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I thought I was going to hate this article by the title but it is actually fairly well written. I might even buy Prof Kirton's book...Shared with usual stuff.
Is Pearson legacy still alive and well?
TheStar.com - News - Is Pearson legacy still alive and well?
Diplomats, former PMs to debate at conference
December 11, 2007
Olivia Ward
FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER
Fifty years ago, external affairs minister Lester B. Pearson stood in an auditorium in Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
He was tagged "the man who saved the world" for his role in defusing a crisis over the Suez Canal by helping to launch a pioneering international peace force. The prize won him, and Canada, accolades for decades to come as the senior statesman of global diplomacy.
Today, at the University of Toronto's Isabel Bader Theatre, former Liberal prime ministers John Turner, Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, along with former cabinet ministers, academics and diplomats are taking part in a daylong conference on Pearson's legacy and what can be done to keep it alive.
But there is also fierce debate about what the legacy means in the 21st century – and whether Ottawa has lived up to its 1957 Nobel moment.
Some are skeptical.
"We haven't delivered on our `three D' policy of defence, development and diplomacy," says Douglas Goold, president and CEO of the Canadian International Council. "There have been huge cutbacks at the department of foreign affairs and, apart from Afghanistan, nobody is sure what Canada's foreign policy priorities are."
Amnesty International argues that Canada's cherished record as a human rights defender is "eroding," and it has failed to uphold a declaration on indigenous people's rights, wholeheartedly oppose the death penalty, and push for strengthening of the UN human rights system.
Bono and other anti-poverty activists point to an ongoing shortfall in reaching Pearson's goal for rich countries to donate 0.7 per cent of their GNP to poor nations.
And at the climate change conference in Bali this week, environmentalists are fingering Canada as a spoiler rather than a leader in fighting global warming. Meanwhile, arguments rage over Ottawa's commitment to military action in Afghanistan.
But experts who study Pearson's career say the challenges of his time were very different from those politicians face today and comparisons don't fit as neatly as critics contend.
"Lester Pearson taught me my first class in Canadian foreign policy," said U of T political science professor John Kirton. "But as a scholar I have to look at the facts."
The image of Pearson as an independent policy maker forging a unique place for Canada regardless of its southern neighbour is a myth, said Kirton, author of Canadian Foreign Policy in a Changing World.
By backing peacekeeping missions in Suez and Cyprus, he said, Pearson not only fended off possible wars, but took the pressure off the U.S. He continued to work closely with American leaders. Washington's reward was the 1965 Auto Pact that opened up the automobile industry and transformed Canada's economy.
"When we moved into a period when the U.S. really needed us, that is when we got clout in the world," Kirton said.
And, says Fen Hampson, "Pearson was a highly energetic, pragmatic idealist. He understood that Canadian policies had to be driven by our interests. Today we're driven by a `values versus interests' debate."
Hampson, director of Carleton University's Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, said Pearson would understand Prime Minister Stephen Harper's efforts to strengthen Canada's relationship with the U.S. after the tensions of the Iraq war.
"Pearson understood the importance of speaking truth to power, and he criticized the U.S. policy on Vietnam – but as a friend," he said.
But Pearson was also a genuine internationalist, who told the Nobel audience, "I do not know that I have done very much myself to promote fraternity between nations, but I do know that there can be no more important purpose for any man's activity or interests."
His vision of social justice carried through down the decades to Canada's backing of the International Criminal Court, the ban on anti-personnel landmines and the international responsibility to protect vulnerable people, even when attacked by their governments.
Is Pearson legacy still alive and well?
TheStar.com - News - Is Pearson legacy still alive and well?
Diplomats, former PMs to debate at conference
December 11, 2007
Olivia Ward
FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER
Fifty years ago, external affairs minister Lester B. Pearson stood in an auditorium in Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
He was tagged "the man who saved the world" for his role in defusing a crisis over the Suez Canal by helping to launch a pioneering international peace force. The prize won him, and Canada, accolades for decades to come as the senior statesman of global diplomacy.
Today, at the University of Toronto's Isabel Bader Theatre, former Liberal prime ministers John Turner, Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, along with former cabinet ministers, academics and diplomats are taking part in a daylong conference on Pearson's legacy and what can be done to keep it alive.
But there is also fierce debate about what the legacy means in the 21st century – and whether Ottawa has lived up to its 1957 Nobel moment.
Some are skeptical.
"We haven't delivered on our `three D' policy of defence, development and diplomacy," says Douglas Goold, president and CEO of the Canadian International Council. "There have been huge cutbacks at the department of foreign affairs and, apart from Afghanistan, nobody is sure what Canada's foreign policy priorities are."
Amnesty International argues that Canada's cherished record as a human rights defender is "eroding," and it has failed to uphold a declaration on indigenous people's rights, wholeheartedly oppose the death penalty, and push for strengthening of the UN human rights system.
Bono and other anti-poverty activists point to an ongoing shortfall in reaching Pearson's goal for rich countries to donate 0.7 per cent of their GNP to poor nations.
And at the climate change conference in Bali this week, environmentalists are fingering Canada as a spoiler rather than a leader in fighting global warming. Meanwhile, arguments rage over Ottawa's commitment to military action in Afghanistan.
But experts who study Pearson's career say the challenges of his time were very different from those politicians face today and comparisons don't fit as neatly as critics contend.
"Lester Pearson taught me my first class in Canadian foreign policy," said U of T political science professor John Kirton. "But as a scholar I have to look at the facts."
The image of Pearson as an independent policy maker forging a unique place for Canada regardless of its southern neighbour is a myth, said Kirton, author of Canadian Foreign Policy in a Changing World.
By backing peacekeeping missions in Suez and Cyprus, he said, Pearson not only fended off possible wars, but took the pressure off the U.S. He continued to work closely with American leaders. Washington's reward was the 1965 Auto Pact that opened up the automobile industry and transformed Canada's economy.
"When we moved into a period when the U.S. really needed us, that is when we got clout in the world," Kirton said.
And, says Fen Hampson, "Pearson was a highly energetic, pragmatic idealist. He understood that Canadian policies had to be driven by our interests. Today we're driven by a `values versus interests' debate."
Hampson, director of Carleton University's Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, said Pearson would understand Prime Minister Stephen Harper's efforts to strengthen Canada's relationship with the U.S. after the tensions of the Iraq war.
"Pearson understood the importance of speaking truth to power, and he criticized the U.S. policy on Vietnam – but as a friend," he said.
But Pearson was also a genuine internationalist, who told the Nobel audience, "I do not know that I have done very much myself to promote fraternity between nations, but I do know that there can be no more important purpose for any man's activity or interests."
His vision of social justice carried through down the decades to Canada's backing of the International Criminal Court, the ban on anti-personnel landmines and the international responsibility to protect vulnerable people, even when attacked by their governments.
