Liberals to unveil foreign policy plans
• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has tasked his foreign minister with delivering a major speech laying out the government’s approach to international affairs on all its key pillars: development, diplomacy, defence and trade.
The speech by Chrystia Freeland early next month will set the broad context before the government announces its long-awaited defence policy review June 7, laying out the bigger picture before the military specifics.
“This is our 150th year (as a country),” Freeland said.
“The prime minister feels that now is a great moment for us to give Canadians that broader, connect-the-dots expression of the ways in which we are working to advance our national interests — and advance our national values.”
Sources expect the speech to extol the merits of open societies, open trade, pluralism and the promotion of human rights. Such rhetoric will inevitably prompt comparisons with Canada’s nextdoor neighbour.
U.S. President Donald Trump proposes major cuts to diplomacy and aid. His inaugural address expressed regret at all the foreign highways and armies built with U.S. tax dollars. He’s even been reluctant to criticize abuses by strongman leaders in Turkey, the Philippines and Russia.
Says Freeland: “Our foreign policy stands on its own two feet.”
Her speech will be a broad prelude to the military policy review the Liberals began working on soon after they took office, and which they have begun presenting to selected allies. The process was led by defence minister Harjit Sajjan — he was with Freeland this week as they dined with their U.S. counterparts, Rex Tillerson and James Mattis.
Now it’s time to communicate clearly with Canadians about the risks ahead, Freeland said.
Canada is about to deploy hundreds of soldiers to Latvia and will lead a NATO battle group there. Military officials have already said they expect Canadians might be targeted in a Russian cyberwarfare campaign.
Freeland can attest to that. She’s already been sanctioned by Russia, placed on a no-travel list, and references keep popping up in social media to her grandfather having edited a pro-Nazi newspaper in Poland.
Freeland said Canadians should understand the threat of a hybrid warfare — one that fuses military capability with cyberattacks. And she said there are risks for standing up for NATO and the sanctity of borders in eastern Europe — which she called a cornerstone of the international order since the Second World War.
“Stepping up to a challenge always exposes you to risks — otherwise it wouldn’t be stepping up. We need to be mindful of those risks. We need to be mindful of the new challenges that hybrid warfare poses,” the foreign minister said. “I am confident that we are resilient . ... I’m confident that our country is up to the challenge.”