Canada, as one of key architects of G20, must take lead in ousting Russia from major multinational organization

OTTAWA—Former Canadian prime minister Paul Martin along with former U.S. treasury secretary Lawrence Summers were the key architects of the G20 after both leaders met in the 1990s and discussed the need to deal with the massive hits to the global economy from financial crises in Mexico, Asia, and Russia. The remedies proposed by the IMF and the West had deepened the recession and poverty in many of the countries. Martin urged Summers to think about a new multilateral organization that could allow the most important regional economies from the global south to have more say in how to handle these global financial crises. At minimum, Martin urged Summers to consider how the G7 could be expanded to create a larger group of financial ministers from the global south. Martin and Summers had agreed on the obvious additions such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia. With further agreement on the addition of regional Asian and Latin American powers, the G20 was established. Initially the focus was meetings of finance ministers, but as the global financial crises was also triggered by global geopolitics, the G20 became a semi-annual meeting of the top political leaders. The members of the G20 represented almost three quarters of the global population and 90 per cent of Global GDP. Martin became the inaugural chair of the newly established G20 on Sept. 25, 1999. In the subsequent meeting of the G20 in 2000, prime minister Martin had urged the other G20 leaders and their financial ministers, especially the American and European leaders, to consider the damaging impact of their agricultural trade policies on the fragile economies and well-being of the global south. Further meetings of the G20 included close to a dozen of invited developing nations that wanted to share their concerns with the most powerful nations of the G20. Subsequent meeting of the G20 in Ottawa in 2001 in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. focused on combating terrorist financing. With the global economy facing the abyss of another Great Depression after the bank failures in the U.S. and Europe, the political and finance ministers of the G20 met in Washington, D.C., in November of 2008 to flood the global economy with hundreds of billions of dollars to save their respective economies and their financial systems. This critical meeting was followed up with G20 meetings in London and the U.S. to work on continuing macro-economic cooperation to help both the developed world and the global south avoid financial meltdowns and devastating recessions in their economies. It is not hyperbolic to state that the organization that Paul Martin and Larry Summers dreamed up in April of 1999 had brought back the world from the brink of global financial crises that could have caused both major and smaller economies and societies to implode, affecting the lives of much of the world’s population. In addition, the G20 had also focused the minds of the most powerful nations to address the need to reform of the world trade rules regarding agricultural products that harmed the developing world. There is much that still needs to be done on these and other critical areas that threaten the entire world. But the organization could lose credibility if it has member states that undermine the foundations of the international peace and security established after the second world war. For that reason, Russia can’t continue to be a member of the G20, after its invasion of Ukraine. The invasion of Ukraine has also the disrupted the trade in agricultural products and food security of much of the world. It has undermined the foundations of the UN Charter and its leaders and military have committed the most serious international crimes. In addition, the UN State Department is considering asking Congress to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. Canada, as a founding member of the G20, should try to assemble a coalition of the willing members of the G20 who support the ouster of Russia from the G20 for as long as Putin remains in control of the country. Former prime minister Paul Martin demonstrated Canada's critical role in bringing the most powerful nations together to promote peace, security, and economic stability in the world. Now Canada must lead to oust Russia from the G20 as it has become the major threat to the very reasons the organization was founded. Errol Mendes is a lawyer, author, professor, and has been an adviser to corporations, governments, civil society groups and the United Nations. He was appointed by then prime minister Paul Martin as a senior advisor in the Privy Council Office of the Government of Canada during the academic year 2005-2006. In that position he advised the Clerk of the Privy Council on a range of issues including national security, diversity, national unity, foreign policy and corporate social responsibility. The Hill Times

Canada, as one of key architects of G20, must take lead in ousting Russia from major multinational organization

Canada must lead to oust Russia from the G20 as it has become the major threat to the very reasons the organization was founded.

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Canada, as one of key architects of G20, must take lead in ousting Russia from major multinational organization

Canada must lead to oust Russia from the G20 as it has become the major threat to the very reasons the organization was founded.

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