Posted on 07/20/2006 7:33:03 PM PDT by Clive
Alexander Panetta, The Canadian press Published: Thursday, July 20, 2006 LARNACA, Cyprus -- Stephen Harper capped a crisis-plagued week by admitting his surprise over the degree to which foreign policy has consumed his prime ministership.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, the prime minister concluded his longest foreign tour with the frank observation.
“One of the biggest surprises I’ve had in this job has been the degree to which foreign policy has really taken a lot of my time,” he said as he prepared to board his plane for the return flight home.
“I guess because we’re in a globalized economy in a global world. It’s hard, there are no real limits anymore between domestic and foreign policy...”
“We’ve had two challenges this week. One is to deal with (Mideast) policy issues, the other is to deal with the crisis with Canadian residents in a war zone.
“These are both very challenging circumstances.”
After winning an election largely devoid of any substantive
discussion of international issues, Harper’s prime ministership has been marked by the escalating conflict in Afghanistan and by softwood-lumber negotiations with the United States.
But he faced his greatest test this week when Israeli planes killed eight Canadians during a bombing raid in Lebanon.
Harper insisted he took a principled stand by staunchly supporting the Israeli offensive, even though it killed an entire Montreal family during their holidays.
He said Canadians will come to realize he doesn’t make decisions based on popularity considerations, but on their merit.
He believed Israel needed to retaliate aggressively following the capture of its soldiers by Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia and he isn’t budging.
“One thing Canadians will increasingly understand about me is I will make my own decisions,” he said. “Our government will take whatever position we think is right whether we think it’s popular or unpopular in the short term.”
He admitted, however, there may be lessons to learn if Canada ever faces another mass-evacuation of its citizens like the one currently underway in Lebanon.
His government has been blasted from various quarters over its handling of that exercise.
Other countries had their evacuation plans well underway while Canada was still scrambling to find boats and foreign ports to transport 20,000 citizens from strife-torn Lebanon.
“This is a challenging situation for any government. I think all governments are struggling with it but we’ll obviously learn some lessons for next time,” he said.
Harper made an unscheduled stop in Cyprus after a week-long foreign trip to carry 100 Canadian evacuees back home on his prime ministerial plane.
He said he was impressed by how calm those Canadians remained, despite their horrific ordeal in Lebanon. After sleeping on an airport tarmac, Harper welcomed the beleaguered guests onto his plane Thursday for the flight home to Ottawa.
The first boatload of 261 Canadians arrived in Cyprus with evacuees describing sleepless nights as Israeli bombers buzzed overhead and pounded away the country’s vital infrastructure.
Some angry evacuees said the Canadian government repeatedly failed them, by failing to keep them informed, by failing to offer transportation while foreign countries were whisking their residents to safety and by providing them with a rough ride.
They complained of dehydration, widespread vomiting from sea sickness, cramped quarters and a lack of medical care. They were also furious a boat ride that was supposed to last less than 10 hours dragged on for three times as long, from the time they arrived at the Beirut port to the moment they set foot on the Cypriot dock. The delays were due in part to orders imposed by the Israeli military and also to heavy marine traffic in Cyprus.
Harper thanked the evacuees for pointing out the mission’s shortcomings.
“It’s always worthwhile to get right where the activity is going on and see what exactly is happening,” he said of his stop in Cyprus.
“We’ve brought some people here and they’ve given us some useful feedback...I must say that this group of people look remarkably relaxed.”
At every foreign-policy turn, whether it’s Afghanistan, or the softwood lumber dispute with the United States, or the Lebanese-Israeli conflict, Harper has faced the same accusation from opponents of being a U.S. lackey.
He bristles at the charge. He said he wants Canada to play a more robust role in international affairs, not a subservient one.
The Conservatives recently announced plans to spend $17.1 billion on new military hardware.
“I think in the last few years, Canada’s position on a lot of foreign policy matters was to wait for a consensus and then get along and go along. That’s not the approach we’re going to take,” he said.
“We’re going to increase Canada’s capabilities and take very strong positions and push for the kind of direction internationally that we want to see.”
He blames his opponents for fostering the U.S. lapdog stereotype, which has been trotted out virtually every time he and President George W. Bush have agreed on anything.
But in the same breath, he said he understands why many Canadians are so strident in defending their country’s political independence.
“I think Canadians always have some concerns because we’re beside such a huge superpower that they want to make sure we make our own decisions.”
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This would be because Canada hasn't HAD a foreign policy under the Liberals, much less the ability to prosecute a policy if they had had one.
The Liberals were practicing what one of my professors was fond of calling "my mother's theory of geopolitics"
Exactly!!! There is a lot of repair work to do.
Good article BTW
Yup, there's a lot of repair work to do - and down here in the US, we appreciate that y'all are finally starting to pick up your share of the work again.
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
I think we're all shocked by how well he is doing. Its getting to the point that the socialist are confined to the big cities (Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver) and out on the east coast.
Two Canadian soldiers dead
Eight injured in suicide bomb attack CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, July 22, 2006 Article tools
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Font: * * * * KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Two Canadian soldiers were killed and eight others injured Saturday, at least one seriously when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into a coalition vehicle in Kandahar City.
Eight Afghan civilians were also wounded in the blast.
Military officials have not yet released the names of the dead and injured.
"I can confirm that two coalition soldiers were killed and eight wounded in the suicide attack," said coalition spokesman Major Scott Lundy.
Canada has about 2,300 troops in Afghanistan, most in the Kandahar area. Before Saturday, 17 Canadian soldiers and a Canadian diplomat had been killed in Afghanistan since the first battle group was sent to the country in February 2002.
© CanWest News Service 2006
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