11-04-27 canada has come down in the world

8/6/2019 11-04-27 Canada Has Come Down in the World

1/3

Canada has come down in the world

All politics is local. Dooley was right when he said that.

When we look at the leaders of the parties in an election we ask ourselves, evenunconsciously, would we want them as neighbours. Would they borrow my lawnmower

and bring it back? Would they pitch in and help if the neighbourhood needed cleaning up

or would they take off to Timmys for the afternoon? Are they going to help me or fightme when it comes time to trim the hedge between us? Its no accident, all those photo ops

of the leaders in someones backyard, flipping burgers.

So, its not surprising that foreign policy drops off the radar during an election, as it has in

this election, but its a shame. Because the things that make a good neighbour are the samethings that made Canada a world-class citizen.

One of our Prime Ministers, Lester Pearson, won a Nobel Peace prize for organizing thefirst United Nations Peacekeeping Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis by working

through the UN. In the 60 years since then, the world came to know us as an honest broker.Our ability to talk to everyone, see all sides of a matter and suggest practical compromises

qualities that seem so scorned now were the very things the world needed, and still

needs.

Those very Canadian qualities gave us influence far beyond the size of our military. Hey,belligerents would say, shut up for a moment, Canadas talking.

Whats the proof of that? We were not a permanent member of the Security Council of the

UN, but we were elected to it time and again. Per capita, we put up more money than mostcountries for relief and aid and we attached no ideological strings. We attracted top notchpeople to the foreign service and dispatched them around the world. My American buddies

in Europe sewed Canadian flags onto their backpacks.

But we also had the gumption to disagree with our friends when we thought they were

wrong the US in Vietnam for example, or Israel in Gaza. We were usually right. OurNGOs (our non-government organizations) spoke truth to power here and abroad, and were

a respected and welcomed presence even in some of the most troubled countries.

Civil society, as the NGO community is called, plays an important role in how Canada

works, both domestically and abroad. Internationally, non-government organizationsprovide important on-the-ground research about whats going on in other countries. They

can move into an area and do things that a government cannot, often paving the way for

official action. In fact, many NGOs are established by government.

It is vital, if you are a middle power and want to exert any kind of influence on your

neighbours, to inject a calm, well-informed, non-partisan, and rational voice into the
http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7988&interval=15&&PHPSESSID=qarct36ud7gbide92u75i7qjn0http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7988&interval=15&&PHPSESSID=qarct36ud7gbide92u75i7qjn0http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7988&interval=15&&PHPSESSID=qarct36ud7gbide92u75i7qjn0http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7988&interval=15&&PHPSESSID=qarct36ud7gbide92u75i7qjn0


2/3

international conversation. Business is done differently in the world than it is in the House

of Commons.

In 1988, Brian Mulroney created the well-respected NGO, Rights and Democracy. For 20years, that organization played an internationally valued role, working on human rights

around the world, including the Middle East. As its first director, Mulroney appointed EdBroadbent.

In 2009, in accordance with their mandate and practice, Rights and Democracy made smallcontributions to two Palestinian human rights groups and one Israeli. All of these groups

had been critical of Israels actions in the Palestinian territories. The Israeli government

complained to Canada and the Harper Government pounced.

Within a year, Rights and Democracy was taken over by Conservative Party men. TheNGO imploded from in-fighting, its mandate crippled to the point of dysfunction. In

December 2009, the Executive Director, Rmy Beauregard (a man with a stellar

international reputation) died of a heart attack, killed, his wife is convinced, by the stress ofthe coup and the smear tactics used to discredit him and the organization he loved.

Other NGOs found their funding from the federal government disappeared or severely cut,

largely because they were thought to be critical of Israel. KAIROS, a respected, main-

stream church-based NGO was approved for funding by Bev Odas Department ofInternational Cooperation and then it was not. Most NGOs have been warned that their

charitable status is in jeopardy. Nearly 30 NGOs, with a voice on the international scene,

have seen their funding cut or yanked.

Suddenly the world saw a Canada it did not recognize. Foreign aid started coming with

ideological strings attached. Our funding priorities shifted to other areas of the world from Africa to Latin America apparently for the sole reason they werent Liberal

priorities.

We were the laughing stock of the world at Copenhagen for promising the smallestdecrease of carbon emissions even though we are one of the largest per capita emitters. In

2010 the Harper Government revised that to an increase of 2.5% above 1990 levels.

OurPrime Minister chose to have a double-double at Timmys new franchise in New York

rather than meet the world at the United Nations. Our voice in the corridors of the UNbecame ideological and uncompromising. Our stance in the Middle East shifted to support

for Israel, right or wrong.

In less than five years Canada fell from the major leagues to the Bush league.

So we need not wonder why the world no longer wants us on the Security Council. It hasnothing to do with our principled stance on Israel, as Mr Harper explained it at the time.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/22/rights-and-democracy-rips-itself-apart/http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2011/02/15/remys-wake-part-one/http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2011/02/15/remys-wake-part-one/http://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/updates/silencing-dissent-conservative-recordhttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/jeffrey-simpson/where-in-the-world-is-canadas-foreign-policy-debate/article1972026/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/jeffrey-simpson/where-in-the-world-is-canadas-foreign-policy-debate/article1972026/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_Climate_Summithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_Climate_Summithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_Climate_Summithttp://www.straightgoods.ca/2011/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=283&Cookies=yeshttp://www2.macleans.ca/2010/01/22/rights-and-democracy-rips-itself-apart/http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2011/02/15/remys-wake-part-one/http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2011/02/15/remys-wake-part-one/http://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/updates/silencing-dissent-conservative-recordhttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/jeffrey-simpson/where-in-the-world-is-canadas-foreign-policy-debate/article1972026/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/jeffrey-simpson/where-in-the-world-is-canadas-foreign-policy-debate/article1972026/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_Climate_Summithttp://www.straightgoods.ca/2011/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=283&Cookies=yes


3/3

Just how principled is it to pick sides in an area thats like a telephone booth packed with

dynamite? No, it has everything to do with becoming the neighbour no one can abide a

kind of Machiavellian Ned Flanders.

April 26, 2011

David McLaren

David McLaren has worked in government and the private sector, with NGOs and FirstNations in Ontario. He is currently writing from Neyaashiinigamiing on the shore of

Georgian Bay and can be reached [email protected] or through

http://jdavidmclaren.wordpress.com/author/jdavidmclaren/.
mailto:[email protected]://jdavidmclaren.wordpress.com/author/jdavidmclaren/mailto:[email protected]://jdavidmclaren.wordpress.com/author/jdavidmclaren/

11-04-27 canada has come down in the world

Documents