Prof. Roland Paris of the University of Ottawa is bang on here (whilst the usual suspects foolishly try to go bananas about how awful it all is):
A Not-So-New Foreign Policy Plan
Posted on Roland Paris
The Harper government’s “secret” foreign policy plan, revealed by the CBC today, offers few surprises. Its emphasis on pursuing economic opportunities, particularly in emerging markets, is a reflection of what the government is already doing. The real news is not that this document exists – the fact that it has been under development for over a year is one of the worst-kept secrets in Ottawa – but that it appears to amount to so little, given all the time and effort that went into its preparation.
Although the CBC report doesn’t mention it, my understanding is that this plan has already gone through cabinet, with the prime minister in the chair, and that it was presented as an aide-mémoire, rather than as a memorandum to cabinet (MC). The difference is revealing: an MC is a formal document normally including specific ministerial recommendations and an implementation plan, whereas an aide-mémoire is less formal and typically offers factual information or analysis for “exploratory discussions of non-decision items” at cabinet…In other words, not only does the leaked copy of the foreign policy plan appear to offer little more than an articulation of the government’s current policy, but the prime minister seems to have treated the plan as a discussion item, rather than a decision document.
This, in itself, is not a bad thing. I am more skeptical than my colleague Jennifer Welsh of the benefits of full-fledged foreign policy reviews, particularly when a government already knows what it wants to do…
Mark Collins is a prolific Ottawa blogger
557One Response to “Mark Collins - Canadian Foreign Policy Review: Not Much There There”
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November 21st, 2012 at 11:05 am
Bananas video:
http://www2.macleans.ca/category/blog-central/#Document
Mark Collins