Harper confirms June G20 summit in Toronto

Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed today that Toronto will host the G20 summit on June 26 and 27, 2010.

He made the announcement in South Korea, which will host a second G20 summit in Seoul, in November.

The initial plan was to hold the Group of Eight summit in Huntsville, Ont., and the second, larger G20 meeting somewhere nearby.

But last month, RCMP Commissioner William Elliott said the area is just too small to host the G20 summit, despite tens of millions in expenditures to bring the area up to world standards.

Hosting a G20 summit implies finding at least 10,000 hotel rooms and providing air-tight security for more than 30 international delegations. Huntsville has 1,000 rooms at most.

Already Ottawa has sunk $11 million into airport upgrades in North Bay, Ont., although no decision had been made on whether to fly international delegations through the city.