Back in April, when George Media attended the G8/G20 Business Summit in Gatineau (coverage can be found at www.cbj.ca) I witnessed some of the most enlightened business leaders in the world present the reasons to do business, together. It took me some time to let the real impacts of this event sink in, but alas, here we are and I’m really coming to grips with the messages conveyed at the Summit—just in time for the Leaders’ Summits later this month.

Along with other politicians, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had the stage, for quite some time on the second day of events. Normally, Harper is a PM whom I’m fine to support—provided his platform is based on solid fact. For the most part, he did a great job in Gatineau. Harper was quick to illustrate, during his panel discussion with John Manley and Perrin Beatty, that Canadian society is just as well-balanced as its economy.

However, much to my chagrin, he also made a very contentious general statement about Canadian society. I count this as a massive PR mistake, despite the fact that I was likely one of only two or three people that took issue with Harper’s statement (if they heard it).

“I think something has to be said about the Canadian society itself. It’s not that we try to tell our foreign visitors that this country is perfect, but Canada has, in a sense, the first truly globalized population. It is a country where we have people from every background, for the most part successfully integrated, and we have none of the deep social tensions and cleavages that mark so many other societies” Harper said—surely much to the disappointment of anyone in the audience of First Nations origin, or anyone from Quebec. I’m sure there were other audience members who felt alienated…but who am I to say anything? I just think whoever prepped him did a half-baked job.

I had to ask myself, more than a few times, did he really just say that? Stay tuned for an article in CBJ about social tension and how it affects business relationships.

In the meantime, discuss.