The leaders of the world's most powerful countries will be here next month -- but Calgarians just aren't sure why.
A new poll shows two out of every three Calgarians were unable to mention even one of the things G-8 leaders will be talking about during next month's Kananaskis summit.
And just one-quarter of Calgarians were familiar with the purpose of the gathering.
"There's so much controversy, yet so many people are not familiar with it," said Marc Tremblay, managing director of Insight Research, which conducted the poll for the Calgary Sun.
"Two-thirds of the population doesn't really know what they're there to talk about."
Of the respondents, 67% couldn't name a single topic on the agenda during the G-8 summit in Kananaskis Country.
The three priorities for the summit June 26-27 are strengthening global economic growth, building a new partnership for Africa's development and fighting terrorism.
Of the three topics on the agenda, terrorism came in last, with just 6% of people listing it.
"Fighting terrorism gets the least mentions, which I find a little surprising going back to the events of Sept. 11," said Tremblay.
The more educated the respondents were, the more likely they were to list any of the topics on the agenda.
But even 58% of educated respondents came up blank.
Sarah Kerr, who is working on the committee setting up Solidarity Village, an alternative educational and music festival to be held during the summit, is looking forward to telling people why there's so much opposition to the G-8.
"The majority of Calgarians don't know what they do and what the concerns are," said Kerr. "The agenda of the G-8 is to promote the interest of wealthy countries, and specifically wealthy corporations and shareholders within those countries."
Kerr said the leaders of the world's eight richest countries hold too much power over the world, and organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, usually at the expense of struggling nations.
"Essentially it's rule by the rich," she said. "The fact that tens of thousands of people are willing to take to the streets to protest it tells you something."
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