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Question 13: ConclusionPlease respond to the paper as a whole. |
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| Contributor: | tedw |
| Date: |
2003-05-01 13:56:40 |
| Answer: |
The Minister's Paper eloquently states two realities that literarily and metaphorically sandwich the tofu of foreign policy. First, that a better world would be a nicer place if it was more like Canada, and lastly: If were gonna pull that off we have to get along with other countries. I happen to agree with both.
I also happen to think that the foreign service should be the first place to instigate action but the last place anything will actually get done. Take multi-national corporations. These are groups of people engaged in international co-operation to mutual benefit. Bad press will eventually keep them honest when domestic regulations fail. Canadians should remember their own messy history when asking others to be more like us, and be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath-water.
In terms of the 'Three Pillars' approach, foreign policy would be best when it promotes security through prosperity, allowing free choice of values and Culture. That means, in effect, one Pillar. Canada is a past master at exploiting resources equitably, among disparate groups, with ever increasing capacity for compassion. We could export this and should concentrate on emerging states.
But there are limits. We must be honest about the merits of international laws and the environments in which they are enforced. In this spirit, I argue that multi-lateral institutions should be differentiated from omni-lateral ones. Canada's vote simply must not be weighted the same as another's whose repression we can no longer ignore. There are many of those votes, but there are not 30 million of them, so all of them combined must not be worth our vote.
As geo-politics re-align, I would like to see a general retooling and regrouping of our liberal-democracy clubs, like NATO, the former G7, especially the Commonwealth. We should strive to regain our position in the middle of the Anglo-American consensus, and we should back it up with all the muscle we can muster.
Ted Wakefield
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