Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and former chief of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney, among others, will be spending their weekends at the 68th Bilderberg Meeting..The meeting runs from 2–5 June 2022 in heavily guarded seclusion in Washington, D.C..Other Canadian delegates are Mark Little, president and CEO, Suncor Energy Inc.; Charles Edmond, CEO, CDPQ; and Tobias Lütke, CEO, Shopify..Other noteworthy attendees include Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO, Pfizer Inc.; Ben van Beurden, CEO, Shell; Henry Kissinger; Kevin Scott, CTO, Microsoft Corporation; Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general, NATO; former Google CEO Eric Schmidt; and CIA Director William J. Burns..Handpicked members of the world's media have also been invited. News outlet invitees are listed as The Atlantic, The Economist, Yetkin Report, and Habertürk News Network, however, they will not be reporting the event..A full list of the weekend's participants are listed here..In 2022, approximately 120 participants from 21 countries have confirmed their attendance. The secretive annual meeting is a diverse group of political leaders and experts from industry, finance, and academia..The key topics on the agenda for discussion this year are:.Geopolitical RealignmentsNATO ChallengesChinaIndo-Pacific RealignmentSino-US Tech CompetitionRussiaContinuity of Government and the EconomyDisruption of the Global Financial SystemDisinformationEnergy Security and SustainabilityPost-Pandemic HealthFragmentation of Democratic SocietiesTrade and DeglobalizationUkraine.The Bilderberg Meeting, initiated by the Dutch royal family in 1954, is a yearly conference designed to foster dialogue and collaboration between Europe and North America, according to the Bilderberg website. The Bilderberg Group take their name from the Hotel de Bilderberg in Oosterbeek in the Netherlands, where its members first convened.."Every year, around 130 political leaders and experts from industry, finance, labour, academia and the media are invited to take part in the meeting. About two thirds of the participants come from Europe and the rest from North America — approximately a quarter from politics and government and the rest from other fields," it says on the bilderbergmeetings.org website.."The Bilderberg Meeting is a forum for informal discussions about major issues. The meetings are held under the Chatham House Rule, which states that participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speakers nor any other participant may be revealed."."Thanks to the private nature of the meeting, the participants take part as individuals rather than in any official capacity, and hence are not bound by the conventions of their office or by pre-agreed positions. As such, they can take time to listen, reflect and gather insights. There is no detailed agenda, no resolutions are proposed, no votes are taken, and no policy statements are issued.".The meeting is protested every year by people who believe the Bilderberger invitees represent a group who control or influence world governments and global commerce, from behind closed doors. They regularly picket the yearly meet-ups. Bilderberg attendees, however, insist the group is simply a debating society taking place outside the glare of the political spotlight..The list of previous attendees is long. A number of them have gone on to lead nations shortly after meeting with the influential group. Angela Merkel, former German chancellor of 16 years, attended in 2005 only months before becoming the German chancellor, while Bill Clinton attended in 1991 when he was still governor of Arkansas, the Washington Post reported..The group does not release any reports of discussions held, no minutes, and publishes no videos. Journalists are not allowed to report on the event even though some attend as invitees..The meeting is especially controversial given that many heads of state attend and do not share what they learn at the gathering.
