The upcoming G8 and G20 summits will focus on the ongoing global economic recovery rather than "sideshows," Prime Minister Stephen Harper told a youth summit in Ottawa.
Harper is being criticized at home and abroad over a G8/G20 maternal and child health program that he says will not include funding for abortion. He also recently denied a request from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to include climate change on the two summits' agendas.
At an Ottawa meeting attended by about 100 young people who will engage in a shadow G8/G20 youth summit next month, Harper said his focus is and will remain on economic issues.
"Everything else that so often gets so much attention from your former media colleagues Mike, these are sideshows. The economy is what matters," Harper told the moderator, Sen. Mike Duffy.
"And it's got to be what matters at these meetings in June."
Two of the youths who attended the talk claimed their questions were first sent to Global Vision, which sponsored the event, and then sent to the Prime Minister's Office.
The PMO said it did not "rewrite" or edit questions in advance.
Students also said there were no questions presented on climate change. When Â鶹´«Ã½ found a student who was prepared to discuss that issue, an organizer pulled her away.
The organizer asked the student if she had been prepped to do media interviews, and the student replied she had not. CTV's Roger Smith asked if the students had to be prepped and the organizer replied: "We have people we have ready to do interviews."
Meanwhile, the prime minister is sending five cabinet ministers to financial capitals around the world Tuesday to lobby against a proposed bank tax designed to prevent another economic meltdown. Harper would like to kill the proposal before world leaders arrive in Ontario.
Harper says a tax would punish Canadian banks that didn't need bailouts during the financial crisis.
"It would be unfair to come in and say Canadian banks and other banks that weren't part of the problem now have to limit their opportunities by paying tax," he said.
Instead, Harper said he will push for tighter financial regulations and promote efforts among G20 governments to improve their countries' fiscal health.
With a report by CTV's Roger Smith in Ottawa
