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Canada unveils foreign policy overhaul
Canada promised Tuesday to increase foreign aid, double its overseas defense capabilities in five years and expand security links with the United States "to make a real difference" in preventing conflicts.
Prime Minister Paul Martin said the policy overhaul — the first in 10 years — reflects Canada's global responsibilities.
The blueprint calls on Canada to increase foreign aid 8 percent annually over the next four years. Canada currently spends $2.9 billion annually in foreign aid.
The policy review said Ottawa also intends to double its diplomatic representatives around the world in the next five years and create a task force to monitor the world's potential crisis spots.
The defense portion calls for doubling the military's deployment capability in five years and $10.3 billion in new military spending, as well as adding 5,000 more new full-time soldiers and creating a new rapid-response force and buying new ships, aircraft and vehicles.
Under the plan, the navy and the air force would work closely with Washington in conducting joint patrols and improving early warning systems to confront terrorists, and would deliver humanitarian and reconstruction relief in the event of an attack.
The State Department said it would have no comment on the policy overhaul on Tuesday.
Steven Staples, a defense analyst with the Polaris Institute in Ottawa, said Canada appeared to be giving up its traditional role as peacekeeper for U.N.-led operations, adopting the Washington mode of offensive action.
"The whole notion of transformation of the military, it's a buzzword in the Pentagon for creating a very aggressive, fast-moving, easily deployed, independent military that doesn't rely on coalition forces," Staples said.
The opposition Conservative Party pounced on the policy review, calling it "old words for an old-world order," and claiming the timing of its release was meant to improve the chances of Martin's Liberal Party in upcoming elections. The Conservatives intend to put forward a no-confidence vote on the administration, which is mired in a spending scandal.
Under the plan, if the minority Liberals remain in power, Ottawa intends to focus aid on 25 countries where it believes it can have the greatest impact. The countries, most of which are in Africa, include Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
It will simultaneously scale back aid to 155 countries, prompting cries by the opposition that Ottawa was abandoning some of the world's poorest nations, such as Haiti and Sudan.
"We are not abandoning anyone," said Aileen Carroll, minister of international cooperation. "All programs and all contracts will be brought to completion, we will not have abrupt exits."
Carroll also said Canada will continue to provide peacekeeping troops and other aid for "failed or failing states" such as Haiti, Afghanistan and Somalia.
The revamped trade portion of the policy calls for accelerated talks with China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, the Americas and European Union.
Minister of Trade Jim Peterson noted that while Canada accounts for nearly 4 percent of world trade, it only represents 1.3 percent of China's trade. "Clearly we have some work to do," he said. The opposition was incensed, however, that the document did not propose new strategies to resolve the softwood lumber dispute that has cost the Canadian lumber industry more than $3.2 billion in U.S.-imposed penalties. It also did not address the lingering mad cow dispute, which forced the closure of the U.S. border to Canadian beef nearly two years ago and has taken some $4.5 billion from cattle ranchers. |
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