National Perspectives on Global Leadership: Canada
The National Perspectives on Global Leadership (NPGL) project reports on public perceptions of national leaders' performance at important international events. The first series explored the performance of national leaders at the G20 Summit in London in April 2009, the second examined similar issues in the G8 Summit in Italy in July 2009. The third looked at perceptions of how individual leaders at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh in September 2009 advanced national economic interests, enhanced their geopolitical status, and reassured publics; the fourth installation analyzed the role of the G8 in the G20 era and the portrayals and public perceptions of G20 initiatives, achievements and conflicts. The November 2010 Soundings provide insight on the issues facing leaders at the Seoul Summit and the coverage they received in their respective national media. 
Andrew F. Cooper is a distinguished fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.
Canada enjoyed a relatively low-key Seoul G20 Summit. Amid all of the public frictions about surplus and deficit trade and current accounts and accusations of currency manipulation, Canada stood in the background grabbing only selective attention in the international media.
In terms of national outlooks, Canada’s attitude to the G20 was usually reduced down to the local level, withThe Wall Street Journal contrasting the manner by which “Inconvenienced Torontonians grumbled about the big police presence when they played host” (in June 2010) with the enthusiasm displayed by South Korea (Ramstad, 2010).
The Role of Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Freed from the hosting duties that he assumed at the Toronto G20, Prime Minister Harper was not highly visible in the hectic diplomacy key to the summit. In a Korean Herald story on November 12, a survey of President Lee Myung-bak’s hectic schedule is provided, highlighting his bilateral meetings with the leaders of China, the UK, Germany and Brazil (Kim, 2010). Although missing from this list of key actors, however, Prime Minister Harper was physically visible — standing with President Lee and President Obama in one of the major photo-ops.
Avoiding the spotlight, however, did not mean avoiding taking stances on the issues at the centre of controversy. Prime Minister Harper explicitly took sides on the currency issue, saying that he understood why the US was injecting money into its monetary system and that he supported Washington’s position that China must let its currency rise.
How Did Canada Deal with the Rebalancing and Other Agenda Issues?
In terms of making the Canadian public aware of the core issues, Prime Minister Harper said it would be too costly to the American deficit for Washington to consider further stimulus and there is not much more room for the US Federal Reserve to drop interest rates. “Under the circumstances, the quantitative easing policy is, in the short term, the only option available to the Federal Reserve,” Harper said. “And I’m not sure anyone else has provided any compelling argument as to what alternative policy they would pursue in the short term” (CBC, November 2010).
Nor, unlike the upbeat narrative of the host country, did the Canadian prime minister suggest that the G20 summit would be entirely successful. In his initial comments at the forum, Harper made it clear that he was not entirely confident that G20 leaders would be able to come to a resolution on trade imbalances and currencies — the two key issues surfacing at the Seoul summit. In laying out his priorities, Harper emphasized that these issues needed “to be addressed.” But he added: “Will they be addressed at this conference? I’m not so sure” (Reuters, November 2010).
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