SC Wednesday Talk:Speakers:  Paul Martin, former Prime Minister of Canada; Peter Hajnal, Librarian; John Kirton, panelists; moderator Louis Pauly, Political Science, U of T. Title: “What Is the Role of the G-20 Today?”, January 25, 2023, 2-4pm.

January 25, 2023

Speakers:  Paul Martin, former Prime Minister of Canada; Peter Hajnal, Librarian; John Kirton, panelists; moderator Louis Pauly, Political Science, U of T.

Title: “What Is the Role of the G-20 Today?”

Introducer and Chair: Peter Hajnal

Abstract: With the world currently consumed by many, interconnected crises, new questions have arisen about the ability of the Group of Twenty systemically significant states, conceived by Canada’s then finance minister Paul Martin in the 1990’s, to cope with today’s more complex world. Indeed, many feared that the most recent G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia in November 2022 would end in deadlock, due to the members’ divisions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As Russia’s war continues, along with the food, energy, climate and economic crises, similar questions arise about the next G20 Summit, hosted by India in Delhi in September 2022. This panel will examine, from different perspectives, the past and, especially, the current and future role of the G20, to see if it can provide the needed global governance for today ‘s crisis-ridden world.

Bios:  The Right Honourable Paul Martin was Prime Minister of Canada from 2003 to 2006—during which time he set in place a ten-year plan to improve health care and reduce wait times. He also signed agreements with the provinces and territories to establish the first national early learning and child care program.  Under Mr. Martin’s leadership, following an 18-month consultation process involving Canada’s provinces, territories, First Nations, the Metis Nation, and Inuit leaders, the Federal government reached a historic consensus with the 2005 Kelowna Accord to eliminate funding gaps in health, education, housing, and clean water for Indigenous people. He was Minister of Finance from 1993 to 2002, where he erased Canada’s deficit and recorded five consecutive budget surpluses while paying down the national debt and setting Canada’s debt-to-GDP ratio on a steady downward track.   He was a Member of Parliament for the riding of Lasalle-Émard from 1988 to 2008.

In 1999, as co-founder of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, he served as its inaugural chair and continued in that position for 3 years. After leaving public life, Mr. Martin advised the African Development Bank and worked closely with the Advisory Council of the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa. He was also a founding co-chair of the Congo Basin Forest Fund and a Commissioner of the Global Ocean Commission. In 2008, along with his family he founded the Martin Family Initiative (MFI) a charitable organization committed to improving education, health, and the overall well-being of Indigenous People in Canada. Since its inception MFI has sought to walk the path with Indigenous People as they define their priorities and goals, bridging the gap between needs and available resources.   To this end, MFI gathers the most relevant expertise coupled with Indigenous -based knowledge to co-develop, support, and implement innovative programming and networks.   Peter Hajnal is a Fellow of Senior College and Research Associate, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto. He has been a member of the G7/G8/G20 Research Groups since 1988 and attended fourteen G7/G8/G20 summits as a media correspondent. Before his retirement he was Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto for 11 years; served as librarian for 25 years at the University of Toronto and 10 years in the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library in New York; and conducted several consultancies. In addition to a number of articles, book chapters and conference presentations, he is the author or editor of eleven books, including International Information: Documents, Publications and Electronic Information of International Governmental Organizations, 2d. ed., 2 vols., Libraries Unlimited, 1997, Civil Society in the Information Age (2002), The G8 System and the G20: Evolution, Role and Documentation (2007),     (co-edited with John Kirton; 2006). His latest book is the second, revised edition of The G20: Evolution, Interrelationships, Documentation (2019).

John Kirton is director and founder of the Global Governance Program, which includes the G7 Research Group, the G20 Research Group, the BRICS Research Group and the Global Health Diplomacy Program, at Trinity College in the University of Toronto, where he is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and a senior fellow of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History. John has led a team of analysts at every G7 summit since 1988, and at every G20 summit since the first at Washington in 2008. He is co-author of the (2022) and Global Governance of Climate Change: G7, G20 and UN Leadership (2015), and author of Canadian Foreign Policy in a Changing World(2002), China’s G20 Governance (2016) and G20 Governance for a Globalized World (2013). John is also co-editor of several books, including Accountability for Effectiveness in Global Governance (2018) and BRICS and Global Governance (2018). He co-edits a series of publications on the G7 and G20, most recently G7 Germany: The 2022 Elmau Summit and the forthcoming G20 Indonesia: The 2022 Bali Summit, as well as a series on global health diplomacy, including Health: A Political Choice – Investing in Health for All. Louis W. Pauly (moderator) is the J. Stefan Dupré Distinguished Professor of Political Economy at the University of Toronto, where he has also served as chair of the Department of Political Science and director of research centres that now comprise core elements of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy.

The link to register is  https://forms.office.com/r/b0Rsq1EdBK. The deadline to register is the Monday before the event at noon. The Zoom link will be sent to registrants only.