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"Canada: 'helping to build a better world'" by George W. Bush In a major address destined to become known as the Halifax Speech, George W. Bush ended his fence mending visit to Canada in December with a ringing affirmation of the historic friendship between the United States and Canada, adding his thanks to Canadians who took in 33,000 stranded Americans on September 11, 2001. "Why Williams walked, why Martin balked: the Atlantic Accord dispute in perspective" by Christopher Dunn In a province where no premier ever lost votes by standing up to Ottawa, Danny Williams has become the latest in a long line of provincialist champions from Newfoundland and Labrador. When he walked out of a First Ministers’ Meeting last October, he had carefully chosen his fight with Paul Martin over the Atlantic Accord, which allows Newfoundland and Labrador to keep 100 percent of its offshore revenues. Yet 70 percent of those revenues are clawed back by Ottawa under the equalization formula. In the election campaign, both Stephen Harper and Jack Layton promised to end the clawback. Martin made a similar campaign promise, but balked when federal finance officials turned stingy. From St. John’s, Christopher Dunn appraises the political landscape, and fallout, from the Atlantic Accord disaccord, and finds Martin between the Rock and a hard place. "Romanticism and realism in Canada's foreign policy" by Allan Gotlieb Canada projects a bipolar personality, of romanticism on one side and realism on the other. For decades, the realists held the upper hand. Even as Canada followed the path of multilateralism, it pursued unilateral goals in expanding its coastline, and promoted a bilateral trade agenda with the US. In the last decade, the romanticists have gained the upper hand, promoting a human security agenda, distancing Canada from the US, and articulating a foreign policy based on Canadian values, which its proponents say it is our duty to export. In a dazzling tour d’horizon of Canadian foreign policy over the last half-century, Allan Gotlieb, one of Canada’s leading foreign policy practitioners, appraises the records of prime ministers from St-Laurent to Chrétien, and proposes a reality-based agenda for Paul Martin. "A time for courage and conviction in foreign policy" by Derek H. Burney A former Canadian ambassador to the United States suggests it’s time for a reality check in any review of Canadian foreign policy, where Canada’s words speak louder than its actions. Derek Burney writes that a growing number of nations in the global community “have learned that Canada, more often than not, can be counted on to provide ‘all aid short of help’ and ‘all help short of aid.’” He adds that for the last decade Canada has distanced itself from Washington while promoting Canadian values, “as if that were a virtue in itself.” But, instead, he writes, “it has contributed to neglect of our most vital interests and a decline of relevance and respect for Canada and the views of Canada where we have the greatest scope and potential for influence.” "The secret life of Canadian foreign policy" by Norman Hillmer Canada’s foreign policy has, inevitably and invariably, been anchored in relations first with Britain and later with the United States. Multilateralism has historically been our means of asserting our independence from one or the other. But like the secret life of Walter Mitty, it is a fiction, a dream sequence divorced from the reality of Canada’s interests, writes historian Norman Hillmer. “Eighty-five percent of our foreign policy resides in our relations with the United States,” he writes. “That is a brutal fact, and that is the interest we most zealously and effectively protect.” "The decline of Canada's influence in the world - what is to be done for it?" by Robert Greenhill Fifteen years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Robert Greenhill led the External Voices Project, seeking to ascertain actors and issues in foreign policy where Canada has made a difference in the post-Cold War world. Under Chatham House rules, 36 foreign policy authorities were interviewed in 14 countries. “The overriding theme from 1989 to 2004 is one of decline,” Greenhill writes, “decline in our reputation and relevance with the United States, decline in our leadership role in development, and decline in the international significance of our peacekeeping and other international security activities.” Only two Canadian leaders were identified as having made a difference on the world stage: Brian Mulroney, who leveraged his influence with the US onto the multilateral agenda, and Lloyd Axworthy, for his promotion of a human security agenda. Where can Canada make a difference in the next 15 years? The answer that came back: leadership in its own backyard and innovative problemsolving abroad. “Both Americans and Mexicans expressed an interest in Canada taking a leadership role in laying out a new North American agenda.” While, on global issues, one very senior thinker said: “With so many urgent issues today, important global problems — the political impact of globalization, infectious diseases, proliferation — don’t command enough attention. How do we focus on one or two issues and solve them? There Canada could play a useful role.” "Do foreign policy reviews make a difference?" by John J. Noble In Canada’s first foreign policy review in 1970, Foreign Policy for Canadians, Pierre Trudeau turned his back on the Pearsonian concept of Canada’s role in the world, and suggested foreign policy was “merely an extension of domestic policy and Canada’s national interests.” The next major review was the Mulroney government’s 1985 Green Paper, Competitiveness and Security. In 1995, in Canada and the World, the Chrétien government suggested the projection of Canadian values, along with prosperity and security, as keystones of foreign policy. What will the Martin government propose as a vision of Canada in the world in its International Policy Review, finally due out this month? John Noble considers the question and suggests: more of the same. "Martin's first year on foreign policy - the rhetoric of good intentions" by Andrew Cohen A year after Paul Martin took office, his foreign policy elements “are still unformed but seem to incorporate both the romantic and realist currents of Canadian foreign policy,” writes Andrew Cohen, author of While Canada Slept: How We Lost Our Place in the World. On Canada-US relations, “Martin will agree with the Americans when he must and disagree when he can because the Canadian psyche wants that distance.” But on the romantic side, Martin hopes to export Canadian values. “Behold then, Canada the Exemplar. We are, therefore we matter.” But beyond the rhetoric of good intentions, “There is no magic; it is about money.” For defence, for diplomacy, for development. “Paul Martin has a real choice in fostering a new internationalism for Canada.” "Connecting Canada to the world: enhancing interests, projecting values" by Jeffrey Simpson An internationalist vision is unlikely to be realized by a federal government preoccupied with programs, like health care, in provincial jurisdiction. But the leader who articulates such a vision — one that enhances Canada’s interests while projecting its values — will find a receptive audience both at home and abroad, suggests The Globe and Mail’s national affairs columnist. “This internationalist project,” he writes, “lies in understanding the way the world is rushing in upon us; how our industries and economy, our air and water, our forests and fields, our universities and colleges, our governments, our scientific research and cultural producers — how almost every aspect of our daily lives and our future — is increasingly tied to the pressures, drives, treaties, negotiations and sheer weight of the world around us.” He proposes a policy of connectedness to the world. "Fulfilling Canada's global promise" by Jennifer M. Welsh In the post-September 11 world, Jennifer Welsh asks the provocative question, “If the US is the main object of our external relations, does Canada even need a foreign policy at all?” This is not a rhetorical question, she writes, but one that “demands an answer.” While Canada could become a country like Switzerland, focused on a domestic agenda to the virtual exclusion of foreign affairs, other factors require Canada “to be and do much more.” Geography, history, international trade, immigration and identity all point to a Canadian role of engagement, not just with its North American partners, but in the larger world. Canada needs to define its goals, within its means, and then pursue them. "Global governance by force? Pluralism or solidarism" by Stephen J. Toope In the discussion of achieving global governance by means of force, there are two predominant schools of thought, the pluralists and the solidarists. The pluralists hold for international and institutional consensus as a means of moving the global community forward. The coercive solidarists divide into two categories, hard and soft; the hard solidarists preaching the Bush doctrine of preventive force, the soft solidarists favouring corrective force, particularly against rogue regimes. Stephen Toope appraises the aims of the pluralists and solidarists and concludes that Canada’s policy on invoking force is shaped by its preference for pluralism, which best reflects Canadian values and culture. "Haiti - an opportunity for Canada to apply the '3-D' concept" by W. Don Macnamara The failed state of Haiti is a nation where Canada has both interests and influence. With 100,000 Canadians of Haitian origin living in Montreal alone, with Canadianled humanitarian and reconstruction projects, with Canadian troops again present on Haitian soil, Don Macnamara argues that Haiti, and the Caribbean, should be a major focus of Canadian foreign policy. He suggests that security is an essential precondition of economic development, and that the economic growth is in turn a precondition of social development on that unhappy island, ravaged by generations of dictatorship and disorder. Haiti, he concludes, is a place where Canada can project its modest influence in the world in a way that makes a significant difference for the better. "Canada's role in global governance" by Donald J. Johnston From his front row seat as head of the OECD in Paris, Canada’s Donald Johnston has spent most of the last decade observing the multilateral system and the emergence of regional economic blocs in Europe, Asia and North America. While the United States currently dominates global governance, he writes that “its domination of the world economy is likely to be short by historical standards,” noting that China is poised to become the world’s largest economy by 2020. What is Canada’s role in this emerging global system? “Canada has made substantial contributions to the ongoing global dialogue on macroeconomic management, peace, security and development,” he writes. “By not aligning its policies in lockstep with the United States, it has also harvested credibility through objectivity with the larger community of nations.” He concludes that Canada should continue to move in this direction. "Canada and the Anglosphere: in, out, or indifferent?" by David G. Haglund The war in Iraq marked a major point of departure in Canadian foreign policy in that Canada did not support the US and Great Britain, and found itself aligned instead with France and Germany in opposition to the American-led invasion. “What was truly remarkable about the Iraq war,” writes David Haglund, “was how out of step Canada could be with its two long-standing partners in the ‘English-speaking’ world...Never on a matter of such import did Canada distance itself from both of its so-called ‘Anglo-Saxon’ partners at once.” Instead, Canada found itself “so closely aligned with France's (position) as to become virtually identical to it...namely that Canada would only join in military action against Saddam if the UNSC approved, it was obvious that what really stood in the way of Council authorization was the threat of a French veto. If Paris decreed the war to be justified, Ottawa would snap to attention.” While the UK and Australia might have found themselves supporting the US for larger strategic reasons, Canada's proximity to the US, in both geography and commerce, as well as being under the US security umbrella, paradoxically made it easier to stand aside. Canada doesn't need to get closer to the US in “the Anglosphere.” Furthermore, opposition to the war was virtually unanimous in Quebec, which may have influenced policy outcomes in Ottawa, particularly in the middle of a provincial election campaign pitting the Liberals against the Parti Québécois. "Les relations transatlantiques se conjuguent-elles au passé ?" by Marie Bernard-Meunier The war in Iraq has severely affected trans-Atlantic relations. While this crisis may be on the way to being defused, says Marie Bernard-Meunier, Canada's exambassador to Germany, it is unlikely that we will see a return of the status quo ante, because too much has changed permenantly. The United States, the only superpower, is using its economic and military might to translate its own vision of the world, while Europe is preoccupied with recreating itself. The distance between the two has never been as wide, and there is a serious risk that it will widen even further, she states. For Canada, this polarization, and the emergence of a European pillar within NATO, represent a real challenge. Canada's inclination toward Europe in a good number of areas, from Iraq to Kyoto, is not always easily reconciled with its North American reality. But even if it is becoming more difficult and more uncomfortable to have a foot in each world, Canada should not be afraid to contribute to the debate within NATO, by far its most solid anchor point in Europe, to forge a new trans-Atlantic relationship. "Globalization, offshoring, and American trade politics: prospects for Canada-US trade" by Pierre Martin Offshoring is most simply described as the migration of jobs overseas. During the first Bush adminstration, 2.7 million manufacturing jobs were lost in the United States. While the president's Democratic opponent, John Kerry, failed to change the conversation from security to the economy, there is no indication the offshoring trend will abate anytime soon. If anything, jobs in the service sector, including call centres and computer software, previously sheltered from the winds of globalization, have joined the trend. With protectionism against offshoring on the rise in the US, how will this affect American trade policy, including its policy with Canada where, for example, there are 25,000 call centre jobs servicing the US alone? Pierre Martin, director of the Chair in American Political and Economic Studies (CÉPÉA) at Université de Montréal, examines the trend and appraises the prospects. "Le Canada, le futur de l'ALENA et la nouvelle Amérique du Nord" by Louis Bélanger Considered a pioneering agreement when it was signed, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) now threatens to fall into disarray, if the Canadian government does not act to correct its principal weaknesses and deficiencies, says Louis Bélanger. To do so, it will have to abandon the attitude of denial and the strategy of “de-North Americanization” that it has adopted for 10 years, which have proven to be so ineffectual. “The Canadian government should resolutely accept its continental destiny and adopt a true North American policy,” notes the author. This will require frank acknowledgement of the need for reform and to go beyond NAFTA, and must be based on comprehensive and strategic reflection on the kinds of institutional arrangements Canada would be prepared to negotiate. "A relative decline" by Joseph Heath [summary not available] "Investing in human capital to secure Canada's role in the global economy" by Tom Kent Investments in human capital are crucial to Canada’s competitiveness and prosperity in the global economy. From education to preventive health care for children, “policies are greatly more effective if they operate well in childhood and youth,” writes Tom Kent, who as senior adviser to Prime Minister Pearson worked on most of the social policy innovations of the 1960s. It’s not just a question of money, he contends, but also of leadership. “One thing experience has taught me,” he concludes, “is that solid public achievements require the context of a larger purpose, a sense of direction, a feeling for the future.” "La Banque du Canada et la vulnérabilité du système financier" by Raymond Théoret and Pierre Rostan Following most other central banks, the Bank of Canada has become more transparent over the past decade, communicating more information about and analyses of its policies. In this article, Raymond Théoret and Pierre Rostan review these innovations, focusing particularly on the bank’s new role in contributing to the stability of the financial system. While this new direction may be explained by the multiplication of extremely destabilizing events that have occurred, the authors maintain that the Bank of Canada is not in the best position to assume this function. Instead, they recommend the creation of an independent body of the same calibre as the former Economic Council of Canada, which would be better placed to advise financial managers impartially. To be able to quantify the risks that threaten the stability of the financial system and appropriate measures to deal with them, it is also vital that the opinions of the various stakeholders be taken into consideration, they conclude. "Luttes autour de la pauvreté" by Alain Noël [summary not available] Book Excerpt: Fight or Pay: Soldiers' Families in the Great War by Desmond Morton The Great War came to Canada in the summer of 1914. There was no question of where Canada stood in the coming conflict — with Britain, France and Belgium, and against Germany. Eventually, Prime Minister Robert Borden would raise an army of 600,000 men, no small achievement for a country of what was then only nine million. At great cost in human life and suffering, Borden eventually secured Canada’s sovereignty in its own seat at the table at the Versailles conference of 1919, which determined the shape of the inter-war world. Desmond Morton, one of Canada’s most eminent and prolific historians, has long been fascinated by the impact of the First World War on the families those men left behind, and how they coped and made ends meet in the absence of their loved ones. In an early and innovative example of social policy, the government created the Canadian Patriotic Fund. In this excerpt from Fight or Pay: Soldiers’ Families in the Great War, Morton captures the turmoil and excitement of August 1914 in Canada’s largest city. Book Review: Geoffrey Kelley reviews Fight or Pay: Soldiers' Families in the Great War by Desmond Morton [summary not available] Book Review: James Ferrabee reviews Silent Partners: Taxpayers and the Bankrolling of Bombardier by Peter Hadekel [summary not available] "Who's your daddy not so crucial here" by William Watson [summary not available] |
