Canada at all-time low for compliance with G8 commitments
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TORONTO, Ontario – In a report released today by the G8 Research Group, the government of Canada received its lowest score on compliance with G8 commitments since the inception of the report.
The Interim Compliance Report monitors the Group of Eight industrialized nations’ compliance with commitments made at the previous annual G8 Summit. It provides an indication of how well countries are complying with their commitments at the half-way point between annual summits.
The G8 Research Group is an independent research institute at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies and is internationally recognized as the leading source of information on and monitoring of the G8.
The report’s authors say that the results are surprising given that Canada has historically scored very well in their compliance studies, second only to the UK in terms of overall compliance with commitments made at G8 Summits.
“It’s important to note that this is an interim report,” said Cliff Vanderlinden, chair of the G8 Research Group. “G8 members still have four months to shore up their compliance before the next G8 Summit in Hokkaido, Japan. There is actually a precedent around Canadian compliance. We saw low interim scores last year as well, but by the time we released our Final Compliance Report just prior to the summit, Canada’s scores had risen dramatically. There is nothing to say that won’t happen again this year. Also, the overall average interim score are lower this year, which should be taken into consideration.”
The United States won the bragging rights to the highest overall score, with the United Kingdom a close second. Canada scored fifth overall, but the European Union is included in the report.
The full report is available at http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/evaluations/2007compliance_interim/
For more information, contact:
Cliff Vanderlinden, Chair
Telephone: 416-509-3594
E-mail: cliff.vanderlinden@utoronto.ca
Michael Erdman, Director of Compliance Studies
Telephone: 416-525-8387
E-mail: michael.erdman@utoronto.ca
Filed by Cliff Vanderlinden under Other