It's the world economy, stupid! That is the message that Canada, the host of next month's Group of Eight (G8) and Group of 20 (G20) summits, is punting. Journalists from newspapers including Business Report are already in Toronto - and Muskoka - ahead of the summits to get a whiff of what world leaders will be pondering during the sessions.
The tour of Canada took us to the Canadian House of Commons in the federal capital, Ottawa. On the day of our visit Prime Minister Stephen Harper met a youth group which will hold a shadow G20 summit next month, focusing on what young people want.
Judging from their questions to the prime minister, their focus is likely to be very similar to that of the world leaders. The prime minister was asked about the banking tax proposed and how to avoid "a double dip" following the Greek crisis.
His response, which was followed by that of his International Trade Minister, Peter van Loan, in Toronto on Wednesday was that countries of the world, including developing nations, needed to focus on fiscal responsibility, avoiding trade protectionism. It was about reducing budget deficits and debts, said Van Loan, who became trade minister in January.
"We are lucky in Canada because we are in such a strong situation," Van Loan said, pointing out that his country had the lowest deficits, debts and taxes of the Group of Seven (G7) countries.
He did not point out why he referred to the G7 rather than the G8, but the appropriately named Van Loan said everybody had been worried about the possibility of a double dip when the Greek crisis hit.
"I think everybody was concerned... that there was a potential risk of the recovery being halted. The recovery is still fragile. It requires a tremendous focus across the board." When there so many countries with different financial challenges, the "prescriptions for each one have to be a little different", he added.
"What we do know is that if countries are too deeply in debt and we begin to (see) sovereign debt failures, that is going to be harmful to the system," he said, noting that this matter would be a key focus of the summits.
Asked specifically whether his views regarding fiscal prudence and lack of protectionism were shared by developing countries, including more left-leaning countries such as South Africa, Van Loan said: "I will let each country speak for itself. Each country has a different view... but experience has taught us that the more you remove barriers to trade the wealthier everybody gets."
Developing countries, he believed, wanted "proper access" to world markets to sell their goods. "That would increase their prosperity."
Van Loan, who belongs to a conservative minority government in Ottawa, said: "Our experience in Canada has taught us that when you take away barriers, a rising tide lifts all boats." When you put barriers in the way of trade, "you hurt prosperity regardless of the stage of development of the country".
As South Africa moves increasingly in this direction, these are significant words.
To underscore his point, Van Loan said he believed that the depression of the 1930s was instructive of the damaging impact of protectionism.
Whether the developing world - represented by such countries as Brazil and South Africa - will heed these messages of fiscal prudence and free trade remains to be seen, but Canada insisted that resisting protectionist tendencies would be "an enormous priority".
