MONTREAL – In a speech to the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations today, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff examined the reasons for the world’s rejection of Canada’s foreign policy, and proposed a number of ways to rebuild Canada’s leadership on the world stage.
“After last month’s unprecedented and embarrassing failure to win a seat on the UN Security Council, Canadians need to choose: will we turn away from the world, or embrace it? Tarnish our reputation, or renew it? Reject Canadian leadership, or restore it?” Mr. Ignatieff asked.
In a speech to an audience of foreign policy experts, the Liberal Leader outlined the reasons why Canada lost the vote on October 12th, along with our influence over the use of force and our ability to protect the world’s most vulnerable.
“For five years, the Conservatives have had no vision for foreign policy, except to get Conservative MPs elected,” said Mr. Ignatieff. “The Conservatives have made the foreign policy of Canada an extension of domestic politics.
“They ignored China and India, let our share of import markets fall behind, and walked away from our partners in Africa. They have ignored climate change, withdrawn from UN peacekeeping, and forgotten the Responsibility to Protect. And they have done all this while they have muzzled any group that dares to oppose their policies.
“Stephen Harper threw away a decades-long bipartisan consensus about foreign policy – of balance, moderation, defence of human rights, and commitment to the UN,” said Mr. Ignatieff.
In contrast, the Liberal Leader concentrated on three areas of rebuilding our international leadership: multilateralism, development and diplomacy, by proposing to:
- Return to a leadership role in United Nations peace operations and work to ban child soldiers, cluster munitions, nuclear proliferation and the transfer of fissile material;
- Work to prevent conflict and mass-scale human rights abuses before they start by advancing the U.N. adopted doctrine of ‘Responsibility to Protect’;
- Restore Canada’s reputation as a defender of human rights when it comes to opposing torture and intervene to protect and prevent the execution of Canadian citizens abroad;
- Re-establish Canada’s leadership on the environment and climate change;
- Support a two-state solution in the Middle East, with a safe, secure and democratic Israel beside a viable, secure and democratic Palestinian state;
- Empower organizations that have been silenced by the Conservatives – like MATCH International, KAIROS, the Canadian Council for International Cooperation and Rights and Democracy – to engage Canadians who make a difference in the world;
- Return to Africa, not to hand out charity, but to strengthen ties that will improve quality of life and advance justice and liberty;
- Establish a new commitment to diplomacy so Canada’s representatives abroad can have the resources to promote trade and investment that will create jobs at home, support partnerships in research and post-secondary education; and
- Share Canadian culture with the world by reversing cuts to PromArts and Trade Routes.
“When the combat mission in Afghanistan ends, we will take the opportunity to rebalance the ‘three Ds’ of Canada’s foreign policy: development, defence, and diplomacy,” said Mr. Ignatieff. “Take the example of the Arctic. We need defence capabilities to assert our sovereignty, but we also need diplomacy to protect our environment and development for Arctic peoples to strengthen our presence.”
Rebuilding Canada’s place in a changing world was at the heart of a “whole-of-Canada” approach in the Liberal Global Networks Strategy announced last June.
“The next generation of Canadians will be the most international ever,” concluded Mr. Ignatieff. “We must rebuild Canada’s leadership on the world stage for them, our most precious ambassadors, so they can get good jobs in a competitive world economy and be proud to live in a country that contributes to a better world.”
