September 30, 2001
By DOUGLAS FISHER -- Sun Ottawa Bureau ;)
This topical assessment of Canadian attitudes toward the war on terrorism makes one wonder whether most Canadians understand what wars are. It makes stark the dichotomy between Canada's professed internationalism and her actual standing on the world stage.
Our governments would have the world believe Canada is a strong internationalist, determined to play a major role in various international organizations, be they financial, developmental or defence-related. A check of the main, federal estimates since the mid-1960s, however, shows our governments have devoted more and more of their resources to domestic interests, at the expense of this international role.
This is most obvious in defence spending, where, as many have recently noted, cuts have created a paper tiger--though still a fairly costly one. Foreign aid budgets reveal a similar story. Canada has never achieved the 1% of GDP spending which was called for in the Trudeau era, and much of our aid has been designed to help Canadian companies more than bringing maximum benefit to aid recipients. Then there is our foreign service, whose members are today jumping ship to escape low pay and the sense their efforts are unappreciated.
Why the decline? Social spending at home, transfer of resources to have-not regions, support for declining industries, support for the rising industry of Indianism, and subsidies for successful businesses (so politicians can claim a part in their success) have all had priority over maintaining Canada's international presence.
But more than mere selfishness has fuelled this decline. There's globalization!
In many international forums Canada's positions and interests do not markedly differ from those of our closest allies and business partners; and where our interests do diverge from theirs it often seems unlikely we will be able to sway things. And so, why not leave the heavy lifting to others? Oh, we maintain the pretense of participating, if only to maintain posts overseas for the elite in the military, bureaucracy and patronage pool. But the evidence of our increasing international irrelevance has been obvious for many years, making the fuss over U.S. President George W. Bush's supposed snub seem silly.
During the various wars in the former Yugoslavia, Canada repeatedly found itself shut out of key decision-making committees set up by those contributing real forces to the allied peacemaking efforts. Canada protested -- and was ignored. When a former British commander of allied forces there commented that Canada lacked real military capability, our protests did not bring him a quick rebuke from Whitehall -- perhaps because no one there disagreed with him.
Some of us who recall Canada's exemplary role in the greatest international crisis of the 20th century, knowing that in World War II Canada fielded the world's fifth-largest army, fourth-most powerful air force and the third-most powerful navy, have found this drift to irrelevance humiliating and mystifying. Humiliating because, given her performance in World War I (when historians and the public alike felt Canada came of age as a nation) and World War II (from which Canada emerged as a military and industrial leader), we know Canada is capable of doing much more. Mystifying, because how does one fathom why a nation which boasts of its internationalism walk away from its responsibilities?
Some attribute this loss, not only of direction but also seemingly of memory, to the politics surrounding the use of conscription in both wars. Canada avoids discussion of our wartime achievements -- her triumphs of industrialization and arms -- because this would exacerbate anglophone-francophone tensions. Instead, we look to the launch of the welfare state here at home during World War II, and the creation of the United Nations in its wake, as things all compassionate Canadians could embrace. This take on our martial past also offers English Canadians a welcome sense of difference from (superiority to?) the Americans, who remained fixated on outdated, immoral notions of a nation's importance being at least in part based on the military power she wields.
My take on Canada and the globe? Living next to the pre-eminent power of our age, being so similar -- and insecure about the similarity -- has led us to avoid real engagement in international affairs because we are aware of just how difficult, how morally compromising, it has been for the Americans. Better to bleat platitudes from the sidelines, and contribute just enough to buy admission to the clubs of value to us. We maintain our sense of moral superiority while distancing ourselves from actions that might force us to address how terrible is man, and how complex and vicious is much of the world.
How else is one to explain why, for all our supposed do-gooder, peacekeeping nature, we have not yet had any real discussion of our recent military misadventures? The Gulf war, in which we were an ally that provided little assistance, took virtually no risks with our own troops, and made damned sure we couldn't be accused of killing any civilians. Or Rwanda, where we insisted on being given command of the UN force there, in recognition of our leadership role in peacekeeping. Over half a million civilians were killed on our watch, yet not only have we not had an inquiry into those terrible events, we have stymied the inquiries of other nations.
Canada's international record since the early 1960s reminds one of an adolescent. You know the type: The one who knows the grown-ups are making a mess out of things but is too superior, and too lazy, to help out.
Letters to the editor should be sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED].
Once we were heroes
Canada's lack of international influence is not only a disappointment, it's mystifying given the effort we mustered in conflicts like World War II
"Canadians support a war on terrorism
until they have to fight one. When you talk about what it takes to wage a war,
the numbers just crash"
-Darrell Bricker, Ipsos-Reid pollster
This topical assessment of Canadian attitudes toward the war on terrorism makes one wonder whether most Canadians understand what wars are. It makes stark the dichotomy between Canada's professed internationalism and her actual standing on the world stage.
Our governments would have the world believe Canada is a strong internationalist, determined to play a major role in various international organizations, be they financial, developmental or defence-related. A check of the main, federal estimates since the mid-1960s, however, shows our governments have devoted more and more of their resources to domestic interests, at the expense of this international role.
This is most obvious in defence spending, where, as many have recently noted, cuts have created a paper tiger--though still a fairly costly one. Foreign aid budgets reveal a similar story. Canada has never achieved the 1% of GDP spending which was called for in the Trudeau era, and much of our aid has been designed to help Canadian companies more than bringing maximum benefit to aid recipients. Then there is our foreign service, whose members are today jumping ship to escape low pay and the sense their efforts are unappreciated.
Why the decline? Social spending at home, transfer of resources to have-not regions, support for declining industries, support for the rising industry of Indianism, and subsidies for successful businesses (so politicians can claim a part in their success) have all had priority over maintaining Canada's international presence.
But more than mere selfishness has fuelled this decline. There's globalization!
In many international forums Canada's positions and interests do not markedly differ from those of our closest allies and business partners; and where our interests do diverge from theirs it often seems unlikely we will be able to sway things. And so, why not leave the heavy lifting to others? Oh, we maintain the pretense of participating, if only to maintain posts overseas for the elite in the military, bureaucracy and patronage pool. But the evidence of our increasing international irrelevance has been obvious for many years, making the fuss over U.S. President George W. Bush's supposed snub seem silly.
During the various wars in the former Yugoslavia, Canada repeatedly found itself shut out of key decision-making committees set up by those contributing real forces to the allied peacemaking efforts. Canada protested -- and was ignored. When a former British commander of allied forces there commented that Canada lacked real military capability, our protests did not bring him a quick rebuke from Whitehall -- perhaps because no one there disagreed with him.
Some of us who recall Canada's exemplary role in the greatest international crisis of the 20th century, knowing that in World War II Canada fielded the world's fifth-largest army, fourth-most powerful air force and the third-most powerful navy, have found this drift to irrelevance humiliating and mystifying. Humiliating because, given her performance in World War I (when historians and the public alike felt Canada came of age as a nation) and World War II (from which Canada emerged as a military and industrial leader), we know Canada is capable of doing much more. Mystifying, because how does one fathom why a nation which boasts of its internationalism walk away from its responsibilities?
Some attribute this loss, not only of direction but also seemingly of memory, to the politics surrounding the use of conscription in both wars. Canada avoids discussion of our wartime achievements -- her triumphs of industrialization and arms -- because this would exacerbate anglophone-francophone tensions. Instead, we look to the launch of the welfare state here at home during World War II, and the creation of the United Nations in its wake, as things all compassionate Canadians could embrace. This take on our martial past also offers English Canadians a welcome sense of difference from (superiority to?) the Americans, who remained fixated on outdated, immoral notions of a nation's importance being at least in part based on the military power she wields.
My take on Canada and the globe? Living next to the pre-eminent power of our age, being so similar -- and insecure about the similarity -- has led us to avoid real engagement in international affairs because we are aware of just how difficult, how morally compromising, it has been for the Americans. Better to bleat platitudes from the sidelines, and contribute just enough to buy admission to the clubs of value to us. We maintain our sense of moral superiority while distancing ourselves from actions that might force us to address how terrible is man, and how complex and vicious is much of the world.
How else is one to explain why, for all our supposed do-gooder, peacekeeping nature, we have not yet had any real discussion of our recent military misadventures? The Gulf war, in which we were an ally that provided little assistance, took virtually no risks with our own troops, and made damned sure we couldn't be accused of killing any civilians. Or Rwanda, where we insisted on being given command of the UN force there, in recognition of our leadership role in peacekeeping. Over half a million civilians were killed on our watch, yet not only have we not had an inquiry into those terrible events, we have stymied the inquiries of other nations.
Canada's international record since the early 1960s reminds one of an adolescent. You know the type: The one who knows the grown-ups are making a mess out of things but is too superior, and too lazy, to help out.
Letters to the editor should be sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED].
Re-publication or
redistribution of content is expressly prohibited without the prior written
consent of the copyright holder
www.antic.org
NSP Lista isprobava demokratiju u praksi
==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bUrBE8.bVKZIq Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: archive@jab.org T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
fisher_doug.gif
dots.gif