Libya and Canada’s Political Influence: A Different Perspective0

• Analysis
• October 28, 2011

by Philippe Lagassé

Did Canada play a critical political role in relation to the Libya intervention? My colleague Roland Paris is skeptical. In an earlier post on this blog, he points out that Canada’s political influence was secondary at best, …

Is There a Problem in Canada-U.S. Relations?0

• Analysis
• October 26, 2011

This post first appeared on the CIC’s Roundtable blog at opencanada.org.

When they met in Washington last February, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama announced a “new long-term partnership” between Canada and the U.S., which would “accelerate …

Canada Pulls More than its Weight in NATO0

• Analysis
• October 25, 2011

Published in the Ottawa Citizen,October 25, 2011

For much of NATO’s history, the term “burden-sharing” sent Canadian officials scrambling for cover. Coined during the long standoff with the Soviet Union, the term encapsulated a complex debate over who was, and …

Virtue or Vice? Human Rights Diplomacy under the Tory Government0

• Analysis
• October 14, 2011

Foreign Minister John Baird’s speech to the UN General Assembly in September was widely reported for the forceful manner in which he condemned the Palestinians’ ’unilateral’ bid for UN membership. Largely unremarked upon, however, was the Minister’s emphasis on human …