One Gem in the LIberal Package

With promises flying about right and left as the election approaches, one gem emerged from the Liberal package: "We will establish the Canadian Centre for Peace, Order, and Good Government, which will lend expertise and help to people seeking to build peace, advance justice, promote human rights and democracy, and deliver good governance."

With Canada's contribution to creating a more peaceful, just and democratic world order having faded to a shadow of what it was in Lester Pearson's day, it's encouraging to see a promise to re-establish a centre for peace. We have done this sort of thing before but it didn't last. The Canadian Institute for International Peace and Security, established in 1984, was shuttered in 1992 by the Mulroney government. The Pearson Centre, established in 1994, was abandoned by the Harper government in 2013.

In addition to our fading diplomatic influence in world affairs, our once formidable contribution to international peacekeeping with boots on the ground has also dwindled. From the late '50s through the early '90s, we were often the single largest contributor to UN peacekeeping missions. According to iPolitics, in 1992 we had 3,285 peacekeepers abroad. By mid 2018 we had 41. In 1995 we ranked 6th among nations contributing to missions. We now rank 78th. In 2016, the Liberals promised up to 600 troops and 150 police officers for UN peace support operations. Another promise unfulfilled.

Perhaps the new centre will help put us back in the game. According to the Rideau Institute, a non-profit dedicated to revitalizing Canada’s peace-building role in the world, the centre is "the most interesting new proposal—and one which could yield long term results in strengthening Canadian foreign policy development." And it could indeed use some strengthening.