PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU HAS SPOKEN WITH 28 WORLD LEADERS SINCE THE COVID-19 CRISIS BEGAN, AS HE CONTINUES TO PURSUE A TEMPORARY SEAT ON THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL, HIS DAILY ITINERARIES SHOW.
Government ‘absolutely wants’ seat
OTTAWA • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spoken with 28 world leaders since the pandemic crisis began in early March as he continues to pursue a temporary seat on the UN Security Council, according to his daily itineraries.
That has meant making time for conversations with leaders of the tiny island nations of Saint Lucia, Fiji and Tuvalu, amid a pandemic that has sickened thousands and shuttered much of the economy. Leaders also contacted since March have included those in Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, Sweden, Colombia, Ghana, Sudan, Qatar, Jamaica and Ethiopia, among others.
“We absolutely want a seat on the UN security council,” Foreign Affairs Minister François-philippe Champagne reiterated in an interview Thursday. Trudeau made garnering a seat on the Security Council a top priority for Champagne when he was moved to foreign affairs last fall.
Trudeau’s staff say the primary purpose of the calls is to discuss the global response to COVID-19 and its health and economic impacts, but acknowledge that the UN Security Council bid is sometimes raised.
Saint Lucia and Fiji have just 18 cases of COVID-19 each and Tuvalu, an island with just over 11,000 residents, has so far kept the virus out.
Canada is in a tight battle with Norway and Ireland for two possible seats, with the vote scheduled for next month.
Trudeau travelled to Africa in early February on a tour meant to drum up support for Canada’s bid, and was scheduled to attend a meeting of Caribbean leaders after that, but the Caribbean trip was cancelled, with Trudeau returning home to deal with protests that had blocked vital rail lines across Canada.
Champagne said the entire government is focused on COVID-19, including his own ministry, which is focusing on bringing more Canadians home who remain stuck abroad. But it is also thinking about the future.
“It is also important that we spend time on the rebuild and the world that we want POST-COVID,” he said. “We need to keep an eye on the future that we want and how we want to shape it.”
He said the government wants the seat because it’s a chance to shape the world’s response on any number of issues.
“The UN security council is the big table. This is where the most consequential decisions are taken with respect to peace and security around the world,” he said. “It is the first time in generations the world has been on pause, and I think, before we push play, Canadians want us to play a role on the international scene.”
If Canada wins next month’s vote, it will take its seat at the table next year, for a two-year term.
“The most interesting thing about the value of a security council seat is you don’t know how valuable it will be until you’re on the council,” said Adam Chapnick, a professor at the Royal Military College and author of a book on Canada and the UN.
Chapnick said having a seat at the table is an opportunity to forge ties with some of the world’s most important nations.
“Unless you’ve got really lousy diplomats, which we do not, you will inevitably build some relationships that you don’t have the opportunity to build when you aren’t on the council.”
He said he believes Canada has a 50/50 shot at actually getting the seat, but securing the seat has become difficult in the pandemic environment.
“There is no recipe for how you finish a campaign under COVID.”
Christopher Sands, the director of the Canada Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre in Washington, D.C., said there is political pressure on Trudeau to keep pursuing the seat, even amid the pandemic crisis.
“He almost has to, because the Liberals were so tough on (former prime minister Stephen) Harper for not appearing to try hard enough when Canada last tried,” he said. “If Trudeau doesn’t try, I think it will make him look much weaker.”
Canada pursued a seat in 2010 under the Conservative government, but lost to Portugal, despite the Harper government having received written promises of support from a majority of UN members, many of whom later reneging on that promise.
That broke Canada’s record of winning a place on the 15-member body once a decade since the UN’S inception.
Sands said Canada is in for a tough fight. Norway has been chasing its seat for years, and has increased foreign-aid commitments to secure the seat. He said Ireland’s bid has also been formidable and they have a lot of goodwill in the world.
“There are not a lot of people who hate the Irish, so I think it’s going to be very hard for Canada this time.”
He noted that Canada also has a mixed record when it has sat on the council in the past, often failing to achieve much while there.
THIS IS WHERE THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL DECISIONS ARE TAKEN