Joly rightly called Canada a convener, and it’s time to put her words into action

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is right. During a recent CTV appearance, she offered a deep political insight, noting that Canada is "a middle-sized power and what we’re good at is convening and making sure diplomacy is happening.” To be consistent with her government’s track record, however, she ought to have replaced “what we are good at” with “what we should be good at.” Notwithstanding that little nuance—and despite the derision levelled against her—Joly is in fact, spot on. Foreign policy is not about transactional or retail politics. It is about advancing one’s strategic interests by maneuvering deftly through the maze of international pushes and pulls. That maze has become increasingly complex. The world has shifted from the good guys versus bad guys bipolar nature of the Cold War and the ensuing U.S. led unipolar hegemony of neo-liberalism. We now live in a multipolar reality with many big guns. And those big guns are engaged in a great power competition of regular nudging, jostling, elbowing, and—on occasion—killing and maiming. Canada is not a big gun. As Joly asserts, we are a middle-sized power. We should not overestimate our influence in the world, especially if we have done nothing constructive to deserve it. We have been rejected twice in a row from occupying a seat at the United Nations Security Council. Our offbeat antics with the Lima Group to destabilize economies in South America have amounted to naught, except for irreparable damage to our reputation. Likewise, the urge to rush bare-knuckled into the Ukraine-Russia conflict, or cloud the debate in foggy ideological narratives, both miss the mark. A shrewd middle-sized power would demand that both Russia and NATO stay out of Ukraine. It would advocate for an armistice so that Ukrainians can start rebuilding their tattered cities. It would avoid acting like a dogmatic twin to someone else’s agenda. It would rather look for opportunities to have meaningful impacts. That impact for Canada, as Joly notes, is in our ability to convene. Turkey—which, like Canada, is a member of NATO—is certainly doing that. Its foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, is convening peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia right now. That was a missed opportunity for us. But it is not too late. On April 9, Joly announced a tour of Indonesia and Vietnam as a prelude to unveiling her policy for the region. A great-power competition is underway there also, between the U.S. and China, with Taiwan on the chessboard. The readout from the last telephone conversation between presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping gives a pretty good indication that as soon as Ukraine is done, Taiwan could be next. Like Russia with Ukraine before the war, China has been clear about Taiwan: the U.S. needs to stay out of it. But pressures from the flag-wavers and war industry lobbyists are mounting already for Canada to throw our lot into the mix. Joly should resist them. She should position Canada as a convener instead, who brings down the temperature, facilitating for diplomacy, before it's too late. We have a distinguished history of mediating international relations. We were the founding member of the United Nations Peace Corps. We brokered diplomacy with China, Cuba, the Soviets, in the Middle East, and Africa during the Cold War. The world held us in high-esteem. Joly can reclaim that lost reputation. If pushing for peace in Ukraine is presently not a politically viable option, then there is opportunity with Iran and Venezuela. The Iranian nuclear deal was derailed by then-U.S. president Donald Trump, but it is now back on track, almost completed, thanks to the efforts of middle-sized European powers who have quietly convened meetings in Vienna between the U.S. and Iran. It is the same with Venezuela; Biden has sent peace emissaries there seemingly to mend the fences. But Canada is nowhere to be seen. Venezuela is an easy one for Canada. Joly can easily convene behind-the-scenes meetings in Ottawa. That is, before some middle-sized European power steps in and moves the talks to Paris or Rome. Minister Joly’s assessments are accurate: middle-sized powers should stay away from the geo-political games of the big guns. They are better off remaining pragmatic and concentrating on their own long-range self-interest. For Canada, that interest is not world domination or incessant ideology. It is things like trade and commerce, human rights, the rule of international law—all of which flourish only when someone convenes for peace and stability. Mélanie Joly gets it; she just needs to start doing it. Bhagwant Sandhu is a retired director general with the federal government. He is a community organizer with a keen interest in Canadian foreign policy issues. The Hill Times

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Joly rightly called Canada a convener, and it’s time to put her words into action

Foreign policy is not about transactional politics, but about advancing interests by maneuvering through the maze of international pushes and pulls. That maze has become increasingly complex.

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