Canada in the minority opposing more IMF firepower

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has spent his entire six-year career as a federal politician in government. But within the Group of 20 economic powers, Mr. Flaherty has taken on the role of leader of the opposition.

Virtually the entire membership of the G20 shifted over the past few days to get behind International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde’s effort to raise more than $400-billion ( U.S.) to build a stronger bulwark against the threat posed by the European debt crisis.

Countries such as Britain, South Korea and Australia made pledges Friday, allowing Ms. Lagarde to announce that she had raised roughly $430-billion in bilateral loans. Ms. Lagarde told a press conference that the IMF now has access to $1-trillion, an awesome figure meant to assure global investors that no country will be allowed to collapse should economic conditions take a drastic turn. Read more......