Canada’s prime minister says G20 Summit to be held in Toronto

Toronto to host G20 summit in June

TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Monday a G-20 summit planned for an Ontario resort town in June will be moved to Toronto instead.

Harper made the announcement while on an official visit to South Korea, which will host a November G-20 summit in Seoul.

The Canadian G-20 venue was changed from the Huntsville area to Toronto, Canada’s largest city, after concerns surfaced that the smaller town and surrounding area could not provide all the resources needed for such a the huge event. The summit is June 26-27.

However, the cottage country town, about 135 miles (220 kilometers) from Toronto, will host the smaller Group of Eight June 25-26.

The meetings are one of several major conferences to be held in Canada next year. The next meeting of the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers will be held in the remote Canadian Arctic town of Iqaluit Feb. 5-6, where they will be greeted by an average daily low temperature of -32 degrees Celsius (-25 degrees Fahrenheit), without wind chill.

Iqaluit has a population of about 7,000. It’s the isolated capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut.