D I P L O M AT I C A| SUMMITS
Fall summits will shape Canada’s global goals
Fen Hampson
T
he fall of the Western-backed Afghan government to the Taliban just as the Canadian election writ was drawn showed, yet again, that the bestlaid plans, to riff on Robert Burns, “go oft awry.” The Sept. 20 election was supposed to be a referendum on the Liberal government’s handling of the COVID pandemic 16
and stewardship of the economy. Instead, it was quickly overshadowed by the unfolding tragedy in Afghanistan and questions about the government’s competence and failure to properly plan for the evacuation of its citizens and those Afghans who had worked alongside Canadian forces. As former British prime minister Harold MacMillan once said when asked what could throw a government off course, “Events, dear boy, events.” That adage also clearly applies to elections. Although the Liberal government’s handling of the Afghanistan file was itself not a ballot issue, it reinforced the question in the minds of many voters about why the election was being held when the country and the world were in crisis. Afghanistan will not disappear from
the headlines, especially if, as is certain, the humanitarian and refugee crisis worsens under Taliban rule. Canada’s new government will be under pressure to secure the safe passage of Canadians and others who were left behind after the Aug. 31 deadline for U.S. withdrawal expired and international airlift operations were suspended. The foreign policy challenge doesn’t stop there. Two major summits of global leaders in the fall will test the new government’s ability to define clearly some of its key foreign and economic policy priorities. G20
The first international junket is to the G20 leaders’ meeting on Oct. 30-31 in Rome. The summit will focus on the global FALL 2021 | OCT-NOV-DEC
G20 SUMMIT ITALIA 2021
At his virtual Leaders' Summit on Climate Change, U.S. President Joe Biden said his administration would halve U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2030, with a goal of making the U.S. economy carbon-neutral by 2050. It's summit seaon again and two major events will test Canadian leaders' ability to define key foreign priorities.
