Speaking of the role of the new, future Conservative Canada in the world, we should first ask ourselves: we all say that we are citizens of a great country, right? What is it that makes us feel that Canada is great? Let’s name three things.
The first thing is easy; it is our territory. Being the second largest country in the world certainly gives us the sense of greatness. The second thing is also obvious: hockey! Our primacy and merits in this game are not to be disputed. One more, anyone?
Here is the third one that makes me feel proud for my country. Travelling around the world, almost anywhere except the States (they usually don’t know where Canada is), as soon as I say that I am Canadian, people start nodding their heads in respect. They say: “Yes, Canadians, we know. You are such nice people. Always helping everyone and not asking for anything in return.”
How many countries in the world can pride themselves on this kind of reputation? Not many. The US certainly cannot; while proclaiming themselves the leader of the world community, they’ve always acted only in self-interest. Therefore, we should distance ourselves from the US and NATO and be just Canadian.
This is something that the leaders of the CPC have not yet absorbed. They claim that when in power, they will increase the military spending to 2% GDP; will re-arm and strengthen the Canadian Forces and act more proactively wherever the “enemy” appears, be it Russia, China or Middle East. Then, I remember that our current CPC leader spent most of his career on a military service at NATO Armed Forces, and claims special respect because of this. Not for the post of a Prime Minister! Truly, the military entrenchment is not the best position to see the complexities of the modern world.
These “election promises” make my back chill. I am not feeling any safer behind the “re-armed and strengthened” Armed Forces. Russia and China, as far as I know, pose no threat to Canada, unless we start meddling into other countries’ conflicts and detaining high-ranked officials of these countries for no warrant of ours. As for the Islamic terrorism, all the military power of the United States doesn’t make them immune or safe against these threats. God forbid us to intrude in their fight! The bombs we drop on Kabul and Tehran may very well explode in Montreal or Toronto.
I am seeing the foreign policy of the Conservative Canada as entirely peaceful. We are uniquely positioned to be the facilitator and peacemaker between the Middle East and the West. Bombs will not solve this conflict. We need to establish a dialogue with the Arabic leaders, try to understand the nature of their demands, and see if some common grounds can be found.
The true significance of these fights is that the unipolar (US- and Western-centered) world is coming to an end. It is the new world order that is in the making. We need to facilitate this process and make it as painless as possible. This is what we are great at doing! This will garner us the trust and the feeling of security that no military muscle flexing will ever give. The same applies to any other conflict currently rambling in the world.
To win the next election, besides having the right platform and the right person as our leader, we need to have the right election tactics. In my next post, I will discuss the steps we need to take to gain the crucial advantage over Trudeau and his Liberals. . .