It was perhaps fitting that the first person I met after my arrival in Toronto was Brian O’Neill, still with Oxfam Canada and one of the founding members of the Halifax Initiative. The T-shirt he was wearing dated back to our own founding – the 1995 Group of Seven Summit in Halifax – and was emblazoned with a seven headed dinosaur: the G-sevenosaurus.

The back of Brian’s T-shirt is worth citing in full:

“Although its origins can be traced to seven geographical regions, evidence shows that this imposing creature’s influence was felt world-wide. The G-sevenosaurus possessed powerful limbs, but had poor hearing and short-sighted vision. Despite its large, thick skulls, the collective brain size was extremely small, suggesting the G-sevenosaurus may have at times exhibited irrational behaviour. Predatory by nature, this reptile’s voracious appetite resulted in disproportionate consumption of the period’s limited resources. The G-sevenosaurus’ eventual extinction came about as a result of the scarcity of females in their midst and an inability to adapt to a changing environment.”

Predictions of its early extinction were sadly overstated. Even this year, French President Sarkozy said in February that when France would have chaired both the G8 and G20, there would only be a G20 meeting. This would have definitively killed the beast. But Sarkozy changed his mind just as quickly, and the G8 now looks set to meet, albeit discussing a very narrow range of issues.

And now we have a bigger beast to tackle – the G20. It has evolved from its cousin – the G-sevenosaurus. But frankly speaking, it shares many of the same traits with one interesting twist –  without decisive action that takes account of the interests of the world, it seems hell-bent on its own destruction. And all of ours.