Liberal government’s peacekeeping plan still ‘a work in progress’: UN official

OTTAWA — While Canadian officials and the United Nations have been furiously trying to iron out the details of Canada’s long-awaited peacekeeping plans, one senior UN official says no final decisions have been made — even with Vancouver playing host to a two-day summit on the subject starting Tuesday.

“It’s a work in progress,’’ Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the undersecretary general for peacekeeping operations, said Monday in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“It looks like there are a number of avenues that have been explored quite thoroughly. But we’re waiting for the Canadian government to come up with a final decision.’’

The revelation comes as the Liberal government prepares to host representatives from 80 countries at a major peacekeeping summit in Vancouver starting Tuesday.

It was widely expected that the Liberals would announce their plans to deploy peacekeepers either before or at the summit, more than a year after promising up to 600 troops and 150 police officers for UN missions. But Lacroix’s comments pour cold water on that idea, and are likely to disappoint — if not spark outright criticism from — many of the foreign dignitaries and defence experts scheduled to attend the two-day meeting.