I had an unusual but memorable encounter with Jimmy Carter at the London G7 Summit in May 1977. It was Carter’s first visit outside America as president. I was accompanying Canada’s secretary of state for external affairs (the title has since changed to foreign minister) Don Jamieson as his senior departmental assistant.

The G7 leaders, along with their foreign and finance ministers, met on the first morning of the summit at government offices at London’s Lancaster House. Each delegation has been assigned three limos by the British hosts but the Americans, as is their wont, brought their own armoured presidential limo — a mini aircraft carrier. As the leaders gathered on the stoop of Lancaster House awaiting transport to No. 10 Downing Street for lunch it became apparent that the American limo was stuck in the small courtyard and could not get turned around. Zbigniew Brzeziński, Carter’s national security adviser, and a McGill graduate, directed the Secret Service to the three Canadian limos — the maple leaf flags were a dead giveaway.