Even Liberals think liberals are headed in the wrong direction. Former Trudeau aide Thomas Axworthy barely scrapes the surface in this story, but for a liberal to admit to being wrong is huge.
We’ve lost all military, diplomatic clout, he says. (We’ve lost more than that.)
Canada has lost the “respect” of the United States because it has allowed its power in military affairs, foreign development aid and international diplomacy to wane, says a former senior aide to Pierre Trudeau.
…[Axworthy] writes that “prestige is the currency of international relations” and that countries gain that reputation by being known as effective players in defence, diplomacy or development.
But in recent decades, budget cuts have steadily diminished Canada’s capacity to be effective in those areas—which means it is now critical to dramatically reinvest to restore this country’s influence in Washington.
…Since the late ‘60s, he concludes, “Canada has been going downhill” in its ability to make a difference. He makes the following complaints:
– The military has fallen to about 60,000 members from over 100,00 members in the mid-1960s, and the army is “stretched thin” by the deployment of troops to Afghanistan.
“Our NATO allies on average spend two per cent of GNP on defence; we spend less than one per cent.”
– On foreign aid, Canadians have a “self-image” as a generous donor to the underprivileged, but this “is simply not true. The reality is that we have been punching well below our weight.”
He says Canada’s percentage of aid to GNP has fallen to 0.29 per cent today from 0.53 per cent in 1975.
– The Canadian foreign service was once one of the best in the world, but the “energy and ability” of diplomats to represent this country abroad must be strengthened.
“Compared to the private sector, the public sector today is having difficulty recruiting the best and the brightest.”
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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