Harper once stated that people wouldn't recognize Canada when he was through with it.
One of the areas where the change has been the most pronounced is in the area of our international reputation. During the latter part of the 20th century Canadians were known as a nation of peacekeepers and diplomats. We lead the way on international accords designed to reduce war crimes, torture, and climate change. This slowed gradually under a Harper minority and screeched to a stop with the majority.
Our lack of leadership in combating climate change is embarrassing. The Harper government is viewed as a leading voice for the obstructionist camp. Our greenhouse gas emissions continue to skyrocket. We’re the home of the monstrous eco-nightmare known as the Oil Sands. Our reputation has taken well-earned hit time and again at international talks designed to save the planet.
We were one of the world’s biggest supporters of the Geneva Convention and the UN Convention Against Torture. But when our foreign service officers (and other public employees) aren’t being ignored or muzzled by the Harper government, they’re being publicly smeared as senior diplomat Richard Colvin was – all because he had the courage to speak out about the possibility that Canadian officials turned a blind eye to the risk that Afghan detainees faced torture.
We were one of the world’s great mediators of international conflict. But the Harper government severely weakened our moral and diplomatic influence in the Middle East with its unqualified support of Israel during its brutally disproportionate war with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Farewell to peacekeeping and foreign aid. We were a pioneer of peacekeeping but under the Harper government Canada is no longer the world’s leading peacekeeper – we’re not even in the top 30 anymore. We used to be a leading dispenser of foreign aid to poor countries but today we’re no longer among the top 10.
Canada was a founding member of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1919 and hosted its headquarters during the Second World War. But today our reputation as a country that respects workers' rights is in jeopardy because the Harper government inexplicably refuses to ratify three critical Conventions of the ILO governing forced labour, child labour and the right to collective bargaining.
We were viewed as one of the world’s most inclusive and accommodating societies. Yet Canada was one of only four countries recently to vote against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and we refuse to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities.
Canada used to be known as diplomatic honest brokers, peacekeepers, human rights advocates, good environmental stewards, champions of foreign aid and a more equitable world. This reputation – which is a reflection of our country’s character and what we have to offer the world – served us well for decades. It paid us a dividend of global influence that far exceeded the sum of Canada’s actual powers.
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