Roy Rempel's Dreamland: How Canada's Pretend Foreign Policy Has Undermined Sovereignty

'I hope to be able to establish a relationship with more maturity." So said Prime Minister Stephen Harper (in French) on the eve of his Cancun summit meeting with Presidents Vicente Fox and George W. Bush, and the job is already well begun. Harper's visit to Afghanistan, his independent decision to curtail funding to a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, and his clear, firm negotiating stance at Cancun have demonstrated maturity in practice.

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Canada's problems, in Rempel's telling, extend far beyond the devastation done to the Canadian military during the Chretien/Martin years. Canada has suffered from a deformed strategic culture, which refuses to assert Canadian interests -- and instead treats foreign affairs as a theatre for the acting out of impulses aimed at domestic political constituencies.

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"Canada is not a 'global power' ... as much as it is a 'global dabbler.' What Canadians need to understand is that if this country wants to have real influence on a particular problem in a way that actually furthers the national interest, then much greater focus in areas where we can actually make a difference will be required. The process of choosing where to focus must, in turn, be grounded on a clearer understanding of just what the national interest is."

Canada needs to be an adult again