We found out how Mark Carney hopes to smooth differences with Donald Trump at the G7 summit. Here's what we know

Instead, G7 host Carney is expected to issue a G7 chair’s statement and the closed-door high-stakes sessions that could nevertheless produce some heated discussions will be summarized in documents likely to be so whitewashed of the juicy bits, that they could almost be written in advance. 

The Star has learned the schedule that leaves room for both candour and compromise.

The world leaders, who begin to arrive on Sunday, June 15, in Calgary and will be shuttled to Kananaskis by helicopter while their entourages travel by road to Banff, will have lots to chew on.

On Monday, the first session is focused on the global economic outlook, one which the World Bank this week projected is dismal.

“Heightened trade tensions and policy uncertainty are expected to drive global growth down this year to its slowest pace since 2008 outside of outright global recessions,” said the World Bank’s report Tuesday.

You could call it the “Donald, what have you done?” session.

That session continues into a working lunch on economic growth, security and resilience which will see the leaders discuss energy security, critical minerals, emerging technologies, and non-market policies and practices. They’ll talk about harnessing artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Trump can be expected to rail against global efforts like Canada’s and France’s to tax or regulate digital giants.

The non-invited guest likely to feature in this discussion — which neatly ties into Trump’s concerns about unfair trading practices — is China.

Carney has invited big economic players like India and Brazil to the summit — but they won’t be at this G7-only discussion, and the Canadian host has not invited China, or Russia, despite Trump’s advocacy for Russia to be brought back into the Big-G group of world leaders.

Monday afternoon, Carney will lead a “making communities safe” session which will range across topics such as wildfires to foreign interference — themes that will make it possible for the G7 leaders to talk about climate change and the environment, and to discuss China’s influence in the world in ways that Trump might be expected to engage with.

This session will also discuss how the G7 should counter drug trafficking and migrant smuggling — both important to Trump in his bid to stem fentanyl flows into the U.S. but also important to Europe, which has confronted political challenges with inflows of migrants. The session also provides a way to talk about concerns about other countries’ roles — China and India are actors which Canada and the U.S. have identified as practising transnational repression of diaspora groups.

Late Monday afternoon, the so-called G7 “family” photo — a chance for awkward or chummy photos and gossip about who does or doesn’t talk with whom — takes place.

Unlike Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summits, the G7 is not a venue where leaders dress up in a host country’s customary outfits.

Monday’s working dinner is organized around the theme making the world secure, where the Russia-Ukraine war, China, and likely Gaza will be discussed, followed by an evening cultural event.

On Tuesday, a lengthy working breakfast where the focus is on a strong and sovereign Ukraine will include Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO secretary general Mark Rutte.

There will be a closing G7-only working session, followed by an extensive “outreach” session with other non-G7 leaders.

European leaders Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa are part of the G7.

And this year Carney has invited a slew of guests, most notably Zelenskyy, whom Trump blames for prolonging, if not starting (a baseless assertion) the war with Russia, and India’s Narendra Modi, whose controversial inclusion — amid a Canadian police investigation into his government’s role behind the June 2023 assassination of a Canadian citizen — was defended by many Liberal MPs and ministers on Wednesday.

“At this time of crisis, we need to be able to collaborate,” said Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu.

On Tuesday, the larger group will pose for another “family” photo, and scramble to snag whatever bilateral meetings can be squeezed in.

A final working lunch is scheduled with a following session on energy security, to discuss diversification, technology and investment “to ensure access and affordability in a changing world.”

Along with the NATO secretary general and Zelenskyy, other G7 attendees will include UN secretary general António Guterres, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum, South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, host of this year’s G20 summit who Trump confronted in the Oval Office, Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Brazilian president and host of this year’s UN climate change conference COP30 Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and newly-elected South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. Carney has invited Saudi Arabia Crown prince and prime minister Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the Saudi kingdom once tied to the order to kill a journalist, whom Trump met last month. 

A senior government official said Wednesday Carney has also invited Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates, and World Bank president Ajay Banga.

“Canada is hosting global leaders for a global conversation about numerous issues, energy security, peace and stability and trade routes for all members who are attending and it is therefore important for all countries who are being invited to be at the table,” said Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand in defending the invitation of Modi to the meetings.

Carney, if he follows past practice, will host a closing news conference, but most leaders are expected to speak to their travelling national press corps to spin what was achieved. And the political value of a meeting like this is often found in the hallways, one-on-one sit-downs or “pull aside” bilateral meetings.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that in Kananaskis, there will be “quite a few bilaterals between the president and other foreign leaders.” She did not specify which meetings were in the works.