Canada Foreign Policy
Monday, March 07, 2005
 

Canada in Crisis?

It’s over. Read about the Great Liberal TV event, the convention:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1110150624909&call_pageid=970599119419

http://www.liberal.ca/news_e.aspx?site=news&news=945

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050304/LIBLEAD04/TPNational/Canada

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2005/03/06/952257-cp.html

Well, Liberals have just wrapped up their latest convention, endorsing Great Leader Paul Martin’s stewardship of the Party. The whole affair concluded with a love-in; Martin promising to wipe-out the competition at the polls, when that time comes, and the followers endorsing his leadership with a margin that might have made Stalin or Mao envious.

Some in the media have already taken to describing what happened as “a sort of Gong Show” event, a political party creating a carnival atmosphere, spilling so much rhetoric and energy over discussion of matters average Canadians maybe don’t even think about. So I suppose I can understand why “the Gong Show.”

With so many changes going on in the world, Canada’s Liberals claimed they looked way into the future, divined the issues, and came away with a lock on the forward looking solutions the public demands. Yes, they saw so far into the future, so far, they ran right into the late 1960s-mid 1970s all over again. Foreign policy was discussed, but mostly evaded or avoided. When it was dealt with, the emphasis involved touting initiatives that could restore and revitalize our “soft power”—all very cutting-edge for something that might have been talked about 30 years ago. Then we had the youth and their allies. There was no shortage of discussion focusing on burning social questions. As a result, I am now racked with guilt for not having voted for Tommy Chong all these years. Seems we in this country are supposed to be transfixed talking about the legalization of marijuana, and maybe little else. So does this mean that, finally, all critical social issues have been explored? Hardly, I fear. What’s now finished may be just the warm-up for the all too critical compulsory cross-dressing legislation debate.

I’m not at all sure how confined to our national borders the effects of this past Liberal convention were/are. While non-industrial hemp may not be on too many formal agendas just to the south of us, it may just be possible that at least some inhaling is going on. Only a few weeks ago I wrote about ignorance as virtue, as asset, in foreign policy. Now some of our southern neighbours have seen the light, with media accounts emerging there saying that President Bush’s lack of knowledge of the Middle East was the factor that enabled him to initiate policies that are resulting in reform in that part of the world. Still other reports now claim that region is awash in liberal democracy.

All this actually making you want to turn to (legal/legalized?) Liberal solutions? If so, sit tight. In just a few short weeks the Tory convention opens, and I think we’ll want all our faculties unimpaired. High hopes? Lofty expectations? You bet. When the Conservatives pick up where the Liberals left off, I want Chuck Barris’ legacy to have some shot at living on.

Stan Markotich
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A discussion of geopolitics and Canada's role in the world. A series of essays to examine the components of Canadian foreign policy making. Psychological, sociological, historical, and cultural variables impacting Canada's perceptions of the world.

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