"The summit was intended as a venue for resolving differences among its members. As a practical matter, the summit was also conceived as an opportunity for its members to give each other mutual encouragement in the face of difficult economic decisions." [en.wikipedia.org] Like, wouldn't a phone call be sufficient? On the world stage, Canadians are generally quite and a friendly bunch of hockey hooligans. But, when G8 took place in 2002, it was a gong show. G8 is made up first world leaders only, but they occassionally throw somewhat limited bones to other leaders. Yes, this not the UN, but the tax burden on the hosts is jaw dropping for either event, to say the least. $200 million- just for security. Noted is that this is the first G8 after 9/11, but there is always shit going done somewhere, so i imagine thats the security cost is the same everywhere they meet. Again, G8 is but a shadow when compared to the UN. How burdensome to participate in 1 global(?) affair, how about doing it twice? For what you yield, the juice in the current climate, isn't worth the squeeze. Maybe in its heyday, but not now.