Published in the Globe and Mail, April 16, 2013. Why is Foreign Minister John Baird misrepresenting Canada’s policies on the Mideast? Last week, Mr. Baird met with Israeli justice minister Tzipi Livni in East Jerusalem. The meeting was controversial because of its location. Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 war and later annexed it. Canada, like… Read More
Author Archives: Roland Paris
Baird’s Silence on Abuses in Bahrain Exposes Canada’s Inconsistency
Published in the Globe and Mail, April 5, 2013 The government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper prides itself on having a “principled” foreign policy and for taking “clear positions” in the defence of human rights. Why, then, did Foreign Minister John Baird barely utter a peep in public about Bahrain’s terrible human rights record when he visited that count… Read More
Tags: Arab Spring, Canadian foreign policy, human rights, Israel, John Baird, Roland Paris, Sri Lanka, Stephen Harper
CIDA Merger is Fine, but Fundamental Questions of Policy Remain Unresolved
Published in the Globe and Mail, March 22, 2013 Thursday’s announcement that the Canadian International Development Agency will be folded into the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade leaves critical questions about Canada’s aid policy unanswered. First, regardless of whether aid policy is run from CIDA or a new mega-ministry, will o… Read More
Tags: Canadian International Development Agency, DFAIT, international development, Roland Paris
The Right Call on the Wrong War
Published in Opencanada.org, March 19, 2013 In the weeks leading up to the disastrous invasion of Iraq a decade ago, a number of prominent Canadian commentators and political figures warned of dire consequences to Canada-U.S. relations if this country failed to join the American-led coalition. As it turned out, however, the U.S. administration quickl… Read More
Tags: Canada, Canada-U.S. relations, iraq, Jean Chretien, Roland Paris, United States
A Not-So-New Foreign Policy Plan
The Harper government’s “secret” foreign policy plan, revealed by the CBC today, offers few surprises. Its emphasis on pursuing economic opportunities, particularly in emerging markets, is a reflection of what the government is already doing. The real news is not that this document exists – the fact that it has been under development for over a year is one… Read More
Tags: Canadian foreign policy, foreign policy review, Roland Paris, Stephen Harper
Is Corruption the Cost of Saving Afghanistan?
Published in the Globe and Mail, July 11, 2012. It was fitting that last weekend’s international donors’ conference on Afghanistan took place in Tokyo: The event resembled the city’s famous kabuki theatre, with its ritualized drama of grand gestures and hidden meanings. The centrepiece of the meeting was a pledge by donors, including Canada, for $16-bil… Read More
Tags: Afghanistan, Canada, corruption, governance, Hamid Karzai, Roland Paris
Don’t Blame Obama for ‘Losing’ Canada
Derek Burney and Fen Osler Hampson have well-deserved reputations as level-headed observers of Canada-U.S. relations. How, then, did they come to write an article so full of misjudgments on this subject? The article in question, “How Obama Lost Canada,” appeared on the website of Foreign Affairs magazine this week. As the title suggests, the authors arg… Read More
Tags: Barack Obama, Buy America, Canada-U.S. relations, Canadian foreign policy, Keystone XL, United States
The Engaged Academic: Why the Old Ivory Tower Won’t Stand
The latest issue of the journal Perspectives on Politics, published by Cambridge University Press, includes an important article by Lisa Anderson, an American political scientist who is currently president of the American University in Cairo. Anderson argues that new information technologies are transforming the relationship between universitie… Read More
Tags: academe, political science, Roland Paris
Going Along to Get Along? Canada Soft-Pedals Russia’s Role in Syria
Why is Canada giving Russia an easy ride on Syria? Moscow has been running diplomatic interference for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and providing his regime with weapons. Meanwhile, Assad’s loyalists have escalated their attacks on Syrian civilians, including women and children. Until this week, we heard barely a peep from Ottawa about Russia’s in… Read More
Tags: Arab Spring, Canadian foreign policy, human rights, John Baird, Roland Paris, Russia, Stephen Harper, Syria
John Baird: The Next Minister of National Defence?
I don’t normally follow Canadian politics closely enough to play the parlour game of predicting the winners and losers of the next cabinet shuffle, but sometimes you get a hunch worth wagering on, and this is one of those times. I’d bet a whole dollar that John Baird will be moved from the Department of Foreign Affairs to National Defence this summer. Look at it… Read More
Tags: Canadian defence policy, Canadian Forces, Canadian foreign policy, Department of National Defence, John Baird, Roland Paris, Stephen Harper
