Quest for UN Security Council seat nears vote

OTTAWA – The UN Security Council has regularly been at the centre of world history. Canada has had a seat six times since the UN’s founding in 1945, roughly once per decade, but as a country, we have been absent for 20 years.

Ordinarily, the vote for a Security Council seat is held in the UN’s massive General Assembly, with competing countries scurrying between the tables of all 193 members, trying to whip up support between the multiple ballots usually required to declare a winner.

But COVID-19 means the vote this time will look different.

On Wednesday, UN ambassadors will come to the General Assembly in small groups, cast ballots and leave. If there is a need for a second or third ballot, to secure the required two-thirds support, the ambassadors will come back, likely on subsequent days.

Canada’s permanent representative at the UN MarcAndré Blanchard, a lawyer and former political organizer, said he will draw on his experience as a member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s transition team in 2015 to secure victory.

“We will phone member states to ensure they got out to vote, a lot like a usual election,” he said. “We’ll want to make sure that the voters that we’ve identified as supporting Canada go out and express their vote.”

Trudeau has said securing a seat is among his top foreign policy priorities. It was high on the list in Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s mandate letter. And Trudeau has spoken with dozens of world leaders in the last few weeks as the vote ticked closer, from major powers like the U.K. and France, to tiny nations like Saint Lucia and Vanuatu.

He has hosted several summits of world leaders as well, including on Thursday when he held a “virtual dialogue” with Prince Charles and members of the Commonwealth.

Trudeau said Canada has to have a strong voice in the world.

“We know that engaging around the world is important both for Canadians’ health and well-being, but also for the good of our economy,” he said earlier this month. “Even as some of our allies, including the United States, seem to withdraw from the world, Canada is engaging.”

But Trudeau’s push has not come without a price. The government has spent about $2 million directly on the bid, plus the prime minister’s January trip to Africa was widely seen as part of the effort.