How Harper Has Brought Canada Low And Sullied Our Once Proud Reputation Abroad

Steve Harper said he'd lead Canada to a new, higher place on the world scene.  Then again this gaping maw said his government would be more accountable and more transparent than any other.  Okay, so the guy's a pathological liar.

Now Amnesty International has released something it wants Canadians to think about during this election campaign.   It wants Canadians to understand that, when it comes to international human rights, Canada is now seen as "part of the problem, not part of the solution."

Our once hard-earned and cherished reputation as a human rights champion never really mattered to our jumped up excuse for a prime minister.  It never fit his image of Canada as a warrior state and so he ditched it.

“The world has always looked to leadership from Canada and it has benefitted from Canada’s strong position on human rights,” Amnesty International secretary-general Salil Shetty told reporters in Ottawa on March 31. “That leadership however seems to have disappeared from the world stage.”

During the press conference, Amnesty International released a report, and while neither Mr. Shetty nor the report referred to the Harper government by name, both said recent Canadian policies have contributed to this decline.

Among them were Canada’s refusal to impose tough rules for mining companies working abroad, its treatment of asylum seekers, recent cuts to NGOs working on development and women’s and human rights, and the government’s Middle East policy.

As an example, the report says the Canadian government’s “unflinching refusal” to criticize Israel’s human rights record has eroded Canada’s reputation in the region—and contributed to an absence of engagement at key times.

The Harper government was one of the few not to call for Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s immediate resignation during uprisings in that country in January and February.

The Amnesty report alleged that “Canada’s hesitation and reluctance with respect to Egypt almost certainly reflected the Israeli government’s preference that President Mubarak remain in power and minimize the chances that a new Egyptian government might abrogate the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.”

“The world has always seen Canada as a human rights champion, but it’s increasingly ending up on the wrong side of important human rights debates,” Mr. Shetty said.