Lesson 1: The Instruments of Foreign

Policy_Directed & Diluted Multilateralism

- What are the main tenets of
the multilateralist perspective in
Canadian foreign policy?
- Can the Chretien government's
approach to international issues
be characterized?
New concepts and issues from 1990s under
Chretien government:

- “Circumpolar world” including

Canada’s Arctic
- Promised new Arctic Ambassador
(Mary Simons)
 New concepts and issues from 1990s under Chretien government:

Chretien wanted to end the U.S.-Canada

“camp-follower relationship” under President
Reagan and Prime Minister Mulroney  he
wanted Canada to become a cooperative
partner with U.S. President Clinton
New concepts and issues from 1990s under Chretien
government:

- wanted common
“subsidy code”
- wanted “anti-
dumping codes” re.
US-Canada trade
New concepts and issues from 1990s
under Chretien government:
- claimed NAFTA had not stopped US “trade harassment”
- wanted to end “harassment”
 New concepts and issues from 1990s
under Chretien government:
- wanted to seek more control over energy
especially northern oil and natural gas
- wanted more investment in Canada’s
services, for example in Canada’s banking
services & Seven Sisters (banks)
New concepts and issues from 1990s
under Chretien government:

- wanted “dispute resolution mechanism”,

“energy protection”, agreed-upon labour and
environmental standards
- needed “UN Security Council expansion”
- opposed “EH-101s”
- sought to “review” NORAD
- promised to “convert” bases (e.g. to PKTCs)
- and promised to “democratize” foreign
policy
New concepts and issues from 1990s
under Chretien government:
• “just and generous” versus “business _________”
Global “Sustainable Development”
- integrate environmental, economic, and social
goals
- shift sustainable consumption & production
patterns from North to South
- transfer appropriate technology and resources to
meet global human needs
New concepts and issues from 1990s
under Chretien government:

- “Rio Summit” in June 1992. The Secretary-General

of Rio Summit was a Canadian Maurice Strong. He
helped craft the “Agenda 21” agreement.
- UN target “0.7% of GNP for international aid” and
“greening of GATT”
-NAFTA guarantees of “environmental standards”
-“ratify Law of the Sea” Treaty
- new indicators of “sustainable development”
“North/South Relations”
North (= high GNP/high per capita income/northern location?) and South (= low GNP/low
per capita income /southern location?)
- increase Official Development Assistance (ODA) to 0.7% of GNP by year 2000
- redirect Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) aid from Eastern Europe
 to Third World
Important reports: 1990s were
shaped reports

1. Liberal Red Book (October

1993)
-imprecise/vague
2. Report of the Special Joint
Committee Reviewing Canadian
Foreign Policy Canada’s Foreign
Policy (1994)
What important reports were presented during the
foreign policy review process, ending in 1995?
(October 1993-February 1995)

3. Report of the Special Joint Committee

Reviewing Canadian Defence Policy Security in
a Changing World (1994)

- “culture” = face of Canada abroad

- cultural exports lead to  trade penetration
- Who was important to “Canadian culture”?
Who is important to “Canadian culture”? Can you
name these cultural icons from the 1990s?
Council of 21: Canada and Common Security in
the Twenty-First Century

-“common security” as a concept

-assert more “sovereignty” over Canada’s territory

Janice Stein / Maurice Archdeacon  conducted

National Forum on Canadian Foreign Policy

-indexes/testimony  moved to Internet! In early

1990s most had no internet or email.
Common Security Consultants Peacekeeping Training
Proposal: illustrates merits of all-party proposals
• Nova Scotia Premier John Savage (Liberal)
• Nova Scotia Premier Don Cameron (Conservative)
• NDP federal leaders Alexa McDonough / John Brewin
• Prime Minister Brian Mulroney/then Prime Minister Kim Campbell/and
then Prime Minister Chretien
• process is characterized by competition/cooperation for
proposals/difficulty of inserting new ideas
Lessons of CFB Cornwallis Proposal

Ideas can go through 4

phases:
1. ignored
2. ridiculed
3. accepted as self-
evident
4. copied
Federal budgets and debt: lessons of financial
budgets
Finance Minister Paul Martin’s budget Budget Plan in
February 1995 will be remembered.
• cut Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
(DFAIT) funding by $257 million and CIDA’s development
assistance by $532 million
• transferred Radio Canada International to CBC
• sold property abroad and downsized major missions
• DND personnel reductions and leaner command structure
• more "contracting out"/less money for consultants/fewer
employees/"bumping"
Impact of federal budget and growing debt on Canadian
foreign policy
Report of the Government of Canada Towards a Rapid-
Reaction Capability for the United Nations (September 1995)
• $500,000 study/on the 50th anniversary of UN
• Rwanda/Bosnia need UN rapid-reaction capability
• recommended “vanguard forces”
• recommended long-term planning with joint training and
consolidation
• combination of volunteers and “professional soldiers”
• UN bankrupt/US refuses to pay-up $1.2 billion
• Canadian proposal is rejected by U.S.
The Chretien Government’s Foreign Policy
Record (1996-2004) on Landmines was key
The Landmines Treaty (Ottawa Process) was
signed by Canada and other countries in 1997.

Canada and the “anti-land mine coalition”

among “civil society and NGOS” called for a
unilateral ban on the further manufacture of
anti-personnel landmines (not anti-tank
landmines)

Canada obtained a moratorium among

signatory countries on the production, export
and use of anti-personnel landmines
The Landmines Treaty
In October 1996, DFAIT and DND invited 14 countries (which grew
to 47 countries) to conference in Ottawa.
In a surprising unilateral move, Axworthy invited them all to return
in December 1997 to sign treaty (now called the Oslo Accord).
The US, Russia, China, Iraq, South Korea did not sign the Treaty.
But Japan and many other middle powers did…now an “informal
regime”
The International Criminal Court in 1998.

First, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Then the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Principal prosecutor was a Canadian, Madame Justice Louise Arbour.
Canada, along with other countries, worked to establish the International
Criminal Court. It was to be a permanent court for trying individuals accused of
committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The ICC was formally established after 60 countries ratified the Rome Statute of
the International Criminal Court.
 Canada’s Seat on the UN Security Council
On January 1, 1999, Canada became a member of the United Nations
Security Council. Canada was elected in October 1998 by the other UN
members to serve a two-year term, until the end of December 2000.
Among Canada's many responsibilities as a Security Council member was to
chair a Council committee on sanctions against Angola. Canada assumed the
presidency of the Council -- a responsibility that rotates monthly among
members -- in February 1999 and April 2000.

Erika Simpson, "Canada and the UN Security Council: New Strategies to Advance
International and National Security," Peace Research, vol. 31, no. 2, June 1999, pp.
79-99.
 Conceptual Framework that describes the Chretien Government’s
Foreign Policy-Making Style

Multilateralism
“the practice of coordinating national policies in groups of three or more states,
through ad hoc arrangements or by means of institutions”
Conceptual Framework that describes the Chretien
Government’s Foreign Policy-Making Style

Canadian Multilateral Diplomacy

“working in solidarity with coalitions of states (e.g. the Commonwealth),
associations (e.g. la francophonie), and international institutions (e.g. UN and
NATO) to achieve Canadian foreign policy objectives”
Conceptual Framework that describes the Chretien
Government’s Foreign Policy-Making Style
Directed multilateralism
“the future thrust of Canadian
foreign policy should be directed to
the institutions that are best suited
to Canadian requirements; we
should give priority to those
institutions, associations, and
coalitions that best serve Canadian
interests”
Conceptual Framework that describes the Chretien Government’s
Foreign Policy-Making Style
“Team Canada” approach
• build an international business team on three fronts:
1) federal government
2) provinces, and
3) private sector
Promote “Team Canada” by travelling with team abroad (e.g. the Chretien
government took a federal / provincial team to China three times)