This column is an opinion by John Kirk, a professor of Latin American studies at Dalhousie University and author or co-editor of 18 books on Latin America, and Stephen Kimber, a professor of journalism at the University of King’s College and author of nine books, including the award-winning What Lies Across the Water: The Real Story of the Cuban Five. For more information about CBC’s Opinion section, please see the FAQ.
“Many of you have worried Canada has lost its compassionate and constructive voice in the world,” Justin Trudeau told a boisterous, celebratory rally in the immediate aftermath of his 2015 federal election victory. “Well, I have a simple message for you … we’re back.”
But five years on, Canada is not back.
Why not? Because in foreign policy — as in much else with this Liberal government — the focus has been on style rather than substance.
Consider Canada’s current bid for a UN Security Council seat, which goes to a vote later this month.
Why does Canada want the seat? Mostly, it seems, to show the world Justin Trudeau can do what Stephen Harper could not. In 2010, Harper tried to win a Security Council seat and his failure to do so was considered a major political embarrassment for the Tories.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explains what Canada can do with a seat on the United Nations Security Council. 0:48
But Trudeau’s own campaign for one of the Security Council’s 10 rotating, elected seats — which he launched in February 2016 with a promise that Canada was back in the UN peacekeeping business — has floundered from the beginning.
In February of this year, Trudeau made his first visit to Africa. While Masai Ujiri, the high-profile Nigerian-born president of the Toronto Raptors, played wingman, Trudeau courted some of the world’s most controversial leaders during the annual meeting of the African Union.
Africa claims 54 votes in the UN, and Canada will need at least 129 to win one of the two council seats up for grabs when the ballots are counted.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced questions about addressing human rights issues with his international counterparts during a visit to Senegal. 1:50
Which may also explain our leadership of the 14-nation Lima Group in its scheme to bring about regime change in Venezuela. Many of the nations in that group are led by extremely undemocratic Latin American rulers whose governments show little respect for human rights. But they all have votes at the UN.
While we flatter and lobby and make quiet promises of development assistance in exchange for votes, our much smaller competitors for the seat — Ireland (population 4.9 million) and Norway (5.4 million) — boast far better credentials for the two-year position.
Ireland has long been a voice for island nations and small states, emphasizing its decades-long support for multilateralism, and for Palestinian statehood and human rights. It is the only country among the candidates to have had a continuous presence on UN peace operations since 1958.
In April of this year there were 474 Irish peacekeepers on UN missions, and 65 from Norway. Canada has just 35 — the lowest number since the creation of the first peacekeeping force in 1956.
To make matters worse, this is a far cry from the up to 600 troops and 150 police that Canada, with a population of 37.6 million, promised to provide in 2016. Meanwhile, Canada does have several hundred members of the Armed Forces in Latvia — apparently the Trudeau government feels supporting NATO military initiatives is more important than UN peacekeeping missions.
A Canadian Armed Forces soldier provides security in Gao, Mali, on Dec. 22, 2018. The United Nations formally asked Canada to extend its mission in Mali, but Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland declined. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Norway and Ireland have also provide a far greater percentage of their national income (0.9 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively) to overseas development assistance than Canada (0.26 per cent).
Canada’s questionable role in international affairs isn’t helping our cause.
In foreign policy we have consistently supported U.S. goals, not the best way to win hearts and minds in the Global South.
Compare all of that with our successful bid for a Security Council seat back in 1988. Back then Canada was a major contributor to peacekeeping forces, led an international campaign to ban landmines, helped to establish the International Criminal Court, and played an active role in multilateral institutions.
Canadian soft power garnered enormous respect around the globe, and we obtained sweeping support for our application.
Canadian officials are hoping to showcase the country’s leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of their ongoing pitch for a seat on the UN Security Council. 2:02
It would be wonderful if Canada really were “back,” but sadly it is not. The use of traditional Canadian integrity and soft power is desperately needed — and would be welcomed — on the world stage.
The Trudeau government needs to step back from empty platitudes and photo ops in developing countries, and begin a serious analysis of where our foreign policy is and where it should be — a review we haven’t undertaken for decades.
Put simply, Canada doesn’t deserve one of the seats on the UN Security Council, since in terms of commitment to the goals of the United Nations, Norway and Ireland have a far better moral claim. Hopefully this election process will force us to do some real soul-searching about our place in the world. It is about time.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Darcy Kuemper made 16 saves for his first shutout of the season and 32nd overall, helping the Los Angeles Kings beat the Nashville Predators 3-0 on Monday night.
Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist and Anze Kopitar and Kevin Fiala also scored. The Kings have won two of their last three.
Juuse Saros made 24 saves for the Predators. They are 1-2-1 in their last four.
Kopitar opened the scoring with 6:36 remaining in the opening period. Saros denied the Kings captain’s first shot, but Kopitar collected the rebound below the goal line and banked it off the netminder’s skate.
Fiala, a former Predator, made it 2-0 35 seconds into the third.
The Kings held Nashville to just three third-period shots on goal, the first coming with 3:55 remaining and Saros pulled for an extra attacker.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Monday:
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DEVILS 3 OILERS 0
EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) — Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his NHL career, helping the New Jersey Devils close their western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored. The Devils improved to 8-5-2. They have won three of their last four after a four-game skid.
Calvin Pickard made 13 saves for Edmonton. The Oilers had won two straight.
