Can tiny Qatar nab Canada’s sole UN agency?

Qatar wants to pry the International Civil Aviation Organization away from Montreal. It is promising to build a gleaming new headquarters in Doha for the agency that sets international standards for civil aviation. It is ready to pay for the transfer of the UN agency’s 535 staff and do whatever else needs doing. The tiny gas-rich Arab nation of 270,000 certainly has the resources.

It created Al Jazeera, Arabic and English. Hosted the 2001Doha round of trade talks and the 2006 Asian Games. Landed the 2022 World Cup of soccer with a pledge to build $4 billion worth of stadiums with outdoor air conditioning in 48 C summer heat.

Last year, Qatar bought the athletes’ village at the Olympics in London, where it also owns Harrods department store, the American Embassy building and the Shard of Glass, Europe’s tallest building. Recently, it reportedly offered $200 billion to rent Egypt’s pyramids for tourism.

The lunge for the only UN agency that Canada hosts is in keeping with that relentless drive to put itself on the map.

There’s speculation that the bid is also politically motivated, in retaliation for Stephen Harper’s rabid pro-Israeli stance.

The prime minister’s stand was a major reason for Canada’s shocking failure in 2010 to win a seat on the UN Security Council.

Still, Canada changed its historic position on three key UN resolutions. It voted against one that asserts the status of Jerusalem as occupied territory; against another that speaks to the illegality of Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories; and yet another that asserts the applicability of Geneva Conventions to Israel.

Last fall, Canada was one of only nine states to vote against the Palestinian bid for observer status at the UN, with Foreign Minister John Baird threatening to cut off Canadian funding to the Palestin- Saudi Arabia ian Authority. Last month, he warned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah not to haul Israel before the World Court in The Hague for its actions in the Occupied Territories. Strange for a man who thinks Israel does no wrong. Stranger still for one who touts his own proIsraeli position as “principled” — yet wants the Palestinians to sell their principles for Canadian aid. Baird proceeded to meet Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni in East Jerusalem, ignoring the reported advice of Canadian Embassy officials. He tried to pass it off as nothing more than “having coffee,” and insisted that Canada had not changed its stance, when it clearly has in more than ways than one. “Either the man is ignorant or he was trying to set a precedent,” an enraged PA official told me on the phone after the April 9 meeting. “Baird gave the green light to Israel to occupy East Jerusalem.” The official added that had the Palestinians known about Baird’s plans with Livni, Abbas would not have met the minister. Back in Ottawa, Baird met Arab ambassadors April 15. He was asked to clarify his stance. He got testy and became “undiplomatic,” according to a person present there. “All these actions do have consequences.” Along the way, Canada picked a fight with the United Arab Emirates over granting Emirates Airlines extra landing rights in Canada. In retaliation, the U.A.E. booted Canada out of Camp Mirage, a free way station for ferrying Canadian troops and machinery in and out of Afghanistan. That reportedly cost Canada between $300 million and $500 million. Baird has since mended fences with the U.A.E. All these ideological, bull-in-achina-shop moves may be cited by Qatar. It needs the support of 60 per cent of the 191 member states (115 votes) when the matter is decided in September.

The Qatari bid is likely to fail, for no other reason than that the agency has been in Montreal since 1946, and has attracted other airlines-related groups. Montreal is also a far more pleasant place to live and visit than Doha.

But Ottawa is forced into a fight, and has to rally support at home and abroad. Baird lost no time dashing to Quebec Friday, to forge a common front with the Parti Québécois government as well as the city of Montreal, which benefits by $100 million a year and 1,200 direct and indirect jobs.

The real battle would have to be waged internationally.

Baird said Qatar’s immense wealth should not be a factor in the vote. Harper said there’s no reasonable case to move the agency out of Montreal.

True. But that’s not all that may be in play. Haroon Siddiqui is the Star’s editorial page editor emeritus. His column appears on Thursday and Sunday. hsiddiqui@thestar.ca