Joly’s Africa engagement strategy copies the American approach

OTTAWA—Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly’s on-again, off-again Africa engagement strategy offers one more example of Canada’s foreign policy oddities. The timing and the approach not only project saviourism, they also feel a bit suspect vis-à-vis the intention behind the exercise. Those who have followed Joly’s various files expect the Africa story to be a carbon copy of the one narrated by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in his 2022 U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa, published in August 2022. Namely, to arm-up Africa in order to restrain China's influence and economic impacts. The United States maintains army bases all over Africa. Combined with its NATO allies like France, Britain, Spain, Portugal, and Germany, it has an immense military presence. In February, America signed a memorandum of understanding to increase that presence with five more bases, in Somalia this time. African leaders have repeatedly stated that they do not wish to participate in NATO-led wars. They want foreign direct investments to industrialize their economies and enforcement of measures like the Global Minimum Tax Act so that they can keep some portion of the incomes they generate for Western corporations, especially for those active in the mining sector. Joly’s approach to the strategy appears to ignore these requests. Her call for public consultations emphasizes Canada’s “feminist foreign policy and feminist international assistance policy, and "engaging" African countries and institutions “to build stronger, and more visible partnerships.” There is no mention of capital investments, trade initiatives, tax policy, or for that matter peace and diplomacy. Nor is there any explanation for why Joly’s envisioned partnerships need to be “more visible.” Why not quietly go about building respectful and mutually-beneficial multilateral relationships? Joly has solicited input from diaspora groups, industry associations, business enterprises, Canadian municipalities, and so on. Surely, a strategy purporting to engage with Africa ought to involve actual Africans like African leaders, African civil society, and African scholars. Why not ask them how they wish to engage rather than imposing made-in-Canada terms of engagement? Joly’s strategy also misses the crucial point that every country in Africa has its own ethnic, historic, political complexity, and its own unique needs. Why, then, has she lumped the totality of Africa into one single strategy? Would she ever do the same for all of Europe, Asia, or South America? The contradiction notwithstanding, if the Trudeau government cared about engaging constructively with Africa, it would have developed the strategy in its first or second terms when it had the political clout to do bold things, not when it is limping in the polls with only months left in its mandate. A cynic may conclude that Joly’s project of undertaking “visible partnerships” has less to do with Africa than with the African diaspora and its sizeable vote bank. According to StatsCan, the African-Canadian or Black population of Canada could double from 1.5 million in 2021 to 3 million in 2041. The critiques notwithstanding, there is nothing unprincipled about Joly’s manoeuvers. Governments often use foreign policy tools to achieve political ends such as exploiting domestic opportunities, securing vital interests, and implementing the political ideology they may share with their allies. There’s a domestic opportunity for Joly to resonate with key segments, like members of the African diaspora; and, given Canadian stakes in resource extraction, it is not unreasonable she would consult industry associations. It may help her articulate, for instance, potential quid-pro-quo tactics to link Canadian aid to easier access to critical minerals. It’s called pragmatic realism. Concerns arise with Joly’s political ideology. She frequently uses Canadian foreign policy to support the U.S. government’s transnational goals. This has weakened our global reputation, and compromised our sovereignty. From Haiti to the Middle East, Ukraine, Central America, and the Arctic circle, we have either followed or laid the policy groundwork for the Americans. As an example, Joly’s Indo-Pacific strategy was overtly designed to help the U.S. encircle China in its own regional backyard. Will her Africa engagement strategy—coming amidst America-led tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles—do the same by, say, driving a geopolitical wedge between China and its affairs in Africa? Perhaps this reasoning is too conspiratorial. Perhaps there is a much simpler explanation. Committees in the Senate and the House of Commons are currently examining Canada-Africa relations. Their final reports will require a mandatory response from the government. Perhaps Joly is going through the motions in anticipation of that parliamentary procedure? Her timing, however, does coincide with the recent Forum on China-Africa Co-operation held in Beijing on Sept. 4. Its theme was “joining hands to advance modernization and build a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.” Fifty African leaders attended the event alongside the UN secretary-general. The forum launched 25 years ago as a vehicle for multilateral engagements between China and its interests in Africa. We do nothing comparable. Our approach whiffs of colonial attitudes. Joly should reconsider her strategy and, like China, create mechanisms that foster multilateral interdependencies for peace and economic co-operation—even if her aim is just to help the Americans with their geopolitical agenda. Bhagwant Sandhu is a retired director general from the federal public service. He has also held executive positions with the governments of Ontario and British Columbia. The Hill Times

Joly’s Africa engagement strategy copies the American approach

If the Liberal government cared about engaging constructively with Africa, it would have developed the strategy in its first or second terms when it had the political clout to do bold things.

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Joly’s Africa engagement strategy copies the American approach

If the Liberal government cared about engaging constructively with Africa, it would have developed the strategy in its first or second terms when it had the political clout to do bold things.

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