Critics blast Harper on dithering on campaign for UN Security Council seat

by CAMPBELL CLARK — May 15, 2008

OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday his government has not yet decided whether Canada will stay in the race for a seat on the powerful United Nations Security Council in 2011-2012.

Although Canada has won election to the 15-member Security Council roughly every 10 years since the UN opened in 1946, and served noticed seven years ago it will run for a seat again in 2010, diplomats have warned Mr. Harper's government the country might face an embarrassing loss this time.

Opposition leaders charged that this is a sign the Conservatives' foreign policies have reduced Canada's international standing - but Mr. Harper insisted his government has made the country a more active international player.

The Globe and Mail reported yesterday that Mr. Harper's government is expected to decide this week whether to campaign for the seat - a decision that will determine whether Canadian diplomats at the UN in New York will step up their efforts to curry support into a full-blown campaign.

Mr. Harper gave no indication yesterday of what that decision would be, and neither he nor his aides would say when it might be made public.

"The cabinet has not made any decision on a campaign, and it's premature to discuss a campaign," he said in the Commons.

"However, I can say that we are leaders in several United Nations missions - in Afghanistan, in Haiti, in Darfur. We have cracked down on tyranny in Burma in applying the most severe sanctions in the world. And we have been able to have a resolution on Iran's human rights record passed in the United Nations.

"We haven't just made statements, we have acted."

Opposition politicians, however, argued that Canada's indecision about whether to run for a Security Council seat reflects a slide in the country's influence.

"I think they have damaged the international reputation of Canada and they are concerned that if they try, they will fail," Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion told reporters outside the Commons.

"I want Canada to campaign. ... But if you ask if our chances [of winning] have shrunk because this very conservative government has tarnished our reputation, the answer is yes."

NDP Leader Jack Layton said the Conservatives' unwillingness to sign international declarations on aboriginal rights or the disabled, or to take a leading role in climate-change talks, have hurt support.

"He's decided to join in with a George Bush-style of foreign policy that has not endeared Canada to the broad range of countries around the world who used to appreciate our voice for peace, for strong action on the environment, for foreign aid," he said.

The 15-member UN Security Council, which holds most of the power in the international organization, has five permanent members - the United States, Russia, China, Great Britain and France. Ten other members are elected for two-year terms by the 192 UN members.

Officially, Canada is running - against Germany and Portugal - for one of the two seats that will be chosen from a "regional" block that includes Western Europe, plus Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Germany, which has campaigned for a permanent seat, is almost assured of winning one seat, leaving Canada and Portugal in a fight for the other.

Canada mounted a high-profile, four-year campaign the last time it ran for a place on the Security Council seat, for the 1999-2000 term, when Canada and Holland beat out Greece.

"This is something that should have started already," said Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae. "These things take time, and people need to know that Canada is serious. We indicated much earlier, in 2001, that we were going to be interested in the position when our name came up, and the idea that we wouldn't is just incomprehensible."

Source:The Globe and Mail