Miller responds

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 6:20 PM - 0 Comments

A serious-looking David Miller—hands firmly gripping the sides of the lectern, arms straight, the studio lights unhelpfully casting shadows across his face—has addressed reporters here at the international media centre, expressing what he said was a mix of anger, outrage and sadness. The individuals responsible for violence in Toronto this afternoon came here, he said, with the intention of inciting violence and did just that. He referred to the perpetrators as “criminals”—”I will not dignify their activities by calling them protesters.” He noted that peaceful protests take place here everyday, and at one point he referred to the events today as “unToronto.”

He commended the police forces and dismissed those who suggested police should have done more to stem the violence. He had previously stated his opposition to the summit site in downtown Toronto—the mayor would have rather it been staged on the exhibition grounds—but dismissed a request to reflect on that stance given today’s events. He assured residents that, while the core should be avoided for the moment, the city is safe and police are pursuing the wrongdoers. He maintained that none of today’s troubles will detract from the successful story his city has to tell.

In pieces

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 4:26 PM - 33 Comments

The fire was apparently a police car. Our Stephanie Findlay has photos. Retail stores, banks and a least one strip club have reportedly also been attacked. Via Twitter, the NDP’s Olivia Chow condemns.

Hope the pp using violence #G20 would be arrested as they are hijacking thousands of peaceful pp, esp women/children.

Black Bloc pp have nothing in common with the peaceful rally. All they are doing is to justify huge security spending.

Open-ended resolution

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 4:12 PM - 0 Comments

Reuters gets a preview of the G20 communique.

A G20 source said no country-specific economic policy recommendations were expected to be included in the official statement to be released at the summit’s conclusion on Sunday. Instead, the group will likely agree on the need to reduce deficits while allowing countries to choose their own pace.

One G20 official said a draft statement welcomes China’s announcement last weekend that it was loosening its grip on the yuan currency. The phrase could be excised from the final communique, however, because it may not sit well with Beijing, which has insisted its exchange rate is a sovereign matter that has no place on the G20 agenda.

The group will also give countries a choice on whether to levy a tax on banks to recoup the cost of bailouts.

The view from inside the bubble

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 3:50 PM - 0 Comments

The Prime Minister has just appeared on the large monitors at the front of the room, his opening remarks to business leaders in downtown Toronto beamed in to the media centre here. Clusters of reporters are gathered around smaller TV screens with news footage of the protests downtown—reports of smashed storefronts and now images of a rather menacing-looking fire. And every so often a great roar goes up from elsewhere in the building where, one assumes, people are watching the World Cup.

News of G8's demise greatly exaggerated

By John Geddes - Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 3:29 PM - 10 Comments

Speculation that the G8 is on its way out, doomed to be replaced by the newfangled G20, was dismissed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper at his closing news conference from the smaller, old-school summit earlier today from Huntsville, Ont.

The theory (as mentioned here, for example) is that the G20, with fast-rising economies like China and Brazil in its ranks, is bound to eclipse the fusty old club of only European, North American and Japanese leaders. The G20′s impressive start in orchestrating a global reaction to the economic crisis of 2008/09 bolsters the case that it is the leaders’ forum of the future.

Continue…

Puzzling outbreak of gratitude at G8

By Andrew Coyne - Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 2:53 PM - 9 Comments

Summitry is difficult enough for the summiteers — witness the months of preparation and hours of final drafting that go into the final communique. But consider the equally delicate challenge facing the activist groups monitoring the G8 and G20: how to calibrate their reaction. You think summit sherpas agonize over every nuance of phrasing? So must the anonymous drones who write up the press releases from “civil society” groups. Are we “outraged”? “Disheartened”? “Alarmed”? Or “cautiously optimistic”?

The G8’s Muskoka Initiative on maternal and child health is a case in point. I had barely arrived at the press centre yesterday when an activist from one of the many Canadian aid groups who have been pressing for action on this front buttonholed me to say how pleased she was at the news: the government of Canada had committed another $1.1-billion over five years, on top of $1.75-billion in existing pledges. “It’s everything we’d hoped for,” she beamed. “We’ve been working towards this day for 11 months.”

I was taken aback. These people are never satisfied. In a way, it’s their job not to be satisfied. How could this be?

Sure enough, within an hour another activist group, World Vision Canada, had weighed in with its response, and all was right with the universe again. “World Vision on Muskoka Initiative: Deeply concerned G8 will fail to deliver for mothers and children,” it read. “While we applaud the Prime Minister for his leadership, as things stand now, the Muskoka Initiative looks more like a down payment than an adequate investment, and won’t reach as far as it could to stop needless early deaths… The G8 has less than 24 hours left for its leaders to demonstrate credibility on aid promises and turn disappointment into celebration.”

By today, however, the world had turned again. “World Vision heartened by child and maternal health funding progress,” read the mid-day release. “World Vision is grateful for Canada’s leadership and strong commitment to child and maternal health and the G8’s commitment to build the fund to $10 billion.

“Despite lower-than-expected funding for development from some countries at this summit we refuse to lose sight of the fact that this G8 summit has brought us incrementally closer to meeting the [Millennium Development Goals].”

The glass, it seems, is no longer disappointingly empty. It’s incrementally full.

ADDENDUM: Then there are these two press releases we received from the Fissile Materials Working Group, “a coalition of more than 40 leading experts in nuclear security.”

Experts Praise Extension of G-8 Global Partnership

Toronto, Ontario — The Fissile Materials Working Group (FMWG) … praised G-8 leaders renewal of their commitment to address the spread of materials and weapons of mass destruction, and to prevent nuclear terrorism…

On the other hand,

Experts Disappointed by Failure to Extend G-8 Global Partnership

Toronto, Ontario — The Fissile Materials Working Group (FMWG) … is disappointed G-8 leaders failed to renew their commitment to address the spread of materials and weapons of mass destruction, and to prevent nuclear terrorism…

One of these was sent out yesterday, the other today. I’m just not sure which is which.

Un challenge

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 2:48 PM - 5 Comments

Nicolas Sarkozy, host of next year’s G8, makes a declaration of bold specificity.

“I thank my Canadian friends for their contribution. I don’t know how it was organized,” he said in French. “I can tell you we are in a hotel where the comfort is extremely sufficient and extremely reasonable. I haven’t seen anything sumptuous. As for the French G8/G20, even though I can’t confirm the Canadian numbers, they will be ten times less. Exactly.”

The new breed

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 2:22 PM - 4 Comments

Interesting observation from the Prime Minister near the conclusion of this news conference today.

“I’ve never been at a summit where leaders seemed to more deeply feel the necessity of common action and common purpose. Why is that? Some of it may be some of the personalities around the table and the generational change that’s taken place in the G8 over the past few years.”

There is perhaps something to this.

Mr. Harper succeeded Paul Martin in 2006. Since then, in roughly this order, Nicolas Sarkozy has replaced Jacques Chirac, Dmitry Medvedev has filled the spot of Vladimir Putin, Silvio Berlusconi has returned to power in Italy, Barack Obama has succeeded George W. Bush, David Cameron has succeeded Gordon Brown and Naoto Kan has replaced Yukio Hatoyama. Of the eight leaders who attended the Prime Minister’s first G8, at St. Petersburg in 2006, only Mr. Harper and Germany’s Angela Merkel remain. And of the new arrivals, five—Harper, Obama, Cameron, Sarkozy and Medvedev—are 55 years old or younger.

Welcome to G20 Toronto, plus gay Pride begins!

By Mitchel Raphael - Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 12:52 PM - 3 Comments

Protesters protesting everything took to the streets.

Continue…

Scenes from outside the summit: Day 2

By Julia Belluz, Josh Dehaas, Stephanie Findlay, and Jane Switzer - Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 12:50 PM - 27 Comments

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

10:38 pm [Stephanie]

This is at Yonge and Front. Despite reports to the contrary, there are no protesters, but a lot of of police—all in full riot gear.

6:44 pm [Stephanie]

Protesters at Yonge and King chanting, "You're sexy, you're cute, take off your riot suit."

5:45 pm [Josh]

At Yonge and Wellington: A cop directing traffic yells, “Hey, stop,” at a woman walking east and runs quickly toward her. He backs her up against the wall of an office building and asks her where she’s going. He demands to know what’s in her black backpack. She starts rifling through and pulls out a plastic baggie with water bottles in it. Another cop has joined the interrogation. He yanks the baggie out of her hand and starts unscrewing the bottles and smelling the contents. He looks alarmed and yells at her not to touch her bag and tells her to produce ID. She reaches into her pocket and passes him her passport. They run her name through the system and then let her go. “If there’s a risk of being tear gassed you can place vinegar on a medical mask or a bandana to neutralize it,” says Claire Morcos, explaining what was in the offending bottle. “I brought it down with me to essentially protect myself.” Morcos says she is here to videotape the protests, not to protest.

4:49 pm [Stephanie]

The 'rubber' bullet is made of hard, hard plastic. I'm going to make sure I avoid getting hit by one of those.

3:53 pm [Stephanie]

Protesters move east.

3:48 pm [Stephanie]

A burning police car at Bay and King—the riot flares up (ha!).

3:42 pm [Julia]

Riot police march down Queen west after face-off between cops and protesters.

The Weigel affair: shooting the watchdog

By Colby Cosh - Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 12:48 PM - 14 Comments

Friday’s big American media story was the resignation of Washington Post weblogger and conservative-movement specialist Dave Weigel, who came under pressure when gossips obtained some of his tart-tongued and borderline nutty private e-mails to Journolist (a controversial private online club for young liberal media personnel which itself collapsed amidst all the chaos and poo-flinging). By a weird happenstance, Canada’s most remote, reclusive correspondent actually knows Weigel slightly. In February 2008, at the peak of the presidential primary campaigns, I spent a week slouching around the Washington offices of Reason, the libertarian magazine where he then worked.

Weigel was one of the more interesting figures in that scene: trained more conventionally in “traditional” journalism than other Reasonites, he was the detail-oriented data guy in the newsroom, par excellence. If somebody needed to know whether Tom Dewey won Illinois or how big the Pennsylvania congressional delegation was, it was pretty much fifty-fifty whether they’d Google it or Weigel it. My impression of him was that he was sarcastic, a little tightly wound and, not improperly, conscious of his own cleverness. He’s a type of person I find it pretty easy to get along with.

Weigel’s personal politics—liberal? Left-libertarian?—were not on display while I was there. I’m sure his bosses, Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie, knew of his views at least in a general way, and I’m equally confident that they didn’t really care, because he was doing good reporting for them, as he did for the Post. Ideological media enterprises in Reason‘s category need to have someone with the “right” philosophy holding a golden share and making editorial-line decisions. But with that condition met, they can find tasks for anybody who is prepared to be fair and inquisitive.* For all I know, Reason‘s Radley Balko, who covers paramilitary excesses in policing and incompetence in the U.S. justice system, might be earnestly in favour of eugenics for Uzbeks. Would this somehow alter the (immense) value of his reporting?

Weigel is interested in movement conservatism and well-informed about it, so Reason handed him an oar and got him underway with his career of documenting its weirder fringes. It should not be a fatal problem that he privately loathes movementarian robot Republicans, unless some evidence of persistent inaccuracy can be shown in what the man publishes. And Weigel’s published journalism has held up to counterattacks pretty well everywhere he has worked. It seems somewhat cowardly of the Post to have asked him to step down for reasons completely unrelated to what appears under his byline, especially in the face of what constitutes at least a misdemeanour attack on his privacy.

After all, why can’t there be a critic/observer of Palin-Beck conservatism who hates much of Palin-Beck conservatism? Who, frankly, reports on anything for any length of time without developing some contempt for it? Isn’t it possible to argue that it should be a prerequisite rather than a disqualifier?

Weigel did commit enough technical infractions against fairness to feel the need to issue an apology on some minor points before he resigned. And one extract from Journolist did raise concerns about his fundamental ability to be fair: commenting on the Massachusetts special Senate election, he told fellow list members that “pointing out Coakley’s awfulness is vital, because…unreasonable panic about it is doing more damage to the Democrats.” I would consider such narrative-framing for the sake of a party interest (as opposed to an ideological preference) a problem even for an opinion columnist, let alone a beat reporter. (Weigel’s work for WaPo was poorly specified, but certainly somewhere on this spectrum.)

“Fairness” means being hypothetically prepared to attack any party or person; I figure if you want to be a partisan hack, you should go be one, and work on the supply side of the quote machine. But that’s one slip amongst many thousands of words, and I am not sure anyone at all could survive the level of scrutiny to which Weigel’s private conversations were subjected. The Post‘s failure to defend him seems dangerous to its practical ability to create and sell interesting journalism.

*(These outfits can end up more diverse intellectually than “objective” news organs; in any place where explicit opinions and “biases” are suppressed, it becomes easy to end up with a homogenous nicey-nice liberal workforce whose members never challenge each other. The letters “CBC” might have magically appeared just now in your mind’s eye upon reading that.)

The G8 communique

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 12:43 PM - 3 Comments

The Prime Minister, full of brave words of confidence and assurance, has just addressed reporters on the conclusion of G8 meetings in Huntsville. He seems mostly pleased.

After the jump, the full text, some 7600 words, of the final G8 communique. Continue…

A walk on Toronto's streets, emptied by the summit

By John Geddes - Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 11:50 AM - 0 Comments

Toronto was quiet this morning. The prospect of G20 summit protests, mixed with some confusion over which thoroughfares are actually closed, had folks avoiding the downtown streets. With rain failing so softly there was no need to open an umbrella, I didn’t bother catching a cab outside my hotel on Bloor Street, and strolled south instead along St. George Street through the nearly deserted University of Toronto campus.

U of T shows well even when it’s not bustling. A minivan of Chinese visitors with summit passes around their necks were snapping pictures of University College, a high-Victorian marvel that never fails to impress. But I was more struck by all the new buildings and construction; I paused try to imagine what the Rotman business school’s expansion will look like when it’s completed in a couple of years. Handsome, I imagine, given that it’s another project of  Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg, the architects behind the Royal Conservatory of Music’s celebrated new Koerner Hall (not far away on Bloor) and Winnipeg’s innovative Manitoba Hydro Place.

Still drifting south in the general direction of the summit’s media centre, which is on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds, I checked to see if I could find a bite of breakfast somewhere in the fun cluster of restaurants tucked on Baldwin Street. No luck—all closed. (And I was dismayed to see the venerable Yung Sing pastry shop looking shut for good. When did that happen?)

South a couple of blocks further and I took in the exhilarating curvy sweep of the new Frank Gehry-designed front of the Art Gallery of Ontario. Nice the way the celebrated Gehry expansion leaves intact the most satisfying angle of the old AGO—the northeast corner anchored by Henry Moore’s eight-ton Large Two Forms, its bronze worn shiny where kids can’t resist sliding on it, though none where around this morning.

A notch south of the art gallery along McCaul Street and it’s impossible not to smile at the Ontario College of Art and Design’s Sharp Centre for Design. In case you haven’t seen it, or at least a picture, it’s a white-and-black building lifted nine stories in the air on slanted coloured stilts. Smack dab in the centre of the sheltered space beneath the suspended structure, a woman practiced tai chi solo this morning, which somehow tied the whole crazy thing together.

A few minutes later, turning west on Queen Street, I realized the rain was falling just hard enough to wet my shoulders, so I flagged down a cab, and ended my little foot tour remembering why I like this city so well.

No pressure

By Aaron Wherry - Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 11:21 AM - 4 Comments

Greetings from Toronto, where the only thing raining on the summit parade is, in fact, rain.

The Prime Minister is due to speak to a news conference round noon to wrap the G8 proceedings in Huntsville. About the same time, protesters should be massing in downtown Toronto for an afternoon protest that is being touted as potential trouble—and may only add to concerns about a “secret” law that would seem to grant police special powers near the summit site. Mr. Harper will then turn his attention to the G20, where he is apparently expected to lead the world’s economic superpowers to unanimity on the most contentious issues of 21st century fiscal management.

So yeah. The next 48 hours promise to be at least interesting.

Notes from a non-event

By Nicholas Köhler - Friday, June 25, 2010 at 9:14 PM - 0 Comments

First, a few perhaps-apocryphal yarns from the cottage country bush.

A few days ago, a woman entered the brush somewhere on the outskirts of Huntsville, Ont., the Muskoka town that’s long been in preparations for the G8 summit that began today. Behind a curtain of wood, she had taken the first two or three steps toward relieving herself (not an uncommon procedure for a woman in these climes, as it turns out) when she heard a voice: “Excuse me m’am,” the voice said. “You are not alone.”

This is the first little narrative in a new series devoted to that most mysterious of G8 figures in Huntsville, the camouflaged soldier hidden in the wood.

Continue…

Harper before the world

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, June 25, 2010 at 9:03 PM - 43 Comments

Whatever his periodic outbursts, his apparent desire to destroy his political opponents, Mr. Harper prefers the understated. Whoever he is in Question Period, he is a different performer when the stage is wider.

Tonight, for instance, there were no theatric shrugs, that gesture he has come to lean on when dismissiveness or sarcasm strikes him. Tonight, behind a wood lectern on a stage awash in summit logos, his shoulders barely budged.

He strolled on and off stage with a slightly embarrassed look and he delivered his news humbly, announcing a big fat number for his preferred cause almost in passing. He didn’t dwell on his government’s decision to forgive Haiti its debts.

Continue…

Don't worry your pretty little heads

By Anne Kingston - Friday, June 25, 2010 at 8:10 PM - 5 Comments

As anyone familiar with Ontario cottage country knows, the “Muskoka Experience” usually involves a burger with onion rings from Webers on Highway 11, hours of sitting in molasses traffic and the frustration of navigating the packed parking lot of the Port Carling IGA. Yet these traditional activities were totally absent from the “Muskoka Experience” served up during the first official “spousal” activity of the G20 weekend—one that set the predictable low-on-substance tone.

The first clue? Muskoka itself was absent. Not that we should be surprised. As summit spokesperson Beatrice Fenelon told one media outlet last week, security logistics made it impossible to provide a separate “spousal program” at the G8 gathering in Huntsville where more serious stuff is on the schedule. As she put it: “The G8 is primarily a business meeting.”

Continue…

Sizing up the G8's maternal and child health promise

By John Geddes - Friday, June 25, 2010 at 8:05 PM - 10 Comments

There’s much debate and some confusion here in the Toronto media centre for the G8 and G20 summits about what to make of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s announcement earlier this evening on cash for maternal and child health.

The questions revolve around whether the G8 has come up with as much as could reasonably have been expected, or less. The conclusions experts on development assistance come to, as they comb through the details, could go a long way to determining if this summit is deemed a success or a disappointment.

Continue…

World Cup: Why are top teams doing so badly?

By Daniel Squizzato - Friday, June 25, 2010 at 6:48 PM - 0 Comments

Every World Cup is bound to produce its share of upsets and poor performances by heavyweight teams. But the opening round of the 2010 tournament has seen a whole slew of uninspiring displays from some of the favoured squads: France and Italy were complete disasters, England stumbled early, Spain and Germany both suffered surprising losses—even Brazil squeaked past North Korea by only a single goal.

Why has the group stage of this tournament been so unpredictable? Is it just dumb luck, or could there be something else at play?

Next: Do the dominant players’ egos get in the way?

Is the G8's accountability push for real? An interview

By John Geddes - Friday, June 25, 2010 at 6:45 PM - 0 Comments

Accountability is emerging as perhaps the key theme of the G8 summit held at a lakeside resort in Huntsville, Ont. Skepticism isn’t the wrong reaction. The G8’s track record is uneven at best when it comes to issuing clear updates on whether its members make good on past pledges.

But there are tentative signs of a new standard taking hold. An report released by the G8 a few days ago, to set the stage for today’s confab, revealed a $10-billion shortfall in progress toward the $50 billion increase in aid to Africa promised at the 2005 Gleneagles Summit.

Jenilee Guebert, director of research for the G8 Research Group at Univeristy of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, is an expert on the accountability file. She spoke to me (sitting in one of the Muskoka chairs beside the fake lake—no kidding) inside the media centre for this weekend’s G8 and G20 summits. Our conversation, edited:

Continue…

Fake lake wake

By Andrew Coyne - Friday, June 25, 2010 at 6:43 PM - 101 Comments

Let’s get this out of the way off the top, while we’re waiting for some real news. I’ve now had the opportunity to see the infamous “fake lake,” tucked away in a corner of the cavernous Interantional Press Centre. As one of the first to fly off the handle over this without first checking my facts, let me be one of the first to confess this is a total non-story.

It’s not an “indoor lake,” as the first story I read suggested. It is a reflector pool, about the size of a backyard swimming pool, only no more than two inches deep. There can’t be more than 10 gallons of water in it, tops. It is bordered by a small wooden platform simulating a dock, with Muskoka chairs casually strewn about. There’s a bank of canoes on either side, and a large screen showing some quite breathtaking high-def footage of Canadian lakeland scenes. And that’s it.

It’s not extravagant in the slightest. Modest would be closer to the mark. The government puts the cost at about $57,000, which sounds about right: about what it would cost to finish your basement. Or to be precise, it represents just over two 100,000ths of one per cent of federal spending. All in all it’s rather a pleasant spot, a small oasis of calm and comfort away from the conference churn, and shows every sign of being a hit with the foreign press. A few minutes of that footage is bound to persuade more than a few of them to want to return, or to tell the folks back home.

It is, in short, a perfectly acceptable, if hardly vital, use of public funds, and should never have become a subject of controversy. The media got rolled on this one, the opposition ran away with it, and we all ought to be ashamed of ourselves.

The G20 leaders make an entrance

By macleans.ca - Friday, June 25, 2010 at 5:35 PM - 0 Comments

CLICK TO ENLARGE

G8 authenticity watch

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, June 25, 2010 at 5:29 PM - 19 Comments

The grass the G8 leaders posed on here in Huntsville this afternoon was astroturf. The Canadian Press pegs the cost at something between $6,000 and $8,400.

Local colour

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, June 25, 2010 at 5:04 PM - 0 Comments

The scene from Huntsville is a beautiful, if heavily patrolled, actual lake. Oh, and a waiter’s just come by handing out wine before dinner is served.

Anyway. An array of Maclean’s scribes are out on the streets of Toronto keeping track of the shouting, marching and arts and crafts.