PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
June 24, 2009

UN, not G8, should lead global economic talks, says Council of Canadians

Ottawa / June 24, 2009 – The Council of Canadians is criticizing the Harper government and the G8 for undermining a historic UN conference on the global economic crisis that begins today in New York.

“The fact that Trade Minister Stockwell Day opted for an exclusive G8 ministerial meeting in Italy this week instead of the G192 conference, the most inclusive global gathering to discuss the economic crisis, shows just how out of touch the Harper government is with the global demand for a new economic model,” says Council of Canadians Trade Campaigner Stuart Trew.

At last count, 126 countries are set to attend the three-day conference in New York. Canada will be represented by John McNee, the country’s permanent representative to the UN, while Day is in Europe for the G8 ministerial meeting.

Leaders and state representatives are meeting to discuss the impact of the global economic crisis and to seek new and equitable solutions. Many developing countries have been hit hard by the global slowdown and are demanding a new model of global trade that is more balanced and inclusive of views outside the bloc of powerful western nations.

As noted by Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the UN General Assembly, “The place to discuss [the economic crisis] is neither the G8, nor the G20, nor the G25 or the G63. It is the G192, which is the General Assembly of the United Nations.”

“The G8, like the neoliberal, deregulatory economic agenda it endorses, is a relic of the past and part of the problem,” says Trew. “Leaders from the Global South are demanding greater equity and fairer trade and it’s time for rich nations like Canada to sit down, listen and participate in making a better world, instead of continually pushing the same free trade policies that put us in this mess.”

The one year countdown to the 2010 G8 Summit in Huntsville, Ontario begins tomorrow, and a broad grassroots movement, including the Council of Canadians, is already organizing to ensure that any measures emerging from that summit put people before profits.

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For More Information:

Dylan Penner, Media Officer, Council of Canadians
Cell: 1-613-795-8685; Tel.: 613-233-2773, ext. 249; Toll-free: 1-800-387-7177, ext. 249.