Photo by Jorbasa

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has laid out his vision for “rebuilding Canada’s leadership on the world stage” in the wake of the Harper government’s failed bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council. Speaking to Le Conseil des Relations Internationales de Montréal on November 2nd, Ignatieff condemned the Harper government’s approach to foreign policy, charging that Harper had

• until recently ignored economic partnerships with China and India;
• de-prioritized Africa;
• abandoned our role as a mediator in the Middle East;
• withdrawn from U.N. peacekeeping;
• forgotten the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine;
• dismissed international climate-change agreements; and
• neglected Canada’s diplomatic responsibilities and opportunities.

(Ignatieff neglected to note, however, that the record of the previous Liberal government on some of these issues, e.g. peacekeeping, was also less than stellar.)

Ignatieff’s speech also outlined a number of ways in which he said Canada could regain its position as an international leader and hinted that the Liberals would like to see Canadian peacekeepers in the Congo after the end of the combat mission in Afghanistan. The speech neither repeated nor repudiated the Liberals’ call for Canada to undertake a post-2011 military training mission in Afghanistan.

Check out CPAC’s bilingual video of the speech or CTV’s version with English translation.

The text of his speech is available in English here and in French here.

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