Dallaire: Is Conservative foreign policy different from Liberal foreign policy?

Current Conservative foreign policy is vastly different from Liberal foreign policy. It could be argued that Canada has never witnessed such a significant foreign policy shift in such a short time frame. Africa is no longer on Canada’s foreign policy radar, the Responsibility to Protect and human security have been totally erased from the lexicon of Canadian officials – despite our important role in the current NATO mission in Libya – and much needed funding for our country’s diplomatic corps has all but dried up.  Canada for the first time lost a seat on the UN Security Council because many countries were wary of our new foreign policy direction.  By ignoring the world’s most troubled continent and showing too little of our national will to intervene to protect civilians from genocidal regimes, Canada has lost a good portion of its soft power, including our leadership on human security and our ability to directly affect international issues of peace and security without a seat on the Security Council.