Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty speaks to reporters during a news conference in Iqaluit, Nunavut, on Feb. 5, 2010, as G7 Finance Ministers assemble in the northern community for a meeting.GEOFF ROBINS/AFP / Getty Images
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty acknowledged the G7 finance ministers arriving Friday in Iqaluit bring a wide range of conflicting proposals on how best to protect the global financial sector from another meltdown.
But he told reporters that the new, informal tone he is setting for this year's gathering will help smooth those divisions toward a more consistent approach.
"Several countries have made banking sector proposals that are not entirely consistent. So it's a good reason to gather. It's a good reason to talk about it. And it's a good reason to gather in an informal setting so we can have frank discussions," he told Canadian and international reporters.
Mr. Flaherty spoke in front of a lit fireplace in a hotel nightspot with a white polar bear hide on the wall behind him. Above him, caribou antler chandeliers added to the image of an informal retreat setting that Mr. Flaherty has advocated.
Mr. Flaherty's plan to drop a written communiqué comes as the future of the G7 is in question now that the G20 has become the main venue for international financial decision-making.
"We're going to have some formal meetings where we sit around a table but they're going to be relatively brief, and we're going to spend much more time informally just talking to each other about issues, just like … consistency in approaches to financial reform," he said.
The U.S. government has recently suggested it would like several changes to banking rules, including new rules that would ban banks from using their own money to speculate on financial markets and to invest in hedge funds and private equity firms. That's far more aggressive than any other country in the G7. The British government intends to apply a one-time tax to bankers' bonuses, a plan the French may follow.
Beyond banking reform, Mr. Flaherty said all G7 countries are also concerned about striking the right balance on fiscal policy. Canada and the other G7 nations are debating how best to make the switch from stimulus spending to fighting deficits and debt.
"We are all agreed that continued stimulus is necessary, that we have not seen entrenched growth. We have not seen an adequate replacement of public demand by private demand," he said. "We'll continue to stimulate the economy this year but what is the plan and the Canadian situation to get back to balanced budgets. We're working on that. I know that ... thought is shared by other members of the G7, including the United Kingdom and the United States."
Mr. Flaherty had just finished a dog sledding excursion with a handful of central bankers and at least one other foreign finance minister. Most of the other ministers and central bankers had yet to arrive and missed the event, but Mr. Flaherty said some might go dog-sledding on Saturday.
"It was fabulous. This is a totally beautiful place. It's one of the beautiful places in the world, in the Canadian arctic. It's pristine," he said. "The Inuit people who have been here for thousands of years are among the most pleasant people in the world and the most welcoming people in the world. I'm so happy that all of my colleagues were enthusiastic about coming to Nunavut."