World leaders, grappling with the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, were gathering today for global economic talks seeking to maintain solidarity in the face of new challenges. New leaders in Australia, Japan and Britain could alter the dynamics, according to AP. With recoveries in their countries proceeding at starkly different paces, leaders of the 20 largest industrial and developing nations found themselves at odds over how to strike the right balance between continued government stimulus spending and confronting ballooning budget deficits. Divisons also persisted on proposals for a global bank tax and over how much multinational banks should be required to keep on reserve as a cushion against loan losses. «The most pressing issue is sustainable economic growth,» said Canada's finance minister, Jim Flaherty. But he told a news conference before a speech to the Toronto Boarde of Trade that this means different things in different parts of the world. «There are clearly some countries, particularly some European countries, that need to fiscally consolidate on an urgent basis,» he said. He noted that Canada's economy is fundamentally strong and that its banks weathered the financial crisis without failures or government bailouts. «We are the envy of the world,» he said in voicing opposition to a global bank tax. Security was tight as foreign leaders arrived during the day and their motorcades tied traffic into knots near the airport and on roads into town. Barricades turned Toronto's downtown core into a virtual fortress. Police said they took a man into custody Thursday after searching a car and finding containers of gasoline and unspecified weapons. The car was stopped near a hotel where the French delegation is staying for the summit. Workers at the hotel had walked off the job Thursday as part of a labor dispute. Protests were light and scattered on Thursday, but more were planned for later in the week when the economic sessions get fully under way. Canadian police patrolled the Lake Ontario waterfront from powerboats and jet skis. One of the first to arrive was Chinese President Hu Jintao, who came on Wednesday and held separate meetings on Thursday with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the summit host. Britain, Japan and, unexpectedly, Australia were sending new leaders to the G-20 summit. As leaders began arriving, Australia's ruling Labor Party abruptly ousted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Julia Gillard replaced him, becoming Australia's first female leader. Wayne Swan, her new deputy and the country's finance minister, was to represent Australia at the Canadian meetings. It will be the first appearance at international forums for British Prime Minister David Cameron and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan. And both were bearing messages that U.S. President Barack Obama might rather not hear. Cameron comes after his government unveiled an emergency budget that contained higher taxes and the toughest cuts in public spending in decades. And Kan said this week that deficit reduction would be his top agenda item at the Canadian meetings and that Japan would soon start debating a possible sales tax increase to rein in the nation's bulging deficits.
