Don’t Barack Obama and Canadian opposition chief Michael Ignatieff look like a natural pair of left-leaning, book-writing fans of global governance? The Winnipeg Free Press scents a plot against Canadian Conservative PM Stephen Harper:
The Obama administration is heaping praise on some old Liberal ideas about Canada’s role on the world stage — policies the Harper Conservatives have been accused of dumping.
Esther Brimmer, the U.S. State Department’s assistant secretary for International Organization Affairs, lauded ex-Liberal foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy and his signature “human security” agenda during an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press. Brimmer also said her government strongly supports a key tenet of Axworthy’s old agenda — the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine that the United Nations endorsed five years ago in an attempt to prevent genocide and protect innocent civilians from abuse by their own political leaders.
Canada struck an international commission a decade ago to write the doctrine and the panel included current Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff in his academic life before he entered politics. “Canada and other countries were leaders in thinking about what does human security mean,” Brimmer said in an interview this week on the margins of an international aviation summit in Montreal.
Brimmer’s remarks are timely because she is watching the race for the two temporary seats on the United Nations Security Council — a contest between Canada, Germany and Portugal that will be decided by a secret ballot at the UN on Oct. 12.
Since winning power in 2006, many observers say the Harper government has all but abandoned the R2P agenda at the UN.
Brimmer attended the General Assembly in New York last week when Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the assembly’s 190 countries that Canada has a stellar track record and is ready to serve a two-year term on the Security Council. Brimmer declined comment on Harper’s speech, saying it is U.S. policy not to publicly endorse candidate countries vying for the Security Council.
We’re not fooled!
