In this CTV News article, Steven Staples and other foreign policy analysts look back on an eventful 2010, identifying two major Canadian foreign policy failures and blaming poor diplomacy and a lack of Canadian leadership on international issues (Josh Visser, “Did Canada punch above its weight on the world stage?” CTV.ca news, 25 December 2010): […]
Tag Archives: United Nations
Canada's dwindling peacekeepers
The Toronto Star reports on Canada’s dwindling contribution to U.N. peacekeeping (Brett Popplewell, “Last of a dying breed: The Canadian peacekeeper,” Toronto Star, 11 December 2010): The Canadian mission in Sudan began in 2005, at the close of a 22-year civil war that saw a rebel movement in the south of the country fight with […]
Canada's loss at the UN – What's your reaction?
In a last ditch effort to avoid a complete defeat, Canada withdrew its bid before what was expected to be a complete drumming by member states as support swung to Portugal over Canada. What is your reaction? Tell everyone. Leave your reply below.
No seat at the table for Harper foreign policy
Prime Minister Stephen Harper came into office vowing to “bring Canada back as a credible player on the world stage“. Today in New York, however, Canada’s chance to play a role at the UN Security Council came to an abrupt end when UN members considered the record of his government and voted to give the […]
Canadian government supports UN, but not peacekeeping
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s speech at the opening of the United Nations General Assembly has made a number of things clear about his attitude towards that organization. The first is that his government would very much like Canada to be elected to one of the temporary seats on the UN Security Council when UN members […]
Where have all the Blue Berets gone?
A recent discussion on the future role of Canada’s military forces demonstrated once again that some of Canada’s most well known defence and foreign policy experts don’t know what they’re talking about when it comes to UN peacekeeping. Four years ago, David Bercuson, Director of the DND-funded Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, claimed in […]