The Electoral Blinders

I read an article in the Globe and Mail today that really got me thinking. For those, like me, who consider ourselves internationalists the current Canadian federal election is shaping up to be quite a bore. It seems that none of the parties are truly concerned about Canada's place and/or role in the World. This causes me great concern when I consider both our national history and our current realities.

In the past, Canada has shouted from the highest mounts about its involvement and achievements in international affairs. From its surprising military achievements in the World Wars to its involvement with the creation of the United Nations or Pearson's Nobel Peace Prize winning work in the Suez Crisis to the decades of involvement by the Canadian Forces in UN peacekeeping missions. Now we've all heard this before; it has been repeatedly beaten into our brains about Canada and its peacekeeping and such but there are other areas of involvement that are beginning to dwindle. One prime example of this is with the Security Council elections. Canada has been very successful, for a middle power, at "punching above its weight" in many areas of international affairs. One way it has done this has been to place itself in positions that give it importance that its strength may not bestow. A seat on the Security Council has traditionally been one of those positions. Recognizing the importance and power that the Security Council has in world affairs, Canada has traditionally launched strong campaigns to win one of these seats of prestige when its name came around in the election cycle.

Unfortunately, of late, Canada's history of presence and involvement in international affairs has be relegated to an afterthought. Beginning with the previous Liberal regime and continuing through the most recent parliament, Canada's involvement has dwindled. Our nation has gone from one of the leading contributors to UN peacekeeping missions to contributing less than 100 people worldwide. Now I am not narrow minded, I realize that Canada is deeply involved in the NATO mission in Afghanistan and with our limited military strength, in both supplies and manpower, it is necessary to pick and choose our battles. I wish Canada could contribute more but we just do not have the ability to do so currently.

I have been a big supporter of viewing Canada's involvement in Afghanistan not as a military mission but as a development/peacebuilding mission that requires the use of force because of the difficult situation the aid workers are in. Without the presence of our military and the rest of the NATO forces, the aid workers would be greatly at risk from those radicals who are intent on maintaining the stranglehold on the Afghan people. This type of work is necessary as less and less we see peacekeeping as being relevant and more and more we find that peacebuilding is required. The mission in Afghanistan is a peacebuilding mission and should be recognized as not a solely military endeavour.

As for the Security Council, the recent remarks released about how the Conservative government was not going to contest for the open seat unless it was sure it could win straight up pissed me off. This type of politics sends the message that Canada is afraid and unwilling to participate in the knitty gritty aspects of world politics. Canada should have been a lock to win this seat but its recent trend of pissing people off and not using its resources have created the situation of doubt we now are faced with. It strikes me that our recent officials have been unwilling to "play the game" so to say when it comes to these international elections. These seats confer great influence and power but one must sacrifice to get them. It may be necessary to give out some favourable votes in return for support come election time. However, Canada has largely just pissed off everyone except the US, Israel and a few key allies. In the past Canada would have easily had the support it would need to get a Security Council seat but now Canadian officials don't want to incur the necessary upfront costs that later benefit our nation's stature.

Then there was the recent revelation by Stephen Harper that Canada will be out of Afghanistan in 2011. I consider this a complete flip flop on the part of Mr. Harper. Last winter/spring, when the whole subject of renewal was the topic de jour, the Conservative government was against putting down a firm withdrawal date for both military and politically strategic reasons. This made sense; it is stupid to tell an enemy that you are only willing to fight until a certain date for they will just bide their time until that day and then once you leave they essentially win.

This just exacerbates what I believe to have been a debacle in the handling of the quest for support from NATO in return for Canada staying in Kandahar. The goal was to push for greater commitments of support from its fellow NATO members (of which I think France and Germany are showing how truely weak they are and how far they have fallen as world powers) but Canada could not gain solid support and ended up settling for a scenario (US troops are freed up to move to Kandahar) that will probably make things worse. Canada's troops are doing a good job in the conflict that everyone else is too afraid to engage in there but they are not getting the political support they need because of a lack of will from their political representatives.

Now I'm not saying that the opposition leaders are better; neither Layton nor Dion strike me as being people capable of leading Canada back to its strong international stature of the past. Both men have called for a complete pullout of Afghanistan which would leave Canada with just its paltry current commitments to UN peacekeeping missions. Then they want Canada to take part in global warming remedies that would hurt our nation's economy and stresses the inequalities amongst developed and underdeveloped states.

In the end, Canada's political leaders appear to be concerned with their electoral survival first and foremost and do not have a greater image for Canada and its place in the world. Stephen Harper did for a while but his recent direction has made me begin to wonder. I believe it's a sad day when Canada's place in the world is relegated to an afterthought. Canada cannot continue to prosper in this increasingly globalized world without a strong and coherent plan for its place in the world.

I might be mistaken, but I believe this kind of plan is supposed to be called "foreign policy." It's one of those little topics that are supposed to be discussed in elections!

- blenCOWe