Harper's Obscure Foreign Policy

Stephen Harper gets a once-over in the latest edition of The Economist. The article examines Harper's supposed foreign policy:

CANADIANS knew little about Stephen Harper's foreign policy when his Conservative government took office last year, for the simple reason that he had not articulated one. They still don't know much. Since the election, foreign policy has been dominated by just one issue, that of Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Now perhaps they are about to be enlightened.

Some Canadians see Mr Harper's trip [upcoming trip to Colombia] as part of his general desire to be in step with George Bush. The prime minister has made smooth relations with the United States a priority. Afghanistan has become the top recipient of Canadian aid. Mr Harper's government has given outspoken support to Israel; its relations with China have been strained. Nevertheless, this week Mr Harper announced plans to purchase up to eight patrol ships for light ice-breaking duties to assert Canadian sovereignty over Arctic seaways, which is contested by the United States.

In fact, in much of this there is more continuity than change. Relations with Latin America have been getting closer since the signing of the North American Free-Trade Agreement with Mexico in 1992. It was the Liberal government which deployed combat troops to Afghanistan; while it talked of a balanced policy in the Middle East it tended to take Israel's side when it counted. And few Canadian prime ministers have allowed all-important relations with their American neighbour to deteriorate.

Perhaps the main innovation is plain speaking and the dropping of any pretence of an over-arching vision. Mr Harper's foreign-policy adviser, Roy Rempel, has argued that the myth of Canadians as the world's peacekeepers and do-gooders should yield to blunt considerations of national interest. Another interpretation is that Mr Harper has decided not to have a foreign policy, merely reacting to crises and opportunities as they arise.

This, says Adam Chapnick, of the Canadian Forces College, is in keeping with an old Conservative tradition dating back to Canada's first prime minister, Sir John Macdonald. When trade relations with the United States were debated in the House of Commons, he apparently brought two speeches with him—one in support and one opposed—and then used the one that contradicted the Liberal stand.

There it is, obvious at last. You can't flip-flop on foreign policy unless you first have a foreign policy. Point to Harpo,.