There has been a lot of talk about the upcoming G20 and G8 summits soon to take place on Canadian soil. It seems that there is no shortage of things to dislike about the fast-approaching meeting of industrial world leaders. For us at The Ontarion, it’s almost overwhelming to try and pin-down one bone to pick with the upcoming summit; so we won’t pick one.

First and foremost, there’s the basic notion of what the G8 and G20 summits stand for. Both are meetings discussing economic policy with goals of growth and the expansion of industry. These talks notoriously work to improve the economic standings of the industrial nations present to the detriment of smaller developing countries. The decisions made at these summits often increase the disparity between the wealthy nations and those who are struggling economically. This compounded with the fact that many philanthropic promises made by the G8, like the billions of dollars promised to help reduce global poverty, ultimately come up short.

Then there’s the money. All G8 and G20 summits are expensive despite the fact that many argue that what is accomplished in these meetings could be done just as well using the standard diplomatic channels or video conference. This being said, the upcoming summits, the G8 in Huntsville and the G20 in Toronto are going to be the most expensive summits ever. 1.2 billion dollars will have been spent on the three-day event, which is more than was spent on the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and several hundred million more than the second most expensive summit held in Japan in 2008. This, on top of the fact that the public was only recently made aware of the exorbitant amount of money being spent on the summits, which can’t come across as anything other than an attempt to sweep this expense under the rug. Government officials maintain that this is money well spent and that hosting prominent world leaders is an expensive business with much of the funds going to security. But other nations have hosted summits before without such a large security budget, have they not?

And then there’s what has been purchased in the name of security for the events. Thousands of riot police and security officials have been hired for the summits, one of the main concerns being the hordes of protesters expected to demonstrate at the two summits. Four sound cannons, crowd control devises that send out focused and severe sound waves causing permanent hearing damage to those in its range, have been purchased. Each one costs a whopping $25,000. It has been speculated that these devises could be abused by the security officials wielding them; the risk being that even those who have chosen to demonstrate peacefully will be effected in the event of their use.

Ultimately, there are many more unmentioned reasons that should compel one to question or even oppose the upcoming G20 and G8. Whether their concern is that a lot of money is being spent poorly, or there is a lack of transparency about the summits actual proceedings, or they find a problem with the basic concept that a small group of leaders representing industrialized nations are making decisions affecting everyone else. Ultimately, The Ontarion has bones to pick with the summits but rather than taking our word for it, look into it for yourselves. And if you find something that doesn’t seem right, do something about it.

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