More thoughts on the departure of John Baird as Canada's foreign affairs minister
Yesterday morning, I quickly wrote a column after John Baird announced that he was quitting Parliament and resigning as the minister of foreign affairs.
It was triggered, in part, by what I felt was obsequious media coverage of Baird.
Since posting "Good Riddance, John Baird", I've noticed more critical commentary coming from veteran newspaper journalists who specialize in international affairs.
Postmedia's Matthew Fisher, a fairly ardent right winger, pointed out in his column that people in the foreign service "would roll their eyes or wince when they heard he was coming to town".
Fisher revealed that from his only long conversation with Baird, he determined that the minister was "extremely contemptuous of the media".
"His opinion was very much that the military had to be muzzled and managed," Fisher wrote.
The Globe and Mail's Patrick Martin, another foreign-reporting veteran, focused a column on Baird's wholehearted support for Israel and friendship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Mr. Baird, for all his intelligence and charm, chose not to untangle the Arab-Israeli complexities and help build a bridge between the parties, but to take a side, that of Israel, to which he gave carte blanche," Martin wrote.
After Canada failed to get elected to the UN Security Council in 2010, Baird and his boss, Stephen Harper, chose not to enter the race in 2014.
"We lost to countries that are longtime allies like Portugal and Germany who wanted nothing to do with the Canada that Stephen Harper and John Baird are projecting onto the world stage,” NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair told the Globe and Mail.
Baird is just 45 years old. His swan song from Parliament could be temporary and he could easily be back in federal or Ontario provincial politics within the next few years.
That's why it's important for those engaged in the John Baird love-in to pay attention to his actions rather than being bamboozled by his charismatic presence.
As former prime minister Kim Campbell once said, "Charisma without substance is a dangerous thing."
Anyone who reads recent columns by Fisher and Martin could easily conclude that Campbell's comment should be applied to Baird.
Comments
3 Comments
Richard Smiley
Feb 4, 2015 at 1:00pm
You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately... Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go! - Sir Oliver Cromwell
Canada as a model to the rest of the world? Stature? Canada's strength (no longer in the top 10, and dropping fast), sustained economic growth (that's why the BOC has just lowered rates again), enduring values? Hahahahahaha! Stop! Hahahahaha!
Commitment to freedom (new arrest provisions for suspected terrorists, and repeated measures instituting harsh new imprisonment guidelines), democracy (In and Out, robocalls, Pierre Poutine, fair elections act disenfranchising voters?), human rights (first nations, health care for refugees, and veterans) and the rule of law? Like with all those laws declared unconstitutional which the government - his government - then went and appealed or passed an almost identical replacement law?
"The best that Canada has to offer"???? Driven by ideology and defined by partisanship at the age of 25, and his farewell speech shows nothing has changed.
He needs to be defined by his values? His whole life is an lie. It isn't him being gay that bothers me. Its his refusal to help others by talking about it publicly,
Government has to be there for people? Ah… which people are we talking about? "That it can be a force for good"???? Paul on the road to Damascus! This must be the reason he is resigning… Harper would never stand for that attitude in his caucus.
"the desire to leave behind a better country, a better province, a better community." Uh huh. Bizarro Canada.
"An Ottawa that is vibrant and strong, a province whose future is bright and hopeful, with strong health care (which is about to lose its share of 35 billion dollars in federal transfers) and an innovative and resilient work force.": How to survive by working at Walmart and living in your parents' basement.
"A country that is the best in the world". Not for lack of trying. And by what measure?
"And strong trade ties that will create lasting prosperity for generations to come". The TPP. Which we can't get out of for generations to come, and which we are too stupid to be allowed to know the terms of or debate the issues.
He's optimistic about the opportunities that lie before him. How many other Canadians can say the same thing????
Sounds like what was said about Flaherty when he fell off the perch. All lies.
Democracy MyArse
Feb 4, 2015 at 10:04pm
Baird is the quintessential, useful idiot. His epic buffoonery on the world stage was driven by an utterly astonishing, willful ignorance of Middle East history, perhaps learned from his boss, the automaton in chief.
In the photograph accompanying this article, Baird reminds me of the late comedian Chris Farley, warning Harper he might end up "living in a van, down by the river". The key difference being Baird isn't funny, and his audience of one is, well, utterly bereft of soul, let alone a sense of humour.
His parting gift to Canadians is no joke either. In Occupied Jerusalem last month, Baird executed a Memo of Understanding with Israeli humanitarian Avigdor Lieberman, famed for recently advocating paying Palestinians to leave the Jewish State. Here are a few highlights (caution: reading the following may induce uncontrollable, involuntary retching and/or rage in the thoughtful):
"Reaffirming their dedication to the shared values of freedom of expression and assembly, democracy, and the rule of law,
Sharing the view that only direct negotiations between the State of Israel and the Palestinians can lead to a peaceful resolution of the conflict and the achievement of a two states solution,
Deeply concerned by efforts to single out the State of Israel for criticism and isolate the State of Israel internationally including calls for a boycott of the State of Israel, for the divestment of investments, and for sanctions to be imposed on Israel,
Recognizing that the selective targeting of Israel reflects the new face of anti-Semitism [sic],
Have come to the following understanding:
The Participants will work together to oppose efforts to single out or isolate the State of Israel through:
Developing a coordinated, public diplomacy initiative both bilaterally and in international and multilateral fora to oppose boycotts of Israel, its institutions, and its people within three to six months;
Publically [sic] expressing their opposition to those who would call into question the State of Israel‘s very right to exist or to defend itself, by itself;
Engaging in annual consultations to identify opportunities to advocate in favour of the State of Israel's full participation in the global economy."
Good riddance, indeed.
http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/news-communiques/2015/01/18b-3....
Deryk Houston
Feb 8, 2015 at 7:40pm
John Baird had little understanding about how crippling sanctions hurt civillians and so I am glad he is gone. He said that the sanctions on Iran were not aimed at the Iranian people.
Whenever I hear a politician use those words to try and conjure up support for sanctions, I shudder.
For example: Our political leaders used those same words to drive support for the sanctions on Iraq.
Lloyd Axworthy, minister of foreign affairs at the time of the Iraq sanctions, always pointed out that the sanctions were not aimed at hurting Iraqi people. I found that disgusting because there was clear evidence at the time that children were dying every day by the hundreds of thousands as "a direct result of sanctions". (UNICEF 2002 report)
When I confronted Axworthy's office, after making several trips to Iraq to witness the effects of the sanctions first hand, I was told by his office that there were so many conflicts going on in the world that they just coudn't be expected to be up on all the facts.
So when I heard Bairds comments that the sanctions were not aimed at the civilians, it brought back all the ugly memories of what happened in Iraq. Baird also mentioned that medicines were allowed. (Not subject to sanctions.) But Axworthy always said the same thing. In fact it was being widely reported at the time that medinces were not getting through in a timely manner. Axworthy's office kept insisting that medicines were allowed in,even though they knew that the refridgeration trucks needed to keep the medicines viable were not working or that the distribution systems were not functional because computers were not allowed.
Medicines were allowed but it was meaningless because of the lack of proper infrastructure.
So when I heard Baird saying the same thing, I felt the same disgust for our countries leaders. It is my opinion that they have no shame and couldn't care less for the children of countries that they place these sanctions on. As long as it gives them power or the ability to make bigger trade deals.
It is no wonder that the world is on fire.