G7 Finance Ministers' Meeting in Banff, May 20-22
Shameless Promotion of Carney's Illusions of Grandeur
A Department of
Finance Canada press release about the G7
finance
ministers' meeting reveals the arrogant purpose of the Mark Carney
government to save the world by auctioning off Canada's resources.
"Canada is a stable, reliable, and innovative partner with a wealth of natural resources and expertise. Through our G7 Presidency, we will shape the global agenda -- working with allies and partners to grow our economies, defend Canadians' interests, and address the most pressing global challenges," the statement reads.
Neither the press release nor the final communiqué issued by the finance ministers and bank governors in Banff on May 22 concerning the preoccupations of the meeting resemble the reality of working people in Canada or any of the G7 countries. Nor do they correspond to the Carney government's own purported aim to assert Canada's sovereignty in the face of the U.S. tariff war and threats of annexation.
Not a word is said about the ongoing chaos resulting from U.S. tariffs against much of the world, as if the U.S. has not been the cause of major disruptions in the global economy and interference in the economies of other countries and international trade. This is of course what "pragmatic diplomacy" is all about -- to only speak about points on which the participants converge, not on the things they disagree about, such as Trump's tariffs. In this way, the fraudulent claim is made that they are a united front.
As far as Canadians are concerned, G7 assassins are not welcome in Canada. Any talk of a united front between them is not true even when their class interests have led them to building coalitions and cartels against the peoples of the world who are striving for liberation, freedom, peace and democracy. For the most part, they are all out for themselves and only converge when it serves their immediate interests which change every time the wind changes direction.
In the
face of the deepening global financial crisis that is
impoverishing peoples around the world, the G7 finance ministers and
bank governors say nothing about this. Their stated priorities are
"international financial crime" which they blame on their rivals, not
themselves, and "resilient
supply chains," which are unattainable so long as most of their
activity is to undermine international trading relations of their main
competitors, along with how to push forward economic and military
confrontation with China, Russia and any other country which joins
their attempts to build a
trading system which abides by international rule of law.
The communiqué issued by the meeting nonetheless presents their "united front" to advance the interests of the wealthiest countries, and further their subservience to U.S./NATO aims and war preparations. They just as readily work to undermine one another, which makes their "united front" a fiction of their own making as each tries to control outcomes out of their control. This leads to the use of force to solve problems, including sanctions, freezing of assets entrusted to their banking institutions and the extreme forms this use of force takes today, including not only attacks against sovereign countries in the name of high ideals, but the unfettered use of police power as well as military power as in the case of Donald Trump's use of the National Guard and the Marines to attack the working people of Los Angeles. The militarization of all of life and the very dangerous war preparations which threaten the peoples of the world are also the resort of the G7 countries when they cannot control their own people and to force other countries to submit to their dictate.
China is not directly referred to in the communiqué from the G7 finance ministers' meeting, but is talked about in a defamatory way under the heading "Economic Resilience and Security." The communiqué blames what it calls "non-market policies and practices (NMPPs)," claiming they "aggravate imbalances, contribute to overcapacity, and impact the economic security of other countries."
The G7 finance ministers declare they will build on "previous commitments and as guided by Leaders, we will contribute, as appropriate, to the monitoring of NMPPs, continuing to assess the distortions they cause in markets and their global spillovers."
Despite the fact that the entire thrust of the activity of the G7 countries is to dominate other countries and engage in backroom deals, they declare, "We agree on the importance of a level playing field and taking a broadly coordinated approach to address the harm caused by those who do not abide by the same rules and lack transparency."
Ukraine was another focus of the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors. They reiterate the full backing of the Genocide Seven for the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine. If the NATO-inspired efforts for a ceasefire do not succeed, they pledge to continue applying pressure on Russia by doubling down on sanctions and seizing its assets in the banking institutions under the control of the G7 countries which dominate the international financial institutions, and give themselves the right to violate the laws initially designed to uphold private property rights. By stealing Russian assets and those of other countries they have declared enemies of peace, freedom and democracy, the G7 countries are themselves responsible for smashing the credibility of the international institutions which they claim to support.
The final communiqué of the finance ministers and bank governors does not address the contradiction within the G7 countries about whether seized Russian assets can then be used to directly fund the war in Ukraine or reconstruction. It does however talk about the importance of mobilizing private capital for the "recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine, with costs estimated by the WBG [World Bank Group] at U.S.$524 billion over the next decade."
The finance ministers and bank governors chose to deny what is taking place in Ukraine which has already declined to pay holders of $2.6 billion in warrants linked to the country's GDP, defaulting on its sovereign debt payment which is growing by leaps and bounds every month. Ukraine's National Government Debt reached U.S.$162.1 billion in January 2025, compared with U.S.$159.2 billion in the previous month.
In January 2025, Ukraine's debt to the World Bank had more than tripled, rising from U.S.$6.2 billion to U.S.$20 billion. Ukraine's debt to the IMF between early 2022 and the end of November 2024 went from U.S.$14 to U.S.$17.6 billion. Both institutions continue to demand repayments despite the war. This explains in part their frenzy when seeking a source of funds.
Nonetheless, the G7 finance ministers' communiqué says, "We will continue to coordinate support to promote the early recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine, including at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, which will take place in Rome on July 10-11, 2025. Further, we agree to work together with Ukraine to ensure that no countries or entities from those countries that financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be eligible to profit from Ukraine's reconstruction."
A section in the communiqué called "Bolstering Long-term Growth and Productivity" speaks in generalities about "public policies that spur innovation, raise productivity and promote greater labour force participation." Participants in the meeting are said to have "discussed and shared experiences" on how best to pursue "growth-enhancing policies in a fiscally prudent manner."
"We agree that structural reforms can help set the foundations for strong and sustainable economic growth," the communiqué says.
As much as can be deciphered from this is that attacks on rights and working conditions and stepping up the anti-social offensive are all on the table in the name of "enhancing growth." Every effort is made to make sure "structural reforms" and what is or is not "fiscally prudent" are "socially acceptable."
The section of the communiqué titled "Financial Sector Issues" talks about "financial stability and regulatory issues," particularly in what are called "on-bank financial intermediaries," which include: investment funds; insurance companies; pension funds; hedge funds; microloan organizations; family offices; and supply chain finance companies. The communiqué says such institutions "play an increasingly important role in financing the real economy."
Other issues mentioned in this section include "enhancing cross-border payments" which, it says, "can have widespread benefits for citizens and economies worldwide." It also refers to "cyber risks" which it says "threaten to disrupt global financial systems and the institutions that support them."
Notably, massive military expenditures are not up for discussion.
Clearly, the G7 finance ministers and bank governors are haunted by all kinds of problems which their own economic and financial system spawns. In this regard, the G7 finance ministers' communiqué includes a "Financial Crime Call to Action" which claims to address "financial crime, including money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
These crimes are defined in a self-serving manner which is in no way designed to sort them out but to criminalize those countries that refuse to submit to their dictate. In response, these countries are seeking ways to bypass the unjust sanctions, blockades and their exclusion from the system of international financial transactions and this deepens the frenzy of the G7.
In the name of lifting up those countries still recovering from the crimes of colonialism to better exploit them today, the G7's finance ministers and bank governors talk about "reaffirm[ing] our commitment to the ongoing implementation of the World Bank-led Resilient and Inclusive Supply-Chain Enhancement (RISE) Partnership and recognize its progress toward better integrating low- and middle-income countries in the global supply chain of clean energy products, especially in Africa."
Today, what are called clean energy products are more often
than not
a euphemism for critical minerals needed for the war machines of the
U.S., UK, Japan, France, Germany and Italy. Their promotion is also a
way to put pressure on countries like Russia by cutting off the income
from the sale of
their oil and gas. The self-serving nature of these "clean energy"
measures is made clear by the fact that nothing is said about the
pressing need to address the climate crisis that disproportionately
affects the poorest countries and has been caused in the main by the G7
countries and the
activities of the U.S. and NATO. Their refusal to accede to the demands
of the majority in fora called to deal with the climate crisis speaks
volumes about their intentions.
Notably absent from the communiqué of the G7 finance ministers and bank governors is any mention of the utter destruction of Gaza by the U.S. and Israel and the responsibility of the G7 to stop the genocide and make reparations for their support for Israel and its genocide. This support has earned the G7 the moniker Genocide Seven.
All of it underscores the utter illegitimacy of the G7 as a body to decide international financial matters or matters of any kind on behalf of the peoples of the world who they claim to support. Working people in Canada and all the G7 countries reject the agenda of the G7 and are fighting for their right to be as peoples, not crisis-ridden European nation-states whose raison d'etat is to serve narrow private interests and deprive the peoples of recognition and empowerment.
This article was published in
Volume 55 Number 6 - June 2025
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/Articles/M550068.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca