This negative attitude towards the Harper government was once again in the news in recent days when OAS states were angered by Ottawa’s refusal to accept an August 24 resolution by the OAS criticizing Britain for threatening to forcibly enter the embassy of Ecuador in London to seize Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, who sought asylum in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden and the United States.
Although the OAS resolution stated Britain had no right to enter any diplomatic premises under the Vienna Convention, the Harper government said Canada regarded the issue as a bilateral matter and “the OAS is not the appropriate forum to address this issue.” Canada was the only country to refuse to join the consensus on the resolution.
This failure to cooperate with Canada’s fellow OAS members is only the latest incident where the Harper government has been out of step with hemispheric neighbours.
Prime Minister Harper angered hemispheric leaders attending the recent summit held in Colombia when he, backed by President Obama, took the lead in blocking an initiative to invite Cuba to future summits.
In a statement clearly directed at Harper, Colombia’s president complained the effort to reach out to Cuba to encourage further reforms there was blocked by “ideological” fixations.
Such unhappiness with Canada’s foreign policies isn’t restricted to the nations of Latin America. Many attribute this state of affairs to the highly personal role of Prime Minister Harper.
For instance, his seeming indifference to Canada’s traditional close relations with African nations alienated many Africans, especially those where he cut Canadian assistance programs.
Middle East countries complained his self-proclaimed pro-Israel policies ended the relatively open-minded attitude of previous Canadian governments towards complex Middle East issues in favour of Israel.
Many countries which normally supported Canada’s candidacy for a seat on the important United Nations Security Council admitted they deliberately did not vote for Canada in 2010 because of Prime Minister Harper’s foreign policies and aid cuts.
In recent months European Union nations have been irritated by Mr. Harper’s unwillingness to provide backup funds to assist indebted euro currency nations to cope with their horrific debt situation. Germany’s ambassador to Canada bluntly said EU members were irritated by Harper’s lack of support. Others maintained that ignoring the current crisis in the EU was inexplicable given the trade and economic inter-dependence of Canada and its important trading partner.
Last December South Africa’s high commissioner to Canada, Mohau Pheko, criticized the Harper government for trying to bully developing countries into leaving the Kyoto Protocol.
With regard to the current anger over Prime Minister Harper’s lack of cooperation with fellow OAS members, one South American diplomat expressed the view that Canada really didn’t have a well-thought-out policy towards Latin America but rather a one-man policy ( i.e. that of Prime Minister Harper) which was solely interested in expanding trade relations with hemispheric states with little or no interest in understanding or caring about concerns of Latin American nations.
Another added that despite rhetoric from Prime Minister Harper about broadening relations with Latin American countries, its diplomats had real difficulties in gaining access to Canadian officials to advise them of their governments’ views on important subjects.
One diplomat expressed the view he thought Prime Minister Harper was closing the door on Latin America as a meaningful priority for his government.
Considering the multiplicity of negative comments on Prime Minister Harper’s one-man approach to formulating Canada’s foreign policies, ordinary Canadians might think it’s time this country’s policies should reflect what are in the best national interests of Canada, not Mr. Harper’s own highly personal and ideologically driven views.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Harry Sterling
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