Canada’s G20 entrepreneurship
| DOI | 10.1177/0020702018810861 |
| Date | 01 December 2018 |
| Published date | 01 December 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Scholarly Essays |
Scholarly Essay
Canada’s G20
entrepreneurship
John Kirton
Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, Toronto,
Canada
Abstract
Canada has been the successful entrepreneurial conceiver, co-creator, and normative
and policy shaper of the G20 since the start. Under Paul Martin, Canada invented the
concept and mission of the G20, co-creating it as a finance ministerial forum in 1999.
Under Stephen Harper, Canada supported its elevation to summit in 2008, hosted it in
2010, and led important policy outcomes. Under Justin Trudeau, Canada further fos-
tered the G20’s institutions, principles, and programs. Despite several entrepreneurial
failures, Canada’s lead was followed by established and rising members to make its G20
entrepreneurship succeed. Canada’s entrepreneurship was driven by its relative invul-
nerability to global shocks, its second-tier institutional position in the Bretton Woods
institutions, and its rising relative capabilities. Canada’s three leaders brought strong
domestic political control; continuity; expertise in business, economics, and finance; and
mass public support. Canada was also a well-connected member of a G20 club at the
hub of a global network.
Keywords
Global governance, Canadian foreign policy, G20, global summitry, entrepreneurship
Introduction
The advent of global financial crises and the ensuing emergence of the Group of
Twenty (G20) systemically significant states have propelled what Ravenhill has
termed newly prominent participants’ (NPPs) rising role in governing the 21st
century world. The broadening array of NPPs and their inclusion in the enlarged
G20 could have brought a profound challenge to Canada, a country long seen as an
archetypical middle power and an influential member of the Group of Seven (G7)
International Journal
2018, Vol. 73(4) 554–572
!The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0020702018810861
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Corresponding author:
John Kirton, University of Toronto, Department of Political Science, 1 Devonshire Place, Room 308N,
Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3K7, Canada.
Email: john.kirton@utoronto.ca
major market democracies operating since 1975.
1
However, Canada, with its high
relative capability and international connectivity, has been the successful entrepre-
neurial conceiver, co-creator, and normative and policy shaper of the G20 since
the start.
Under Liberal Party finance minister then prime minister Paul Martin from 1993
to 2006, Canada invented the vision, membership concept, and normative mission
of the G20, co-created it as a forum of finance ministers and central bank gov-
ernors with US treasury secretary Larry Summers in 1999, and had all leaders but
US president George Bush agree to elevate it to the leaders level by 2005. Under
Conservative Party prime minister Stephen Harper from 2006 to 2015, Canada
supported the creation of the G20’s summit in 2008, served as its fourth host in
2010, added ministerial bodies and civil society engagement groups, co-chaired key
working groups, and led policy outcomes on financial regulation and fiscal con-
solidation. Under Liberal Party prime minister Justin Trudeau from 2015 to 2017,
Canada fostered the G20’s institutions, principles, and programs on women’s eco-
nomic empowerment and gender equality. While Canada had several entrepreneur-
ial failures in the institutional, normative, policy, and material domains, its lead
was usually followed by a changing configuration of enough established and rising
members to make its G20 entrepreneurship succeed.
Canada’s effective entrepreneurship was driven by its relative invulnerability to
the growing global finance and terrorist shocks that threatened the largest coun-
tries, by its second-tier institutional position in the old multilateral organizations of
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank that failed in their
response, and by its rising relative specialized capabilities in the needed global
public goods. Canada’s open economy and society, commitment to democracy
and human rights, and growing demographic and linguistic diversity increasingly
made it resemble the G20 as a whole. Canada’s three leaders brought strong
domestic political control; continuity; considerable expertise in business, eco-
nomics, and finance; and mass public support. Canada was also a highly
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Kirton 555
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