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 Ah, summertime, when a young anarchist’s fancy turns to flinging Molotov cocktails! Here is how one goes about organizing a meeting involving leaders from different industrialized nations, in a few easy steps: hire a few thousand police officers, seal manholes and stock up on pepper spray. Send out some invitations to world leaders to discuss economics, or trade, or even their favourite colour. Barricade a city. Then sit back and wait for the arrival of a herd of far-left lunatics from every corner of the globe - each of whom will be interviewed, twice or thrice, by reporters who have somehow persuaded themselves that said lunatics’ views on globalization are worth capturing on tape. So, as is the case whenever there is a gathering of international leaders, these days, much of the news coverage surrounding the weekend Genoa G8 conference focussed upon the usual stuff. You know: whether there was a ritual trashing of that profound threat to personal liberty, McDonald’s restaurants. Bombs being prepared, and delivered, to agents of the enemy (ie., regular folks). Cobblestones and flares being thrown at police officers, bumpersticker sloganeering, and refusals by the usual suspects to disavow any of the violence. The usual. Because the international conference circuit has acquired not a few characteristics of the World Wrestling Federation, it has become easy for the rest of us to assume that they are all about police manoeuvres, and not policy manoeuvres. But we shouldn’t. The gathering in Genoa gave Prime Minister Jean Chretien to assume a role that is, as they say, tailor-made for him: the dean of the G8 leaders. None of the other attendees have as much experience as Mr.Chretien. As such, many of them - including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and U.S. President George W. Bush, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin - have taken to relying upon Canada’s Prime Minister for his advice and insights. In exchange, Mr. Chretien has been able to ensure that Canada’s global interests are taken seriously indeed - on water, on peacekeeping, on international economic development. Mr. Chretien’s strategy at meetings like the one in Genoa is always to admit to the obvious: Canada is not a world power, with economic or military muscle to spare. We are, instead, a middle power that is admired and respected by the rest of the G8. We are listened to, even if we do not run the show. But it is Mr. Chretien himself - with 38 years of experience as a consummate political tactician - that has turned into one of our greatest assets. In his three meetings to date with Messrs. Putin and Bush - and in the many more meetings he has had with Mr. Blair - Mr. Chretien has urged each man to rely upon Canada to advance arguments that, strategically, are tricky for the United States, Britain or Russia. Coming out of the metaphorical mouth of a super power, a pronouncement about the proposed U.S. missile defence shield can cause consternation and - possibly - conflict. Coming out of Mr. Chretien’s mouth, it poses less of a problem. (This is not to say, of course, that Mr. Chretien endorses Mr. Bush’s controversial missile defence system - he has, instead, made clear that he is opposed to what his officials have called “the weaponization of space.”) James Villeneuve, one of the vice-presidents of Toronto’s 2008 Olympic bid, saw Mr. Chretien’s experience in action in Moscow a few days ago. There, the Canadian Prime Minister vigorously lobbied International Olympic Committee (IOC) delegates on behalf of Toronto’s bid, and left everyone - even a card-carrying Conservative like Mr. Villeneuve - highly impressed. “The guy is amazing,” recalled Mr. Villeneuve, a brewing executive. “We would brief him about the Irish IOC delegate for a minute. A minute. And the Prime Minister would approach the Irish guy and talk about someone they both know, and the Irish delegate’s eyes would be as round as saucers - because the Canadian Prime Minister knew his name, and talked to him like they were old buddies. He’s really, really good at this stuff.” As was the case with the Olympic bid, it goes without saying that Mr. Chretien does not always get what he wants when he travels abroad. Canada does not win every argument - but the same truism applies to the U.S., or Britain, or Russia. What Canada does have - and what is not reported upon nearly enough by our media correspondents, who are usually marooned out near the anti-globalization barricades - is an experienced, smart leader who gets the job done internationally. That, to some of us, is as much of a story as the insidious global threat manifesting itself in the form of, say, Ronald McDonald.
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