A Canadian foreign policy that practices what it preaches: Part Two

November 4, 2019

Canada urgently needs a full-time Foreign Minister dedicated to rebuilding our diplomatic capacity so that we can develop diplomatic peacemaking and peacebuilding options that are commensurate with the scale of the challenges facing Canada and our global community.

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Diplomacy and dialogue the only sane way forward with North Korea

September 18, 2017

“We will, under no circumstances, put the nukes and ballistic rockets on the negotiating table. Neither shall we flinch even an inch from the road to bolstering up the nuclear forces chosen by ourselves, unless the hostile policy and nuclear threat of the U.S. against the D.P.R.K. are fundamentally eliminated.” [Emphasis added.] Former Senior American official, […]

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Common Wisdom on Russia is not Wise

March 3, 2017

Christopher Westdal has the distinction of being the only Canadian diplomat to have served both as Canada’s Ambassador to Ukraine (1996-98) and Russia (2003-06). Below is a slightly edited version of his remarks as spoken to the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Commons of Canada. Introduction Thank you. I am honoured […]

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Lifting the veil on American foreign policy: Part One

February 21, 2017

The absolute irony of the Trump presidency is that he is inadvertently exposing the terrible hypocrisies underlying an extremely hawkish American foreign policy consensus that in many ways does not serve America’s national interests well, if at all. – Peggy Mason, President of the Rideau Institute Backed by ferociously powerful domestic lobbies, America’s blind support […]

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