I don’t need to add anything to the quotes below. They all speak to Stephen Harper’s failure in foreign policy.
“It’s pathetic that the prime minister is pausing from his two-year campaign of belittling and ignoring everything Michael Ignatieff says to decide, in late innings, that the world checks with the former BBC host before making any decision about Canada. The world notices instead that our foreign minister is a perfect buffoon; that no cabinet minister from this government bothered to attend the Munich Security Conference — this was, after all, a Security Council seat up for grabs — until three years in, when suddenly Peter MacKay came around to gladhand for a NATO job; that arms-length agencies are being packed with hacks.” (Paul Wells, Maclean’s, Oct. 12, 2010)
« Pour moi, c’est incroyable, qu’on perde ce vote-là. C’est humiliant! Ça prouve que les positions politiques que l’on prend ont des conséquences énormes dans la vie d’un pays comme le nôtre. Tout le monde était convaincu que le Canada allait être élu à son tour. On l’est depuis des générations. Faut se poser des questions. »
Rough translation: “For me, it’s incredible, that we lost that vote. It’s humiliating! It proves that the policy positions taken [by Harper] have enormous consequences for a country like ours. The whole world was convinced that Canada would be elected in its turn. We have been there for generations. We have to ask ourselves some questions.”
(Jean Chrétien, ancien Premier ministre, Le Journal de Montréal, 13 octobre 2010)
“After Canada withdrew for the Security Council seat competition it spent time and money on, Foreign Minister blamed the flame out on opposition leader Michael Ignatieff’s statements. But in Inner City Press’ reporting, no one had mentioned Ignatieff. Rather, they spoke about Canada’s defunding of UNRWA and, in Africa, its temporarily blocking of debt relief for the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to gain leverage for one of its mining companies in the DRC.” (Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City Press, Oct. 12, 2010)
“Several ambassadors who emerged from the vote made no mention of Ignatieff’s remarks… African ambassadors, in particular, pointed to a series of Canadian stances on issues ranging from African debt relief to the Conservative government cutting funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.” (Lee-Anne Goodman, Canadian Press, Oct. 12, 2010)
“The loss was not a surprise. Fundamentally, we were selling new policies that others weren’t buying. We abandoned our commitments on climate change…We shifted our aid focus from the poorer countries of Africa to the less poor countries of Latin America.” (Former UN Ambassador Paul Heinbecker, Ottawa Citizen, Oct. 13, 2010)
“Countries ask each other why, how did this happen, what is it that Canada is or isn’t doing, and it’s clear that our record is blemished. We’re not playing our role internationally that once was played.” (Former Canadian UN Ambassador Stephen Lewis, Global National, Oct. 12 2010)
“Only a decade ago, Canada had the reputation as a UN enthusiast, leading the campaign to ban land mines, helping to establish the International Criminal Court, crafting the Responsibility to Protect doctrine on international intervention in states that could or would not protect their citizens. But the country’s profile at the UN is a shadow of its former self.” (John Ibbitson and Joanna Slater, Globe & Mail, Oct. 13, 2010)
“After the brutal experiences of the last week, Canada needs to stop turning its red face to the world. It clearly needs a new look before its solid profile on the world stage disappears like, well, a mirage.” (Don Martin, National Post, Oct. 13, 2010)
