Press Conference, Stephen Harper – Friday, 27 May 2011
After a brief press conference, Prime Minister Stephen Harper took questions concerning rumours of conflict over the inclusion of pre-1967 borders language in the recently released G8 communiqué. Skirting the question, Prime Minister Harper stated only that he was very comfortable with the communiqué and would support any statement that reflected a balanced position.
When pressed on this explicit evasion, Harper eluded to a series of elements, used in Obama’s 19 May 2011 speech (cited in the communiqué), but omitted from the communique as – it would appear – reason to exclude the pre-1967 borders language. As a battle in semantics, it seems uneventful, but Harper’s refusal to answer the question directly (when asked by four different journalists) illustrates that there is much more that happens behind closed doors than ever finds ink on the final communiqué.