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Michael Ignatieff framed by Conservatives | Colin Horgan Blaming Canada's failure to win a UN security council seat on the Liberal leader is typical of Stephen Harper's hard right tacticsBack in September, bolstered by a moderately successful cross-country bus tour that saw him glad-handing Canadians coast to coast, opposition Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff spoke to Canada's chances of earning a temporary seat at the UN security council. He wasn't sure how Canada would fare, and took the moment to suggest that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government hadn't done enough to earn Canada a place at the table. Ignatieff said:"This is a government that for four years has basically ignored the United Nations and now is suddenly showing up saying, 'Hey, put us on the council'. I know how important it is for Canada to get a seat on the security council, but Canadians have to ask a tough question: 'Has this government earned that place?' We're not convinced it has."On Tuesday, despite pouring money and countless hours into the election effort, Canada failed to win a seat at the security council for the first time in its history. Afterward, the Harper government placed blame for the loss in a seemingly strange place: on Michael Ignatieff, specifically citing his comment in September. At a press conference held after Canada withdrew from the final round of voting, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said:"Canada was not united because some saw this as an opportunity to score political points by opposing Canada's candidacy… [Ignatieff] came out clearly indicating that Canada did not deserve a seat… and for that, of course, we were extremely disappointed."The suggestion was bizarre. Was it true that Ignatieff's – albeit politically misguided – comment, given to a small group of supporters and journalists weeks prior to the vote at the UN, could hold such sway over the international community? No. In fact, the Canadian Press later revealed: "Several ambassadors who emerged from the vote made no mention of Ignatieff's remarks; one had never even heard of him."Instead, the loss was perhaps due to Canada's recent move to freeze all aid to Africa. Or maybe, it was because Canada has reduced its UN peacekeepers to a historic low to pour resources into Afghanistan. Or it could have been due to Canada's lacklustre performance at December's climate conference in Copenhagen, and its failure to meet its Kyoto protocol obligations. That is, it could have been due to many things other than Michael Ignatieff.But rather than shifting the conversation away from the international slight, the Tories hammered away at the Liberal leader, ensuring the topic – and Ignatieff – would make headlines. It seemed an odd course of action. Why wouldn't the Tories just move on and hide an obvious failure? There may be a few reasons for that, and they have nothing to do with the UN.First of all, the other major political story in Canada on Tuesday was not exactly the kind of news to which they might have wanted to shift attention. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty gave an economic forecast announcement where he projected that Canada's two-year budget deficit will exceed $100bn. This is a far cry from Flaherty's assertion in January 2009 that "by 2012 [the budge deficit] will fall to $7.3bn. By 2013, we project to run a surplus." Rather, Flaherty announced Tuesday, it will take another five years to balance the budget.Second, bringing up Ignatieff as the source of Canada's failure at the UN forced his Canada-doubting soundbite onto every nightly newscast in the country. The Tories pushed the public narrative back onto Ignatieff and, as usual, put him on the defensive. He was happy to oblige with a midday news conference where he addressed the allegation, baseless though it was.So, the anti-Ignatieff mantra first served as a distraction. Then, like most Conservative spin, it was used as a campaign tool. Tuesday evening on CBC, Harper's director of communications, Dimitri Soudas, made two important points on the UN loss, both suggesting the real reason for Tuesday's rhetoric. First, Soudas said that Ignatieff had "found a reason to oppose Canada". Then, Soudas explained that the vote result was disappointing, but Canada did not "water down or barter Canadian values" for a seat. Both statements serve the greater Conservative party intention: to redefine Canada as a conservative country – a kind of Reagan-esque shift of the nation's narrative.Earlier this month, the house voted on Bill C-391, a bill that would effectively kill Canada's long-gun registry. By a margin of two votes, the registry will remain – much to the annoyance of the Conservative party, which has long pushed for the registry's demise, citing cost overruns and personal autonomy issues. The loss of that vote marked the end of a poor summer for the Tories, in which they made the unpopular decision to scrap the long-form mandatory census, and committed to a questionable anti-crime programme.But the long-gun registry vote was more than just another defeat. For the Conservatives, the gun registry symbolised past Liberal government economic and social largesse. Killing it would have been a very special kind of coup for the Tories, a populist win for that "other" Canada – the one outside Toronto. It would have been especially pointed given that they still only maintain a minority government. Dismantling the long-gun registry could have been, in effect, the small push that would signify a general change in direction for both their party and the country. But it didn't work.In fact, nothing seems to be working. The Tories regularly hover around 35% popularity, unable to break away from the opposition parties. So they are constantly on the offensive from every angle and every minister – a kind of political "total football" – in the hopes that a concerted, prolonged effort will eventually pay off at the polls. And enemy No 1 is Ignatieff, whom the Tories regularly set up as an anti-Canada bogeyman, an amalgam of all things elitist, and as a man who is determined to form a coalition government and send Canada to the depths of leftist, morally relative hell.Tuesday's UN blame game was no different. It was yet another part of a cumulative and extended campaign by the Conservatives for a new kind of Canada: a distinctly non-Liberal Canada. The "values" that Soudas defended on Tuesday are particularly questionable in this light. How exactly do Canadian values differ from those of the UN, an organisation Canada helped found? It's hogwash, naturally. These are Conservative party values projected as "Canadian", conjured up to dare the opposition to either accept them as part of a new narrative, or oppose them and expose a fresh target. For the Tories, it is all attack, all the time – and very little compromise.Stephen Harper has long been dismissive of the UN, even famously skipping out of a UN event in order to visit a Tim Horton's donut shop grand opening. The Tories are, no doubt, disappointed that Canada did not get a seat at the security council, but either way, they would have had political ammunition. In that way, the vote itself never really mattered; the narrative did.CanadaMichael IgnatieffUnited NationsStephen HarperColin Horganguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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Germany hopes to make forced marriage a crime By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER 2010-10-27T13:07:45ZBERLIN (AP) -- Germany's government on Wednesday proposed criminalizing forced marriage, a tradition that some Muslim immigrant families impose on their children, even ones who were raised in Germany's more liberal society.... hosted.ap.org |