Canada secures win by beating back bank tax at G20; targets on debt reduction not set

Canada has won the day on its G20 campaign against bank costs, according to The Canadian Press.

A summit agreement to adopt hard targets on debt and deficit is still up in the air.

Sources said the final communique to be issued late Sunday afternoon will say that all countries should make sure that taxpayers are not stuck with the bill when banks fail.

The G20 will leave it up to individual countries to decide how they want to do that, whether it be through a bank tax, capital requirements or some sort of “living will.”

But even though recent drafts of the G20 final communique include agreements on hard debt and deficit targets, insiders warn that several countries are getting cold feet.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants countries to agree, at a minimum, to cut deficits in half by 2013 and to put debt on a downward path by 2016.

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