Foreign policy was scrupulously avoided by all party leaders during the recent federal election—but it could become the most troubling issue for the minority Conservative government.
Canadians might expect, and the government might pretend, that our trying hard to please everyone will cause the world to let us alone. But the world will intrude into our peaceful kingdom irrespective of how we see ourselves and others.
Our troops in Afghanistan are in a deeply troubled part of the world, and when they are hurt the government will need to explain why our presence there is required.
Then there are endless difficulties in Africa, the uninterrupted frenzy of violence in the Muslim world, disquiet in South America, turmoil within Europe of a sort not seen since the inter-war years of the last century, Iran’s quest for nuclear arms, America’s preoccupation with Iraq and the war on terror, natural disasters and diseases, and a dysfunctional United Nations with a cloud of disrepute hanging over the secretary general and his office.
Our friends and our foes will test our resolve in diplomacy and in war, and they will want to know what Canada represents that is non-negotiable.
It is not good enough to say, as was whimsically repeated by Paul Martin in his time as PM, that the world needs Canada.
The more germane question is why? And the forthright answer would be that we as a people today are confused on how to respond meaningfully in a crowded world.
Responding meaningfully to the world beyond our shores would mean we have some prior consensus about things we value, and then lending our resources to spread them among nations and peoples who want them for their needs while seeking our friendship for what we cherish as liberal democracy.
Our domestic political differences do not override the liberal values enshrined in our constitution. So at some point, a line must be drawn for the world to know our resources will not be provided to those people and nations who repudiate and scorn what we have defended in common with our friends.
In the Middle East, the election of Hamas to administer the Palestinian Authority should be seen—among other things such as the recent violence in response to cartoons of Mohammed, repression of minorities, abuse of women, promoting anti-Semitism and glorifying suicide bombings—as a declaration by radical Islamists that they hold our liberal culture and its values in contempt.
Since 9/11, many of us have feared a real clash of civilizations. But some radical Islamists have deliberately sought a clash of civilizations as the means by which to win the civil war raging inside the Arab-Muslim world, between those seeking freedom with democracy and those wanting to impose their cruel, totalitarian version of anti-modern Islam. Canadians will have to decide on which side of this clash we stand—or it will be forced upon us. Our presence in Afghanistan demands a clear answer.
We can also indicate our firm support for Israel as a besieged democracy in a hostile region, and put on hold indefinitely our dealings with Palestinians until they unconditionally accept Israel and repudiate all forms of violence, including anti-Semitic propaganda.
The lesson of history stares in our face. Munich in 1938 seemed, to decent men, a small compromise for peace with honour—and its bill was paid with the charred remains of millions from Auschwitz to Nagasaki.
He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Center for Islamic Pluralism based in Washington, D.C., a Senior Fellow with the Canadian Coalition for Democracies, and an academic-consultant with the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C. He has been a consultant with CIDA on development issues and has published widely in academic journals on foreign policy matters and area studies of the Middle East and South Asia.
Mansur is featured on the documentary Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West produced by the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He also unsuccessfully ran for the Canadian Alliance party in 2000.
Mansur has been accused by Canadian Islamic Congress of using "provocative, self-serving rhetoric", and for "promoting an anti-Arab and anti-Muslim agenda".
He is an Ismaili Muslim.
At a press conference on October 2, 2008, Mansur stated that "Islam is my private life, my conscience...[but] my faith does not take precedence over my duties...to Canada and its constitution, which I embrace freely;" "I am first and most importantly a Canadian;" "only in a free society will you find Islam as a faith and not a political religion." Mansur also criticized New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton, whom Mansur said "has gone to bed with Islamists", because he is running candidates in Ontario and Quebec who are closely identified with the push for Sharia law.
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