What really goes on at the G7?
Colm O'Regan takes a light-hearted look at the group of countries who meet for the annual Group of Seven summit.
In Quebec, Canada's Charlevoix region, La Malbaie — population 8,000 — is a quiet mountain town where tourists visit year-round for kayaking, hiking, fishing and river cruises and staying at charming bed and breakfasts.
But on Friday and Saturday, La Malbaie, a two-hour drive from Quebec City, will be a "fortified encampment" as the 44th annual G7 Summit takes place there. World leaders from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Japan, will attend, as well as President Donald Trump and Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It will be Donald Trump's first official visit as U.S. President to Canada.
The summit will take place at Fairmont Manoir Richelieu, a five-star hotel with outdoor pools and a golf course. It was built in 1899.
QUEBEC CITY (Reuters) - Quebec’s forested Charlevoix region has begun to look more like a fortress than a resort as organizers of this week’s G7 summit gear up to shield seven world leaders from outside disturbances.
Canadian police check a car next to the red zone security perimeter around the Manoir Richelieu ahead of G7 Summit in La Malbaie, Canada June 5, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman
Protesters are unlikely to startle any world leaders during the June 8-9 meeting. A security force of some 10,000 police and military personnel will make sure they are kept far from the summit at Manoir Richelieu, a luxury resort with dramatic views of the St. Lawrence River.
The G7 groups Canada, the United States, Japan, Britain, Italy, France and Germany, and the EU also attends.
Authorities have urged demonstrators to congregate in an official protest zone in a parking lot in La Malbaie, a town about 5 km (3 miles) from the French-style castle resort.
Any tension at the summit site is most likely to come from leaders worried about a burgeoning trade war with the United States, and not from outside protests. That dynamic has prompted some to refer to the meeting as the “G6 plus Trump” summit.
No protest groups have announced plans to congregate in La Malbaie. They instead are organizing a series of events focused on global trade, migration, the environment, aboriginal rights and other issues in the provincial capital of Quebec City, a two-hour drive from Manoir Richelieu.
Canadian police keep guard next to a security fence built around the red zone security perimeter around the Manoir Richelieu ahead of G7 Summit in La Malbaie, Canada June 5, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman
“We are ready for the worst-case scenario,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector Christian Roy said at a recent news conference.
There may be more tension in Quebec City, where a group calling itself the Anti-G7 Resistance Network has urged supporters to hold a “day of disruption.”
The group has told protestor to avoid La Malbaie, describing it as “a trap.” It has announced a rally on Friday, but provided no details.
A coalition is organizing “a mass demonstration against the G7, capitalism, patriarchy, colonialism, racism and borders” on Thursday, according to a Facebook invite.
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A second coalition plans to hold an alternative summit outside the provincial legislature building in Quebec City, where issues expected to come up at the summit will be discussed.
In anticipation of protests, Quebec’s legislature has canceled sessions planned for Thursday evening and Friday.
Quebec City Police Chief Robert Pigeon has said he sees a “moderate” risk the protests will turn violent, but has promised to respect the rights of protesters.
Canada’s French-speaking province of Quebec has seen its share of protests.
Quebec City became a flashpoint in the spring of 2001, when tens of thousands of people rallied to protest the Third Summit of the Americas, prompting police to use massive quantities of tear gas to control crowds.
One issue that organizers of this week’s G7 summit will not have to deal with is complaints about the smell of fertilizer.
Quebec’s agriculture ministry last week asked farmers to refrain from spreading liquid manure on their fields in the days leading up to the summit.
The role of a host, generally speaking, is to make sure the guests are comfortable and no fights break out at the party. But when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau presides over the annual summit of G7 leaders starting Friday in Charlevoix, Que., he’ll have a very different job: speaking plain truths to the biggest, most disruptive guest of them all, President Donald Trump.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump in a joint press conference at the White House in Washington, D.C., on February 13, 2017. ( Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS )
If that means the summit “fails” by traditional standards, then so be it. At this point there’s no point in Trudeau simply making nice with Trump. No one would believe it, and Canadians will rightly feel let down by their leader. Trump has gone out of his way to sabotage the trust between Washington and its closest allies, including Canada and key G7 members like Britain, France and Germany. His latest gambit is imposing stiff tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada, Mexico and the European Union, ostensibly for reasons of “national security.” As regards Canada and Mexico, it’s really just a naked pressure tactic to gain an edge for the U.S. in the talks to renegotiate NAFTA. Trump’s chief economic adviser, Lawrence Kudlow, threw in another curveball this week. He says Trump wants to split up the NAFTA talks; instead of renewing the three-way deal among what used to be known as the “Three Amigos,” the president would prefer to work out separate pacts with Canada and Mexico.
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Of course he would. Divide and conquer is an ancient tactic and Canada is quite right to reject that approach as a total non-starter. When it comes to dealing with Trump on trade, if Canada and Mexico don’t hang together they will surely hang separately. Trudeau has taken a tougher public stance with Trump in past weeks, as he must given the continuous provocations from the White House. The G7 will be a major test of how he handles the petulant president, and he should not worry overly about taking a firm line. Traditionally, prime ministers have been expected to handle their dealings with U.S. presidents with the greatest delicacy. If the American side got upset enough to show its annoyance, a good number of Canadians were ready to jump on the prime minister for “mishandling” relations with Washington. But with Trump, the mishandling is all on one side and most of it is deliberate. Trudeau and his foreign affairs team tried the nice-guy approach for a long time, to considerable good effect. But there is a point beyond which that risks looking like weakness, and we passed that point in recent weeks. For the prime minister, it’s time to stand up to the bully — and be seen to be doing so.
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