summit this November, was less than impressed, according to people familiar with the matter. Yet Mr. Harper pressed on, eventually convincing his peers in Pittsburgh that a second G20 summit was warranted.
Now, as host of these two gatherings, he has the opportunity to build a bridge between the old order and the new, and in the process, to help define how the G8 and the more expansive G20 will carve out their respective roles.
