Scott Gilmore: The UN Security Council seat loss is more proof that when a real geopolitical crisis finally comes, we have no foreign policy muscle to save us
Justin Trudeau speaks during a Girl Education event at UN headquarters during the General Assembly of theUN in New York on Sept. 25, 2018
Our loss in New York is not the fault of the Canadian diplomats who have been working for the last five years trying to secure the votes we needed today. The current team is one of the best, and they played the hand they were dealt as well as they could. And it was a lousy hand. Our politicians are possibly the weakest link in the chain. They are never elected on the merits of their foreign policy ideas, and as a result never prioritize when in office. When they do think about it, they often confuse invitations to Davos and vacations in Tuscany as evidence they are worldly. They prioritize slogans and costumed photo-ops over the grueling legwork and devil’s bargains that real diplomatic strategy requires.
All of this was true under the previous government, and the government before them, going back decades. It has been pointed out endlessly. Hands have even been wrung. But nothing changes. Because ultimately none of us genuinely cares enough to do anything about it.
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