Sources say little Huntsville can’t handle expanded summit
Stephen Harper’s summer announcement that the 2010 G8 summit will be held in Huntsville, Ont., left some locals none too pleased. So it’s no surprise that there was reaction to news that Canada will host not just eight, but 20 countries next June. In response, says one source, Harper has decided to keep the G8 where it is, but host the larger G20 summit in Toronto. Provincial and federal insiders cite new demands for lodging and security that would make the G20 too much for Huntsville, a rural Ontario district, to handle.
Canada has been expecting to host the G8 for quite some time. But only in September did world leaders decide that their main international economic council should be expanded to include 20 nations. Still, a spokesman for Industry Minister Tony Clement, whose riding includes Huntsville, insists that “there is nothing to announce” just yet, and that the government is still “doing what we can to host in Muskoka.” The last summit hosted in Canada, in 2002, was in Kananaskis, Alberta.