Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland will once again attend the World Economic Forum’s (WEF)'s annual meeting, to be held in the Swiss mountain town of Davos next week..More than 52 heads of state and government and 600 CEOs will meet at Davos next week to discuss the state of the world and priorities for the year ahead. It will provide a platform for world leaders to "engage in constructive, forward-looking dialogues and help find solutions through public-private cooperation.".The conference's 2023 theme is “Cooperation in a Fragmented World,” which the WEF says is necessary given the “sheer number of ongoing crises” the world is currently facing. These include the War in Ukraine, COVID-19, climate change and growing economic pressures..Freeland was a virtual attendee at the WEF's annual meeting in 2022, where she spoke about the need for implementing "stakeholder capitalism," defined as a system where corporations focus on customers, employees, suppliers and local communities over maximizing profits and enhancing stakeholder value..Other attendees at the 2023 meeting will include former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and US Climate envoy John Kerry. American FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines will also attend..At a pre-meeting press conference held Tuesday morning, WEF founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab said this year’s meeting will have “unprecedented” participation, including dozens of finance ministers and foreign ministers from countries around the world. He added to address the root causes of global "fragmentation," the organization must reinforce cooperation between the government and business sectors. ."At the same time, there must be the recognition that economic development needs to be made more resilient, more sustainable and nobody should be left behind," said Schwab..Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called the annual WEF meeting a "hypocritical gathering of billionaires, multinationals and powerful politicians" who "lecture working class people to stop buying gasoline.".While running as leader of the Conservatives, Poilievre promised to ban cabinet ministers from attending "that big fancy conference of billionaires," and vowed to remove them from his cabinet if they attended..Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has also been critical of the WEF, describing it as a group of "anti-democratic elites," attacking Alberta, who want Canadians to "own nothing and be happy.".Adrian Monck, managing director of the WEF, responded that certain Canadian politicians must be careful not to spread disinformation coming from bad actors.."Canada should be talking about a lot of things right now. It shouldn't really be talking about the World Economic Forum based here in Geneva. There are bigger issues, really, for it to be thinking about," he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland will once again attend the World Economic Forum’s (WEF)'s annual meeting, to be held in the Swiss mountain town of Davos next week..More than 52 heads of state and government and 600 CEOs will meet at Davos next week to discuss the state of the world and priorities for the year ahead. It will provide a platform for world leaders to "engage in constructive, forward-looking dialogues and help find solutions through public-private cooperation.".The conference's 2023 theme is “Cooperation in a Fragmented World,” which the WEF says is necessary given the “sheer number of ongoing crises” the world is currently facing. These include the War in Ukraine, COVID-19, climate change and growing economic pressures..Freeland was a virtual attendee at the WEF's annual meeting in 2022, where she spoke about the need for implementing "stakeholder capitalism," defined as a system where corporations focus on customers, employees, suppliers and local communities over maximizing profits and enhancing stakeholder value..Other attendees at the 2023 meeting will include former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and US Climate envoy John Kerry. American FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines will also attend..At a pre-meeting press conference held Tuesday morning, WEF founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab said this year’s meeting will have “unprecedented” participation, including dozens of finance ministers and foreign ministers from countries around the world. He added to address the root causes of global "fragmentation," the organization must reinforce cooperation between the government and business sectors. ."At the same time, there must be the recognition that economic development needs to be made more resilient, more sustainable and nobody should be left behind," said Schwab..Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called the annual WEF meeting a "hypocritical gathering of billionaires, multinationals and powerful politicians" who "lecture working class people to stop buying gasoline.".While running as leader of the Conservatives, Poilievre promised to ban cabinet ministers from attending "that big fancy conference of billionaires," and vowed to remove them from his cabinet if they attended..Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has also been critical of the WEF, describing it as a group of "anti-democratic elites," attacking Alberta, who want Canadians to "own nothing and be happy.".Adrian Monck, managing director of the WEF, responded that certain Canadian politicians must be careful not to spread disinformation coming from bad actors.."Canada should be talking about a lot of things right now. It shouldn't really be talking about the World Economic Forum based here in Geneva. There are bigger issues, really, for it to be thinking about," he said.
