International Matters of Concern
Trudeau Government's Foreign Policy Priorities as Revealed in Foreign Minister's Mandate Letter
- Margaret Villamizar -
Prime
Minister Trudeau issued his “mandate letters” to the 38
Members of his Cabinet on December 16, almost a month after the 44th
Parliament opened on November 22.
According to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), these mandate
letters "outline the objectives that each minister will work to
accomplish, as well as the pressing challenges they will address in
their role." The PMO says the publicly available letters "help
Canadians hold the government to account" by giving them a clear idea
of how the government will deliver its agenda.
All the letters start off saying that finishing the fight against
the pandemic remains the government's central focus and make mention of
other issues the Liberals campaigned on in the election. They begin by
outlining what are said to be the overarching priorities of the
government and the expectations of each minister for the parliamentary
session, followed by specific directives on the key work and priorities
for their individual portfolios, including that they come up with a
plan to implement those directives. They are indicative of what the
government is up to as much for what they say as for what they leave
out.
Mélanie Joly is the Trudeau government's fourth Minister of
Foreign Affairs since the 2015 election when it replaced
the Harper Conservatives. Mandate letters given to the Liberal
government's first two foreign ministers, Stéphane Dion (2015)
and Chrystia Freeland (2017) established as the first priority
recognition of the U.S. as Canada's "closest ally and most important
economic and security partner." The specific instruction to
Stéphane Dion, ostensibly to repair damage done to this
all-important relationship by Harper, was to "improve relations with
the United States" as well as to "strengthen North American trilateral
cooperation."
Chrystia Freeland, who worked as a journalist based in the U.S. for
years before returning to Canada to run for the Liberals in a 2013
by-election, replaced Dion when renegotiating NAFTA became the burning
issue after the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President in 2016. She
was instructed to "maintain constructive relations with the United
States" and "lead efforts to deepen trade and commerce relations" with
it.
Freeland was replaced after the September 2019 election by
François-Philippe Champagne whose appointment coincided with the
launch of the Trudeau government's campaign for a seat on the UN
Security Council. The mandate letter he received framed his role as one
of "advancing Canada's national interests in a more unpredictable world
and leading Canada's contribution to address fundamental global
challenges." The priority placed on advancing Canada's relationship
with the U.S. in the two previous foreign minister's mandate letters
was for all intents and purposes disappeared, the only direct reference
to it showing up last on the list, almost as an afterthought, telling
the minister to "Support the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of
Intergovernmental Affairs in work on Canada-U.S. Relations."
Canada's bid for the Security Council seat was unsuccessful in June
2020 when the facts of what Canada was up to internationally told a
very different story than Champagne's mandate
letter was crafted to suggest. Now the veil has come off in the
marching orders given to Trudeau's fourth foreign affairs minister,
Mélanie Joly.
Foreign Affairs Minister's Mandate Letter
The priorities Global Affairs Canada is to uphold are contained in
the mandate letter which instructs the foreign minister to concern
herself with "promot[ing] peace and security, combat[ing]
authoritarianism and counter[ing] foreign interference through
collective international responses, including by expanding our
cooperation with like-minded partners and Canadian, international and
multilateral organizations." This puts Canada almost exclusively at the
service of the U.S. agenda of interference, aggression and war under
the pretext of combating "authoritarianism."
"Authoritarianism" is said to be represented primarily by China and
Russia, but also by the leaders of other countries, no matter how
small, who are said to threaten democracy and human rights around the
world by refusing to allow the U.S., Canada and certain European powers
to force liberal "representative democracy" on them.
Joly's mandate letter makes clear that in the name of high-sounding
ideals like democracy and human rights, what Canada has agreed to do is
step up its role as good cop to the U.S.
bad cop. It has taken on the job of trying to sell those rotten wares
as standing up for the interests and values of Canadians.
 Fully
18 of 26 priorities Joly is instructed to act on are explicitly or
implicitly associated with longstanding U.S. foreign policy objectives
and projects in furtherance of its aim of global dominance, with
"multinational" entities like NATO, the G7 and a bevy of coalitions,
institutes, foundations, NGOs and the like as tools for this. Some of
the interfering "democracy promotion" outfits Canada has committed to
lead and fund in the coming year were spelled out in the Trudeau
government's submission to Biden’s Summit for Democracy in
December.
It is understood that along with the objectives of U.S. foreign
policy, even as its ruling circles get closer to embroiling the country
in civil war, a price will be extracted from any countries the U.S.
deems to represent a "threat" to the realization of its aims.
Everything from sanctions, "lawfare" or judicial persecution, through
to full blown regime change operations, war and destruction are
included in its arsenal for that purpose, with allies like Canada
pressed to participate in meting out whatever punishment is brought to
bear on those targeted.
The very first thing on the list of priorities Trudeau has given
Joly to act on is to "Work with me, and in close collaboration with
other ministers, to further strengthen our partnership
with our closest ally, the United States." This is followed by such
things as:
- Facilitate the safe passage and resettlement of vulnerable people
from Afghanistan, with an emphasis on individuals who supported Canada
and its NATO allies over the past two decades
- Develop and launch a comprehensive Indo-Pacific strategy to deepen
diplomatic, economic and defence partnerships and international
assistance in the region
- Work with G7, NATO and like-minded partners to develop and expand
collective responses to arbitrary detention, economic coercion, cyber
threats, foreign interference in democratic
processes and egregious violations of human rights, including through
the use of sanctions
- Advance support for democracy and human rights as a core priority in Canada's international engagement, including by:
1. Establish[ing] a Canadian centre to expand the availability of
Canadian expertise and assistance to those seeking to build peace,
advance justice, promote human rights, inclusion and
democracy, and deliver good governance
2. Working with international partners to help establish an
International Anti-Corruption Court, to prevent corrupt officials and
authoritarian governments from impeding development
that should benefit their citizens
3. Expanding fast and flexible support for fragile and emerging
democracies, increasing Canada's diplomatic presence in regions of
strategic importance
4. Continuing to support
and
implement Canada's Magnitsky Law, the Justice
for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act [a carbon
copy of the U.S.
Magnitsky Act -- Ed note], and promote the adoption of
similar legislation
and practices globally.
- Work to strengthen Canada's engagement and presence in the United
Nations (UN) system in order to ensure a more effective, efficient,
relevant and accountable UN that supports a
rules-based international system, particularly so that it can better
address those who are seeking to undermine democracy, human rights and
the rule of law.
- Expand Canada's engagement with allies, partners and international organizations in order to promote peace and security
- Work with the Minister of National Defence, the Minister of Northern Affairs and partners to defend Arctic sovereignty
- Work with the Minister of National Defence and NATO partners to
establish a new NATO Centre of Excellence on Climate and Security based
in Canada to ensure Canada and its
allies are prepared to respond to climate-related threats and
emergencies.
- Work with the Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion to
support the Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and
Combating Antisemitism [the Special Envoy is a Zionist who promotes the
controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)
definition of anti-Semitism the Trudeau government has adopted. This
bogus definition equates defence of Palestinian rights and criticism of
Israel with "anti-Semitism" -- Ed note] in advancing their mandate.
Like with their failed attempt to win a seat on the UN Security
Council where the position would have been used to undermine the
authority of the UN Charter and the rule of law by pushing its
replacement with the U.S. "rules-based international order," the
Trudeau Liberals now aim to hoodwink Canadians into believing that serving as a front
man for U.S.-style "democracy promotion" schemes to meddle in the
affairs of sovereign nations and peoples has anything to do with their
values or to contributing to human rights, the rights of women and
girls, or to peace and security around the world. A government which is
not seen to do these things at home can hardly be expected to defend
them abroad.
 What
is unmistakable in considering the foreign minister's mandate letter is
that Canadians have no say in deciding what role their country should
play in the world. All matters of Canada's foreign policy remain the
purview of an executive operating behind closed doors and away from
Parliament, at the beck and call of the U.S. and supranational bodies
ruled by narrow private interests. None of what the letter pertains to
was raised by the Liberals, any of the other cartel parties in the
Parliament or the monopoly media during the election campaign, which
was notably devoid of any discussion on foreign policy whatsoever
except that raised by the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada and other
small parties.
Like all matters which affect the lives of the people who comprise
the country called Canada, the aim of its foreign policy must be set by
the people themselves to further the cause of peace, freedom and
democracy worldwide. Canada must contribute to upholding the rule of
law internationally as contained in the Charter of the United Nations,
stop interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign countries in the
name of a fraudulent rendering of the values of Canadians and make
Canada a zone for peace by getting out of NATO and NORAD as a first
step.
This article was published in
Volume 52 Number 1 - January 9, 2022
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2022/Articles/MS52011.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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