Whats Up Magazine — Bracebridge/Gravenhurst

G20 details still unknown
By Don McCormick
Huntsville got more big news last
month when it was announced Muskoka
would host the G20 Summit in addition
to the G8 next year.
On Sept. 25 at Delta Grandview’s
Mark O’Meara Clubhouse, Parry
Sound-Muskoka MP Tony Clement
announced Muskoka would not only be
hosting the 2010 G8 Summit on June
25-27, 2010 but that it would be cohosting
(with South Korea) a 2010
“transition” G20 Summit as well.
“This is a great honour for Muskoka
and for Canada,” said Clement. “The
eyes of the world will be on Muskoka.”
Since the planning for the G20 is in
its infancy Clement was unable to provide
much in the way of details about
the additional summit. He was able to
confirm there would be two distinct
events, a G8 Summit and a G20 Summit.
They would occur sequentially. It
was not yet known which one would
take place first. It was also not known
whether both summits would take place
at Deerhurst Resort or whether the G20
would be held at another Muskoka location.
A G20 Summit is a relatively new
concept. Originally the leaders of the
top six industrialized democracies in the
world met in 1975 to discuss important
common political and economic issues.
Canada joined the group in 1977, Russia
in 1997, to make up the present G8.
This will be the group meeting at Deerhurst
Resort in June of 2010.
It has been common practice to invite
the emerging nations to the G8 Summit
as observers – called the Outreach
Group. India, China, Brazil, Mexico
and South Africa make up the Outreach
Group and they will also attend the
Deerhurst Summit.
But industrial giants like China and
India would not, for long, be satisfied
with being mere observers. As well,
other countries like Argentina, Australia,
Indonesia, South Korea, Saudi
Arabia and Turkey wanted a seat at the
table. Out of this was born the G20 –
the G8, plus the European Union, plus
11 other countries. The G20 accounts
for 90 per cent of the world’s GDP, 80
per cent of world trade and 64 per cent
6 October 2009 www.whatsupmuskoka.com
Parry Sound-Muskoka MP Tony Clement was at the Mark O’Meara Clubhouse
on Sept. 25 to announce Muskoka will host a G20 Summit.
of the world’s population.
“For future summits, the G20 will be
the focal point of the economic summit,”
according to Clement.
According to Ella Kokotsis, director
of research for the University of Toronto-based
G8 Research Group, this
G8/G20 Summit will make history.
“Having these back-to-back forums is
a phenomenal opportunity for Muskoka,
as the 2010 Summits will represent
the historic handover of global economic
decision-making from the G8 to a
larger club of emerging rich nations,”
she says. “Although the announcement
of Muskoka hosting the G20 may have
come as a surprise to many, it is a
remarkable honour and privilege to play
host to this momentous event. Muskoka
will always be remembered as the place
where history was made through the
ushering in of this new world order.”
Has the G8 become irrelevant? Not
for the moment, according to Clement.
It will continue to exist, at least into the
near future, and to deal with issues other
than the economy – environment, security,
foreign aid and so on.
“There is still a role for G8,” says
Clement. “There are environmental
issues, there are national security issues
and there are developmental aid issues
… and the locus of that is still the G8.”
How big is a G20 relative to a G8 and
what can locals expect in terms of the
number of people coming into the community?
According to Kokotsis it is a
very difficult question to answer. Such
numbers are not tracked so one can only
extrapolate from incomplete data.
In London, England in 2009 there
were 500 delegates, 1,000 bodyguards
and translators and 2,500 accredited
journalists. There were no numbers
Record donations for hospital foundation
Over $2.5 million was raised by the
South Muskoka Hospital Foundation
last year.
“Our foundation reported its most
successful fundraising year ever,” said
board chair J. Douglas Lamb at the
annual general meeting on September
24.
He reported extraordinary year-end
revenues following receipt of audited
financial statements.
“At our June 30th year-end, we had
raised in excess of $2.5 million, which
is a remarkable achievement when one
considers all the strikes we had against
us going into the year,” he said.
The Picture of Health campaign
wrapped up earlier this year, and the
results outperformed the predictions
from the original feasibility study, said
Lamb.
It was predicted that a $5 million
campaign would be a stretch and
would likely have to include funds typ-
ically raised during the annual appeal.
Instead, the campaign was completed
a year ahead of schedule, $800,000
over the target goal, and did not
include any funds raised through the
annual appeal.
“This speaks volumes to the spirit of
our community and the dedication of
our board members and volunteers,”
Lamb said. “Equally remarkable is our
cost-per-dollar ratio at 15 cents on the
dollar, a ratio that is considered
Photograph: Don McCormick
given for the number of police and military
personnel or for the number of
protesters the event attracted. The
recently completed G20 in Pittsburgh
had 1,500 delegates, 2,000 journalists
and 4,000 people assigned to security.
According to Kokotsis, organizers of the
Huntsville event are expecting over
10,000 delegates and 4,000 journalists.
No number is given for the number of
security personnel.
Clement speculated the increase in
numbers of people coming to the combined
summits will only be incrementally
greater than would have come for the
G8. The largest delegations are traditionally
from the G8 and Outreach
nations and they will already be here for
the G8.
Renjith Bengalil, the general manager
of the Marriott Residence Inn Gravenhurst
Muskoka Wharf, says his, and several
other Muskoka hotels, were asked
over a year ago to block off all their
rooms for G8 visitors for the duration of
the G8 Summit. He has not yet been
contacted with respect to the G20 nor is
he aware of any of his colleagues in the
hospitality industry having been contacted.
He expects the expanded summit
will translate into more rooms booked
and for a longer period of time in the
area hotels.
Clement further suggested the
increased costs of a G8/G20 Summit
would also be incremental and did not
see another large-scale injection of federal
money into the area.
“The incremental cost (of the G20)
should be bearable (within the budget
for the G8) and does not, at this time,
mean a whole new budget for the G20,”
says Clement.
In fact, he indicated he would argue
against any further large-scale infusions
of federal money. He also thought the
overall economic impact for the area
would be about the same as was estimated
for the G8 alone – about $300 million.
The location of the G20 Summit
within Muskoka is not yet known but
Kokotsis speculates it will likely be held
at the same location as the G8 to avoid
setting up a new security perimeter and
moving all the G8 delegates to a new
location.
extraordinary for an organization like
ours.” Lamb asked for continued support
to meet the needs of the hospital.
Currently, the South Muskoka Memorial
Hospital site has more than $5.4
million in equipment and capital funding
needs.
Of that $5.4 million, explained
Lamb, more than $2 million is deemed
“urgent need,” meaning that the equipment
is either not functional or is no
longer serviceable.