The Council of Canadians hopes the G7 summit held in Quebec over the weekend will be the last of its kind.
Chairman Leo Broderick, a Charlottetown resident who travelled to Quebec City to protest the event, said the council’s agenda was to expose the summit and to call for a disbandment of the G7.
The major issues facing Canadians and the world - such as climate change, increased militarization, persons displaced by war and the rising inequalities among countries – were not dealt with during the summit, he said.
“We’re saying that this should be the last G7, and I think by now Canadians seeing the spectacle that we did see this weekend, will agree,” Broderick told The Guardian after returning home on Sunday. “It probably should be the last, given that very little was accomplished.”
The Group of Seven (G7) is made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Broderick said the event cost Canadian taxpayers at least $650 million and could reach as high as $1 billion once all expenses are accounted for.
“It’s a huge expense.”
Broderick and his fellow council representatives participated in two peaceful protests in Quebec City. He said there were more than a combined 9,000 armed officers present in Quebec City and La Malbaie, Que., where the actual summit took place.
“Police presence was very much over the top,” he said. “It created, I think, a very fearful atmosphere, especially in Quebec City, where most of action was.”
Broderick called the G7 “undemocratic” and said the council believes the seven nations should not been meeting on their own.
He said meetings should include all 197 countries that are part of the United Nations.
“Their agenda is a neo-liberal agenda, which is more privatization and deregulation,” he said. “And it should take place at a place like the United Nations that’s equipped on a daily basis to deal with the security issues.
“I think it’s somewhat pretentious, it’s unrealistic and it isn’t addressing the most critical issues facing humanity today.”
