Canada Foreign Policy
Sunday, November 27, 2005
  ExoForeign Policy

It is now nearly certain that a no confidence motion, moved by the Conservatives and seconded by the New Democrats, will bring down Paul Martin’s government on 28 November 2005. Canadians will almost surely go to the polls sometime in January 2006, and so far most of the evidence suggests the result is going to amount to there being little change. Predictions and polls say there will be a new minority government, likely a Liberal, but possibly a slim one or two-seat Conservative. Nothing that seems to be going on in Ottawa captures the public imagination, and there’s more than enough not going on to make analysts of Canadian politics start thinking about a career change. Here on the West coast there is talk about politics, but it isn’t spirited, and the consensus seems that while a winter election really isn’t wanted, people will vote, if they must. There’s no urgency, no suspense, no anticipation and no expectation of any profound outcome. The public is subdued. An election is something to cope with, perhaps some sort of inconvenience, some thing to push aside before life and business can get back to usual.

Even the Prime Minister’s foreign policy accomplishments over the past three or four weeks signal next to nothing. In mid-month, from 18-19 November, PM Martin found himself in Busan at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering. Earlier, from 4-5 November, Martin found himself in Argentina at the Summit of the Americas. On both occasions he talked about free trade, what was endangering it, and possible solutions. Yet there’s little progress. Meantime, the PM’s former rock star friend and ally, U2’s Bono, now says he can’t understand Martin, and won’t lend any star-power campaign assistance. Evidently at one time Bono had taken Martin at his word when the PM said or hinted he might be increasing foreign aid assistance.

But just when I thought things were moving so slow, something did happen to answer at least one burning question: just what does happen to high ranking foreign policy and defence officials who fade away, get lost in the mists of time? Over the past 8 weeks or so, former Defence Minister Paul Hellyer has resurfaced, screaming out answers. Hellyer served from 1963-1967, during what may have been the golden era for Canadian foreign affairs. Lester Pearson, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, was Prime Minister, and peacekeeping doctrines were taking shape. And it is out of this Golden Era that we get Paul Hellyer.

What happened with Hellyer after the 1970s may be of little consequence, but his story, picked up in 2005, will reassure and comfort Canadians who fear many policy officials are as capable of identifying real threats to our national security as they are of finding many nations on a map. If Hellyer is any serious indication, then ex-officials eventually discover fringe popular culture, watch television pseudo-documentaries, and convince themselves extraterrestrial civilizations will vaporize us. Of course, doom is not inevitable, but averting it does mean convincing the Americans they shouldn’t shove weapons in space.

Back on 5 November 2005 writer Gordon Heath, in a piece titled “The Politics of Exopolitics,” explained “Paul Hellyer, a former Minister of Defence in the Pearson Government, has announced his belief that UFOs are real and that the US is developing weapons systems for space which are to be used against alien craft entering earth's airspace. He voiced his opinions at the recent ‘2005 Toronto Exopolitics Symposium’ [on 25 September 2005]. Exopolitics is a new term used to describe the study of the politics of extraterrestrial contact” [cited in http://www.ufobc.ca/Beyond/exopolitics.htm]. Heath continues: “Paul Hellyer states that his beliefs in ET visitation do not relate back to insider knowledge obtained from his time spent as Minister of National Defence from 1963 to 1967. At that time he was largely consumed by other pressing public policy priorities and paid scant attention to high profile UFO encounters…Hellyer states his recent interest in UFOs was prompted by viewing Peter Jennings’ TV documentary on the topic.”

And perhaps at this point it may just be best to quote in its entirety the preamble from “Former Canadian Minister of Defence Asks Canadian Parliament to Hold Hearings on Relations with ‘ET’ Civilizations”, a PRWeb Newswire Press Release [cited in http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/11/prweb314382.htm]:

A former Canadian Minister of Defence has joined forces with three Non-governmental organizations to ask the Parliament of Canada to hold public hearings on with Alien “ET” Civilizations. Paul Hellyer, Canada’s Defence Minister from 1963-67 under Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prime Minister Lester Pearson, publicly stated: “UFOs, are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head.” Hellyer warned, “The United States military are preparing weapons which could be used against the aliens, and they could get us into an intergalactic war without us ever having any warning. Mr. Hellyer went on to say, “I'm so concerned about what the consequences might be of starting an intergalactic war, that I just think I had to say something.” “Now is the time for open disclosure that there are ethical Extraterrestrial civilizations visiting Earth,” a spokesperson for the Non-Governmental Organizations stated. “Our Canadian government needs to openly address these important issues of the possible deployment of weapons in outer space and war plans against ethical Extraterrestrial societies.”

And so why even mention this story now? For whatever reason, it can’t be denied that it’s getting perhaps much more than its fair share of media attention. And as for what’s going on with Paul Hellyer? That, I suspect, is something that’s wide open to debate.

Posted by 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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