Canadian Government Executive - Volume 22 - Issue 10

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30 / Canadian Government Executive // December 2016
The Last Word David Zussman
From a policy perspective, it is a challenge to predict how
newly elected prime ministers will act once they take of-
fice. As a starting point, it is difficult to use past behav-
iour as a reliable guide since most newly elected prime
ministers have had little, if any, experience as a national leader. It
is also difficult to rely on policy platforms and campaign speech-
es. Although well intentioned, pronouncements during elections
are no guarantee that, once elected, a newly elected government
will actually implement the policies that formed the basis of their
election platform.
However, the Trudeau government has now been in power
for more than a year and we have some indication of where the
government is heading with regard to foreign affairs. From the
moment the government was sworn in on November 4th, 2015,
Trudeau has embarked on a vigorous campaign to re-establish
Canada’s presence in the world and, in particular, within the UN
ambit. For example, he established an aggressive goal of wel-
coming more than 30,000 Syrian refugees to Canada, called for
greater participation in multilateral United Nations sponsored
activities, committed $2.65 billion to help developing countries
attack climate change, assigned some military to a NATO mission
to Latvia, promised 600 troops for a peacekeeping exercise in Af-
rica, lifted visa requirements for Mexican visitors to Canada, suc-
cessfully completed CETA, and supported UN agencies especially
those associated with peace operations, international develop-
ment, peaceful pluralism, respect for diversity, and human rights.
He has also strengthened ties with the United States govern-
ment by appointing a consummate professional as ambassador
to Washington and meeting with President Obama on a number
of occasions when they engaged in meaningful discussions on
climate change, protecting the Arctic, promoting innovation and
alternative energy solutions by harmonizing border regulations.
Canada is also a member of many international clubs and
Trudeau has been a starring player at many of them including
La Francophonie, APEC, World Economic Forum (Davos), CETA,
G20, Commonwealth Summits, and the Paris Climate Change
meetings. Moreover, he has hosted a Three Amigos meeting with
President Obama and President Peña Nieto and delivered a major
speech in the UN General Assembly in September.
To date, aside from the very unpopular and apparently un-
principled decision to sell armoured personnel trucks to Saudi
Arabia, he has shown unerring skill in functioning in the global
political arena and an uncanny ability to bring the Canadian per-
spective to many fora.
While the prime minister has been extremely active in the in-
ternational arena, he has also given his Minister of Global Affairs,
Stephane Dion, a long list of instructions with regard to his port-
folio. As a starting point, his mandate letter to the Minister in-
structed him to “restore constructive Canadian leadership in the
world and to … support the deeply held Canadian desire to make a
real and valuable contribution to a more peaceful and prosperous
world.” He has asked the Minister to accomplish these goals by
working closely and collaboratively with the Ministers of Interna-
tional Trade and International Development.
Acknowledging the Harper government’s marginalization of
the public service, the prime minister has also instructed the Min-
ister to “work closely with your Deputy Minister and his or her se-
nior officials…to ensure that work is undertaken in a professional
manner and decisions are made in the public interest.”
The call for a greater collaboration between the public service
and the governments and more vigorous role for Canada in the
world has not gone unnoticed by the public service which enthusi-
astically and uncharacteristically welcomed the Prime Minister in
a very demonstrative manner after his first Cabinet meeting in the
Pearson Building on Sussex Drive (where Global Affairs is located).
So far, the Prime Minister has shown an insatiable appetite for
international travel. He appears to be willing to travel the world
to sell the Canadian version of multilateralism and societal val-
ues. His spouse and children have accompanied him on many of
these trips giving him extraordinarily positive media coverage
both internationally and domestically.
It is clear that Trudeau has made foreign policy a personal pri-
ority and has mobilized the whole machinery of government to
signal that “Canada is back” — another thinly veiled reference to
Stephen Harper’s narrow-cast view of international affairs. How-
ever, the recent election of President Donald Trump, the Brexit
vote, elections in Europe and the death of Fidel Castro signal that
the next few years are going to provide different foreign policy
challenges for the prime minister and for Canada than those he
has been dealing with this past year.
Trudeau knows that we define ourselves in terms of how much
the world “likes” us, so being considered a global player by punch-
ing above our weight is a worthwhile goal. However, during 2017,
Trudeau will have to be more cautious and circumspect with re-
spect to the foreign policy agenda since he is working in unchart-
ed waters where he and his advisors have never worked before.
David Zussman is a Senior Fellow in the Graduate School
of Public and International Affairs at the University of
Ottawa, Adjunct Professor at the University of Victoria,
and Research Advisor to the Public-Sector Practice of
Deloitte.
Trudeau and Foreign Affairs/Policy
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