Last month the media was full of speculation regarding the leaders of the G-7; speculating about which, and how many, world shattering topics they would cram into their summit meeting in Canada. Such rubbish, says I.
In fact, I wrote to my Member of Parliament (MP) to share my disgust. More precisely, I wrote to his splendid middle aged assistant, a university graduate from out east.
For background, you may recall that university students, for every hour in class, are advised to spend a multiple number of hours studying, not only for memorizing, but also giving them time to turn stuff over in their minds. Not every student does such hours.
For similar reasons, their term papers are assigned weeks in advance to give them ample time to sit under an apple tree thinking, as Sir Issac was doing when a falling apple inspired him to discover equations for gravity and calculus. As it happens, a professor said she can divide her term papers into two piles, saying that the poorer half have been written over the weekend before they are due: Not every student does work to their potential for thinking.
Too bad the leader of the United States had to cut his thinking by half, from leaving the summit halfway through. I remember a businessman being upset at how the US president, every day at the White House, had a schedule that was very tight: When does he find time to reflect?
Creativity from reflection is prized in the business world, where executive conferences may include brainstorming and breakout groups. But maybe the G-7 has other interests.
I’m sure many of the European G-7 leaders have been to Geneva. I once sailed along the shore of Lake Geneva with an old British United Nations bigwig who pointed out various chateaus and noted the various conferences held there, conferences with adequate time, ample time. I was only a callow youth of twenty, not yet of traditional voting age, and I asked him something like, “Wouldn’t delegates strictly prioritize only their own nation?” His replied, “My answer is: Sheer bunk!” And he would know.
Yet for the G-7 world leaders —and I don’t know if this was for a single topic— their largest block of time, according to the media after the fact, was three hours.
For perspective, that wouldn’t be long enough for my local school board to explore whether poetry should be part of the curriculum, let alone for them to discover how an umbrella “philosophy of science” goal could prevent anti-vaxxers and a certain political cult.
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Sean Crawford
In a progressive prairie province with proud people,
July,
2015
Footnotes:
~Brainstorming is NOT to save time by temporarily speeding up the meeting tempo for generating practical ideas and practical topics.
Rather, when properly used by the chairman, it is a means to creativity and excellent action.
~My e-letter about cramming the summit into a weekend included a line: I can’t imagine leaders at the G-7 having time for water cooler talks, two man talks (what diplomats call a tete a tete) or respecting those who need a night to “sleep on it” before confirming, or reaching, a decision.
~I don’t know whether the leader of the US thinks, not after Vlad Vexler said Trump does not accumulate knowledge but starts afresh each Groundhog Day. If true, this would explain why economists haven’t educated him yet as to the historic effects of tariff wars, something every economist in Canada knows.
~Because Ottawa hosted (link) the summit, my letter to my MP had a post script:
P.S. I guess there will be secret minutes, but I wonder if any one will examine the minutes/schedule to extract institutional knowledge to apply towards chairing the next G-7.
