Instead, he has assigned Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird to once again deliver the speech next week on behalf of Canada.
Critics on Monday blasted Harper for his decision, saying it confirms the Conservative government’s disdain for the UN and that Canada will pay an international price for it.
“I can’t imagine why he wouldn’t want to speak to the General Assembly,” said NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar.
“It appears that they’re trying to pick and choose what institutions they deem as relevant. And the UN doesn’t seem to be on that list. “
Since Harper took office, the UN General Assembly has met seven times. Harper has spoken to the group twice — in 2006, when his government was just a few months old, and in 2010, when he unsuccessfully appealed to the UN to give Canada a seat at the Security Council.
Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae said Harper was given a “unique opportunity” by the UN to speak to world leaders this week.
“I find it quite extraordinary that he is not doing so. I think it diminishes Canada’s reputation internationally. I think it diminishes us as a people. I think it speaks of a deeper insincerity on the part of the government.”
Rae said he believes that once the UN rejected Canada’s Security Council bid two years, Harper concluded there’s no longer any point in showing up.
But a spokesman for Harper said the Prime Minister has nothing to apologize for and he is happy to articulate his government’s foreign policy anywhere — including the Waldorf-Astoria hotel ballroom in New York where the Appeal of Conscience Foundation will honour him with an award.
“Our foreign policy is our foreign policy,” said Andrew MacDougall, Harper’s director of communications.
“We’re proud of it and we articulate it wherever we go in any event.”
The group honouring Harper was founded in 1965 by Rabbi Arthur Schneier and describes itself as an “interfaith coalition of business and religious leaders.”
In past years it has given the award to people such as then-prime minister Jean Chretien, former British prime minister Gordon Brown, and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
The group says Harper is being honoured with the award “as a leader of integrity who has earned the respect of his people, for his commitment to democracy, freedom, human rights and peace in the service of humanity.“
The General Assembly begins Tuesday under a cloak of security, as world leaders descend on New York. U.S. President Barack Obama will speak to the Assembly, to be followed in later days by a long list of national leaders from countries such as Israel, Iran, Egypt and Australia.
The meeting comes amid increasing tensions over Iran’s possible nuclear ambitions, and whether Israel will take military action to prevent that country from developing a nuclear bomb.
Meanwhile the UN has not been able to stem the growing humanitarian crisis in Syria, where about 20,000 Syrians have been killed in the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
However, beyond holding private meetings with some of other world leaders while in New York, Harper will not take to the UN podium himself.
Recently, he hasn’t been shy about criticizing the UN — telling a Conservative party convention last year that his government’s intention “is no longer just to go along and get along with everyone else’s agenda. It is no longer to please every dictator with a vote at the United Nations.”
MacDougall said Monday that the government has “some concerns with some elements” of the UN.
“Whether it’s noted rights abusers being appointed to positions on rights boards at the United Nations. Or whether it’s envoys from the United Nations making unwanted interventions here at home, as we have seen over the past.”
“That said, the government does work with the UN on any number of issues, whether it’s on food safety or food security around the world.”
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Mark Kennedy
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