|
"When Security Trumps Trade - Keeping America's Doors Open to Canada" interview with Michael Kergin In the wake of the war on terror and the war in Iraq, Canada’s vital economic relationship and defence ties with the United States have come under unprecedented stress and scrutiny. Canada is participating in the effort to create a security perimeter around North America in a manner that does not disrupt $2 billion a day of merchandise trade flows. But Canada’s decision not to join the US and Britain in the invasion of Iraq, absent a United Nations resolution authorizing force, has resulted in tensions between Ottawa and Washington. Michael Kergin, Canada’s ambassador to the United States, sat for an interview with Policy Options editor L. Ian MacDonald, and discussed the state of Canada’s most important relationship. "We Are Family" by Paul Cellucci US ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci caused a storm of controversy when he told the Economic Club of Toronto that the United States was “disappointed and upset” that Canada did not support the war in Iraq as it has the war on terrorism. An excerpt from this important speech on March 25, a message he reiterated on April 3 at an IRPP working breakfast in Montreal. "Now for the Hard Part: A Role for Canada in a Democratic Postwar Iraq" by Robert P. Harrison Canada can play good Mountie to America’s bad cop in the reconstruction of a democratic postwar Iraq, writes Robert Harrison, a Montreal engineer who has lived and worked in the Arab and Islamic world. Having played no role in the war, indeed having defied strong American pressure to participate in it, Canada is seen as a disinterested party in Iraq and throughout the Mideast region. Given Canada’s history of peacekeeping, a role for which American forces are not suited, and in view of the diverse languages and cultures comprising the Canadian federation, Harrison suggests Canada could play an important role, not only in keeping the peace, but in building the institutions of a democratic Iraqi federation under the auspices of the United Nations. All of this would be very much in America’s interest, as well as our own, and would bridge the temporary divide of the war between our two countries. "Canada-US Relations in the Post-Iraq-War Era: Stop the Drift Towards Irrelevance" by John J. Noble Relations with the United States must be the top priority of the Canadian government, writes John Noble, a former diplomat and long time student of Canada- US relations. In refusing to support the US and British led invasion and liberation of Iraq, Jean Chrétien broke with Canada’s historic allies and put the UN ahead of the US in Canada’s ordering of priorities. In so doing, Noble asserts, Chrétien is not only breaking with history, and neglecting our interests, but allowing Canada to drift towards irrelevance with the US. George W. Bush’s cancellation of his scheduled May visit to Canada, and the Ottawa’s PM’s inability to reschedule it, is a worrisome confirmation that relations will not improve until Chrétien leaves office. "Washington Memo: Waiting for Regime Change in Ottawa" by David T. Jones There is a price to be paid for calling Americans “bastards” as one Liberal MP did, for calling the US president a failed statesman, as one cabinet minister did, and for denouncing the US determination for “regime change” in Baghdad, as the prime minister did. All things considered, the White House would rather wait for regime change in Ottawa than have George W. Bush visit Canada on Jean Chrétien’s watch, writes David Jones, a former senior diplomat at the US embassy in Ottawa, who sees nothing undiplomatic in Ambassador Paul Celluci’s message of disappointment in Canada, adding that incidents such as the booing of the US national anthem at hockey games are equally unhelpful to a relationship that the US will in some areas, notably defence, now reappraise. "Securing the Parameters of North America: A NAFTA Challenge in a Context of US Unilateralism" by Maria Teresa Garcia-Segovia de Madero Even before the events of September 11, 2001 senior officials of all three NAFTA countries had identified the issue of smart borders connecting America’s two largest trading partners, Canada and Mexico, to the US market. In the post 9/11 world, the question arises as to the role of Mexico and Canada in an era of US unilateralism. In essence, trilateralism is what’s required to manage the security as well as the economic agenda of the North American community, writes Maria Teresa de Madero, Mexico’s ambassador to Canada. "Engagement, not Irrelevance" by Derek H. Burney [summary not available] "Coaxing the Elephant: Can Canada Best Support Multilateralism by Cozying Up to the United States?" by Thomas d'Aquino Fostering better relations with the United States is not only in Canada’s economic interest, but will promote Canada’s sovereignty in the sense that much of Canada’s influence in the world derives from our perceived influence with the US. Regaining our influential role with the US will also discourage its unilateralist propensities and encourage it to re-engage with the UN on issues that include the reconstruction of postwar Iraq, where there is an obvious role for Canada. Tom d’Aquino, president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, reflects on high-level April meetings in Washington organized by Canada’s pre-eminent business lobby of CEOs. "Why International Law Supports the Invasion of Iraq: A Short History on UN Declarations of War" by David R. Wingfield Was the invasion of Iraq by the US-led “coalition of the willing” a legal act of war, sanctioned by the United Nations? Toronto lawyer David Wingfield argues that the coalition had all the legal authority needed in last November's UN Security Council Resolution 1441, warning of “serious consequences” if Iraq did not comply with UN inspections for weapons of mass destruction. Indeed, Wingfield argues, Iraq constantly violated the terms of the ceasefire ending the first Gulf war in 1991, and the US action was legally justified on those grounds alone. On only two occasions in its history has the UN actually authorized the use of force, in Korea in 1950 and Kuwait in 1990. The 1999 Kosovo campaign, which put an end to ethnic cleansing, was a NATO operation never sanctioned by the UN. What follows is a short legal history of war and the UN. "The Risks of Policy Choices: The War in Iraq and the Doctrine of Pre-Emption" by William Leiss The Bush Doctrine claims the right of the US to defend itself from rogue states and terrorists by the use of pre-emptive force to remove deemed threats, and to achieve what the Bush administration calls “regime change” as it has with the invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship. But the US never linked the dots between Saddam Hussein and terrorism, nor did it offer proof that the Iraqi regime was hiding weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The case for a pre-emptive strike against Iraq was never made. And where it might have been made, in terms of Saddam’s gross violations of human rights, it still would not justify invasion of a sovereign state by a foreign power, or else dozens of other countries might find themselves on an American hit list. William Leiss, who himself emigrated to Canada from the US during the Vietnam War, asks whether the invasion of Iraq was a just war, or just war, one of a precedent-setting nature that could expose the community of nations to anarchy and incalculable risk. "War no Alternative to Politics" by Joseph Heath [summary not available] "How Can We Halt the Demise of Canada's Peripheral Regions?" by Mario Polèse and Richard Shearmur Over the past few decades, Canada’s peripheral regions have suffered a significant decline, losing jobs and population because of a combination of factors including increased world competition and increased productivity in the resource-based sector. Despite hopes to the contrary, the knowledge-based economy and the Internet have not reversed this trend. Location remains a decisive factor for those activities, and proximity to a metropolitan area is still key to competitiveness for most economic activities. The regions, the authors argue, are presently in a period of disequilibrium, and to help them find a new equilibrium a fundamental shift in the policy approach will be necessary. Rather than clinging to the mirage of employment and population growth, policy should focus on managing the population decline in these regions and ensuring that the population that does remain has adequate access to public services. "Social Policy Reform: What's in a Family?" by Nathalie Des Rosiers and Lorraine Pelot The 2001 census confirms the diversity of close personal adult relationships in Canada. In additon to the conjugal couple, there is a variety of other arrangements, such as adult siblings sharing a home and adult children caring for aging parents. Numerous Canadian laws provide benefits or impose responsibilities and obligations on people because they live in relationships. The authors argue that some of these laws are overinclusive or underinclusive of relevant relationships. Governments should review legislation to determine whether relationships are relevant to the accomplishment of statutory objectives and should pursue a more comprehensive approach to the legal recognition and support of the full range of close relationships among adults. "Immigrants in Canadian Cities: Census 2001 - What Do the Data Tell Us?" by Elizabeth McIsaac In the 1990s, new immigrants did not integrate into the Canadian labour market as effectively as previous cohorts of immigrants. Despite an average level of education that was higher than that of any previous cohorts and that of Canadians as a whole, their employment rate was lower and they earned less than the Canadian average. These indications of underemployment, the author argues, seem to be the result of shortcomings in the recognition of immigrants’ qualifications and other systemic barriers to employment. Since more than 90 percent of immigrants live in urban centres, the solutions to this problem need to correspond to local conditions. Multilateral agreements between municipal, federal and provincial governments would ensure that solutions reflect local priorities and help foster vertical and horizontal collaboration and co-ordination between governments and governmental departments. Book Excerpt: Chronicle of a War Foretold: How Mideast Peace Became America's Fight by Norman Spector In this exclusive excerpt from his timely book, Chronicle of a War Foretold: How Mideast Peace Became America’s Fight, Norman Spector connects the dots between the war on terror and the Mideast conflict by way of an intensely personal journey. As Canada’s first Jewish ambassador to Israel and representative to the Palestinian Authority from 1992 to 1995, Spector lived in the region during the brief period of peace following the signing of the Oslo Accords at the White House in 1993, a peace shattered by the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by an Israeli extremist in 1995, and the first round of Palestinian suicide attacks leading to the election of the hawkish Likud government of Benjamin Netanyahu in 1996. The peace process failed when Yasser Arafat walked away from the Camp David talks in the summer of 2000, sealing the fate of the moderate Israeli government of Ehud Barak who, as his country’s most decorated soldier, had rare credentials for making peace. Now a columnist living in Victoria, Spector recounts Oslo’s spring of hope, but concludes that realism is its most useful legacy. Book Review: John Duffy reviews The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush by David Frum [summary not available] "Why the French Said Non!" by William Watson [summary not available] |
