foreign affairs

Wednesday June 7, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 7, 2017

Canada faces new world order in the face of dramatic change, says Chrystia Freeland

Canada is facing a new world order threatened by climate change, Daesh extremists, Russian aggression and the reality that many Americans want to “shrug off the burden of world leadership,” Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday.

November 12, 2016

In what was billed as a major speech on Canada’s foreign policy priorities, Freeland sketched out the challenges the country faces today and the role it aspires to play.

She acknowledged the dramatic changes unfolding in Washington under U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pulled out of a global climate change pact, assailed NATO alliance for not pulling its fair share and talked up protectionist trade barriers.

While Freeland called the United States the “indispensable nation” in the postwar world order, those times may be coming to an end.

In laying out Canada’s foreign policy priorities, Freeland said that Ottawa will “robustly” support the rules-based international order and its institutions.

February 10, 2017

Those include G7, the G20, APEC, the Commonwealth and La Francophonie, NATO and the UN, she said.

In those forums, Canada will promote Canadian values that include feminism, and the promotion of the rights of women and girls, Freeland said.

Freeland also pledged that the Liberal government will boost investments in the military “to not only redress years of neglect and underfunding, but also to place the Canadian Armed Forces on a new footing—with the equipment, training, resources and consistent, predictable financing.”

October 20, 2016

The third pillar of Canada’s foreign policy will be trade, starting with the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and renewed efforts to diversify trade worldwide,” she said.

Freeland highlighted Canada’s past roles on the world stage, in diplomatic circles and battlefields, from Europe to Korea to Afghanistan.

But the global order is changing in unprecedented ways, she said, with the emergence of the global south and Asia, notably China. That brings the need to integrate these countries into the world’s economic and political system “in a way that is additive, that preserves the best of the old order that preceded their rise, and that addresses the existential threat of climate change,” she said. (Source: Toronto Star)

 

Wednesday February 4, 2015

Wednesday February 4, 2015By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 4, 2015

John Baird resigns in emotional House of Commons speech

Tuesday February 3, 2015John Baird, a veteran of Queen’s Park politics and one of the shining lights of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government, has confirmed he is leaving public life.

Baird, 45, whose resignation caught Parliament Hill almost totally off guard, delivered the surprise announcement in the Commons on Tuesday morning. He is stepping down as foreign affairs minister and leaving politics, the Ottawa member of Parliament said.

“The time has come to start a new chapter in my life,” Baird said in an emotional speech to fellow MPs. He did not explain what he will be doing next, though it is expected he will take a job in the private sector.

Tearing up, Baird said, “I will miss this place very much.”

He praised the economic and diplomatic efforts of the Harper government, saying “the world continues to see the best that Canada has to offer.”

Baird said he informed Harper last night of his intention to leave Parliament Hill. Baird received a standing ovation from MPs and after his speech, members lined up and wished him well one by one, with handshakes and hugs on the floor of the Commons.

“It is with great regret and affection that I today accepted the resignation of one of the finest ministers that I have had the privilege of working with, John Baird,” Harper said in a statement .

“John has always been willing to do a lot of heavy lifting in my various cabinets and has assumed daunting new responsibilities with unsurpassed energy, commitment and professionalism, never losing sight of the fact that he was serving the Canadian people,” Harper said.

But the unexpected resignation of one of Harper’s strongest performers was a blow to the Conservatives, who face the prospect of an election later this year. Without Baird, the party will have to refurbish its political operation in the Ottawa area. (Source: Toronto Star)

 

Also published at Yahoo News Canada, iPolitics and the Regina Leader Post

Farewell John Baird

John Baird facesTuesday February 3, 2015

Foreign Minister John Baird confirmed Tuesday that he is resigning from his post and will not seek re-election later this year. He’s only 45, but he’s been in politics for what seems like an eternity. In actuality, he’s been in elected office for 20 years, serving in the cabinets of Ontario Premier Mike Harris, and federally with Stephen Harper, as Treasury Board President, Environment Minister, Transport Minister, followed by Foreign Affairs. He was dubbed “Harper’s pitbull”, a label which has stuck to him throughout his time in Ottawa characterizing his aggressive, gruff style, which has been thoroughly enjoyable for editorial cartoonists ever since. Some of my cartoons from the past 13 years: 

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Tuesday, January 21, 2014Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Harper’s bromance with Netanyahu designed to shift focus from PM’s domestic troubles

If Hollywood hadn’t already coined a bromance called I Love You, Man, they could have made a movie about the prettiest love story in international politics — namely, the one between Benjamin Netanyahu and Stephen Harper.

Mr. Harper thanked him in return, while saying that he would save his more substantive remarks for when he addresses the Knesset Monday.

But this is a relationship based upon mutual back-scratching. Mr. Netanyahu is being forced to address the prospect that Israel’s regional hegemony is under threat. At the same time, his hawkish policies on settlements in the West Bank mean Israel is increasingly isolated and ostracized. It needs friends and there have been none more unconditional than Mr. Harper.

Reminders that this is a tough neighbourhood are everywhere you look — when the media were being cleared for entry to the official welcome ceremony, a cherubic looking member of the security staff asked if we had any weapons to declare. Gulp.

The Canadian leader has his own reasons for indulging in a little bromance. Standing alongside a strongman like Mr. Netanyahu reinforces the impression that Canada is back on the world stage, with a “principled” foreign policy that does not require us to “go along, to get along.”

The Israeli prime minister welcomed his Canadian counterpart to Jerusalem Sunday, and was gushing in his praise.

“In a world that is often cynical and hypocritical, you have shown great moral leadership in fighting terrorism and not engaging in politically-correct double-talk,” he said.

Canada under Mr. Harper has stood unabashedly at the side of the Jewish people “and on the side of decency,” particularly in the face of threats from an Iranian regime set on developing nuclear weapons. “You’ve stood on the right side of history,” he said.

The Canadian government has recognized that lasting peace depends on mutual recognition and sound security arrangements. “You’ve been an indispensable voice,” the Israeli leader concluded. (Source: National Post)

SOCIAL MEDIA


 

Thursday May 19, 2011

Thursday May 19, 2011By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday May 19, 2011

Pit bull Baird faces hostile international terrain as foreign minister

John Baird may be Canada’s new top diplomat, but that won’t prevent Stephen Harper’s favourite political pit bull from baring his teeth on the international stage from time to time.

Baird’s promotion to foreign affairs in Wednesday’s cabinet shuffle was taken as a sign by some that one of the prime minister’s fiercest partisans would have to muzzle his growl and demur to the niceties of international diplomacy.

But Baird showed no sign of an impending personality makeover when he characterized his new job in confrontational terms as he left Rideau Hall.

“I fight hard for what I believe in,” Baird said, firing off freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law as examples of those beliefs.

Some of the Harper’s strongest foreign policy critics applauded the selection of Baird, citing his tough, non-compromising style as a perfect fit for his new job. But they also warned of a tough road ahead in elevating what they view as Canada’s sunken standing on the international stage.

However, Baird has handled some tough political jobs in the last few years, including treasury board president, environment minister and government House leader in a bitterly fractious minority Parliament.

“This is a man who doesn’t look like he will shrink from disagreement,” said Paul Heinbecker, Canada’s longest-serving United Nations ambassador and a frequent critic of the Conservatives’ performance on the international stage.

Tuesday February 3, 2015

“Diplomacy is not, contrary to the popular view, a subject of everybody being nice to everybody else,” Heinbecker added. “It’s a place where you go to represent your values and defend your interests.”

Baird has all the attributes of a good foreign minister, including his “strong personality.” But the fact that he is a competent minister, who has the ear of his prime minister, will be a tonic to foreign affairs department officials who have been marginalized and demoralized by Harper’s firm grip on the country’s foreign policy reins for the last five years, said Heinbecker. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)