G7 leaders vow to tackle migrant smuggling and foreign interference
BANFF, ALTA. — The leaders of the world's seven wealthiest democracies ended their annual summit Tuesday with promises to tackle six pressing policy issues, including artificial intelligence, transnational repression and migrant smuggling.
Article content
As the two-day summit in Kananaskis, Alta., came to a close, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, the U.S. and the U.K. issued six joint statements tackling wildfires, quantum and critical minerals as well as the three aforementioned issues.
Article content
Article content
Article content
Absent from the list was a joint statement from all leaders on the war in Ukraine, despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's attendance at the summit Tuesday.
Article content
Article content
Member countries agreed to accelerate their AI readiness and competitiveness and lower barriers to adoption in the private and public sector.
Transnational repression (TNR), a form of foreign interference, and illegal migration, which has become an issue of critical importance for many of the G7 member nations, are major issues in Canada.
Article content
Member states issued a joint statement committing to further combat TNR, a particularly virulent form of foreign interference that uses coercion and threats to silence dissidents and quiet critics.
Article content
Article content
The Canadian government has been seized with the issue of foreign interference, particularly in the case of Chinese interference in elections and India, which is alleged to have carried out an assassination on Canadian soil.
Article content
Article content
'(Transnational repression) undermines national security, state sovereignty, the safety and human rights of victims, and principles of international law. It has a chilling effect in our countries,' reads the statement.
Article content
Transnational repression was highlighted by Foreign Interference Inquiry Commissioner Marie-Josée as a 'growing scourge' in her final report earlier this year.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
4 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Trump to extend TikTok sale deadline for 90 days, White House says
U.S. President Donald Trump will extend a June 19 deadline for China-based ByteDance to divest the U.S. assets of short video app TikTok for 90 days despite a law that mandated a sale or shutdown absent significant progress, the White House said on Tuesday. Trump had already twice granted a reprieve from enforcement of a congressionally mandated ban on TikTok that was supposed to take effect in January. 'President Trump will sign an additional executive order this week to keep TikTok up and running,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. That would extend the deadline to mid-September. 'President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,' she added, saying the administration will spend the next three months making sure the sale closes so that Americans can keep using TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure. Trump said in May he would extend the June 19 deadline after the app helped him with young voters in the 2024 election. Earlier on Tuesday, he had told reporters on Air Force One he expected to again extend the deadline. 'Probably, yeah,' Trump said when asked about extending the deadline. 'Probably have to get China approval but I think we'll get it. I think President Xi will ultimately approve it.' The law required TikTok to stop operating by January 19 unless ByteDance had completed divesting the app's U.S. assets or demonstrated significant progress toward a sale. Trump began his second term as president on January 20 and opted not to enforce it. He first extended the deadline to early April, and then again last month to June 19. In March, Trump said he would be willing to reduce tariffs on China to get a deal done with TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the short video app used by 170 million Americans. A deal had been in the works this spring that would spin off TikTok's U.S. operations into a new U.S.-based firm and majority-owned and operated by U.S. investors, but it was put on hold after China indicated it would not approve it following Trump's announcements of steep tariffs on Chinese goods. Democratic senators argue that Trump has no legal authority to extend the deadline, and suggest that the deal under consideration would not meet legal requirements.
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Canada, U.S. ‘can' and ‘must' restore frayed relationship amid trade war: Mass. governor
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey talks about the impact that U.S. tariffs against Canada have had on her state's economy. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey talks about the impact that U.S. tariffs against Canada have had on her state's economy. 'We need to have things made right': Massachusetts Governor Healey on Canada-U.S. relations The governor of Massachusetts says it's possible and necessary to restore the economically interdependent relationship between Canada and the U.S., amid an ongoing trade war. In the months since U.S. President Donald Trump launched his trade war in February with a series of tariffs on Canadian imports, Prime Minister Mark Carney has repeatedly said the longstanding relationship between the two countries, based on integrated economies and security cooperation, is 'over.' Maura Healey believes it can be salvaged. 'I think they can, and I think they must. They should,' Healey told CTV Power Play host Vassy Kapelos in an interview on Tuesday, when asked whether she believes relations between the two countries can go back to how they used to be. 'But I appreciate what the prime minister is saying, because, unfortunately, President Trump took action that has been harmful,' Healey added. 'Harmful to American residents, harmful to American businesses, and obviously, also harmful to the relationship between Canada and the United States.' While Carney hosted day one of the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., on Monday, a group of premiers and northeastern governors met in Boston, Mass. at Healey's invitation, in a bid to strengthen ties amid the U.S. president's tariff regime. Healey said while the ties between the two countries have been 'frayed and tested,' they need to be 'restored' and 'shored up.' Trump attended the G7 summit Monday and participated in a bilateral meeting with Carney before leaving the gathering early to focus on the conflict in the Middle East. According to a readout of the meeting from the Prime Minister's Office on Monday night, the two leaders have agreed to pursue a new economic and security deal within the next 30 days. Healey said she hopes that deal can be reached as soon as possible — which she believes will help both parties move toward a restored relationship — but added she heard and understood from premiers on Monday 'how real the anger is, the resentment, the fear, the feeling of betrayal on the part of Canadians.' 'It's very important that a deal be reached,' Healey said. 'The relationship between Canada and the United States is just so deep, and we in Massachusetts and across this region, so appreciate it.' You can watch Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey's full interview on CTV Power Play with Vassy Kapelos in the video player at the top of this article
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
CTV National News: The politics at play without Trump at the G7 Summit
Watch Mike Le Couteur has the latest on how the unexpected absence of U.S. President Trump on the final day of the G7 changed the discourse between world leaders.
