" (Justin) Trudeau has been pushed to the sidelines and is not part of high-level discussions,” said James Bezan, the veteran Conservative MP. “When (president Joe) Biden makes phone calls, Trudeau is last on his list. When (global affairs minister, Mélanie) Joly went to Ukraine, she went empty-handed, with nothing to promise other than empty rhetoric.”
As Russian troops mass on the borders of Ukraine, Trudeau has rejected a request for weapons, saying he believes in a diplomatic solution (instead, he promised to send bullet-proof vests, night goggles and an additional 60 military trainers.)
Russia’s ambassador in Ottawa, Oleg Stepanov, in the Globe and Mail this week, urged Trudeau to call Moscow, so that Putin could tell him there is “zero chance” of Russia invading Ukraine. The two men have never had an official bilateral, though the Canadian prime minister met the Russian president on the margins of the G20 in Turkey in 2016, when he told him of Canada’s opposition to Russia’s adventures in Crimea. It would be entirely within the traditions of Canadian foreign policy for Trudeau to make a call and explore the prospects for arms control and confidence-building measures. Why not even suggest the resurrection of open skies?
Unfortunately, there are few votes in foreign affairs and the Trudeau government’s agenda has been driven by domestic considerations.
Arms control, confidence building and nuclear non-proliferation are not mentioned in Joly’s mandate letter.
“We used to have a lot of street cred in that game,”
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/john-ivison-canada-has-zero-street-cred-on-world-stage
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