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The Three Pillars

Thank you for participating in the Dialogue on Foreign Policy. The interactive web site is now closed. The Minister's report will appear on this web site once it is released.

This Forum is bilingual, and participants post messages in their language of choice.

Canada - U.S. Relationship

Contributor: 1419

Date: 2003-04-25 01:56:33


For heaven's sake, don't bring the UN HQ as it exists today to Canada. The UN has existed too long as bureaucracy and has become stagnant and ineffective. We don't need something like their HQ in Canada. Rather, dismantle the UN and re-build a World Coalition that the US and the rest of the world will support and to which they will all pay their dues. Give it a military rapid reaction force that can be deployed quickly to avert civil rights abuses before they escalate into giant genocides. Give it modern media facilities, physical and electronic presences, and new people. With a suitable cost-sharing formula, Canada could offer to house such a force on behalf of the world. (Putting it in Saskatchewan would also help curb the declining population there)

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Canada - U.S. Relationship

Contributor: fatmomma

Date: 2003-04-26 21:26:49


The UN has good framework and only needs to be reworked to bring it up to date of a changing world powers. It does need many changes but to dismantle it and start from scratch is foolish. International relationships are sometimes difficult to establish; we are expecting too much from the UN under its present structure. The UN must be able to enforce collection of all dues coming to it. It needs to be able to enforce its regulations. It does not need 5 permanent countries that are able to veto any resolution. At this time; under the present administration; the only World Coalition that the USA would support is one they have complete control of. This would defeat the purpose of any such organization. We need the UN, with or without the USA on board. If the USA will not return to rebuild the UN; we must make the UN very strong to
counterbalance the uneven power that the present USA has over all other countries. One country cannot be allowed to make and enforce all decisions for the rest of the world.
The American President has great powers that can be used or abused. The present administration is very aggressive and demanding but may not be the worst we could face in future years.
We may either have to join them or become very strong if we wish to protect our sovereignty. I would like to see less American ownership and control of our core assets. I am not in support of allowing more American ownership of our telecommunication or cable companies.

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Canada - U.S. Relationship

Contributor: 1419

Date: 2003-04-30 00:38:02


As many comments have noted, the UN does some good work and the world certainly needs a body like it. But unlike private corporations which renew themselves under competitve pressure or governments which renew themselves under electoral pressure, the UN has no mechanism for renewal and revitalization. Recall the UN was itself a rejuvenation of the League of Nations. Its decline is the just the natural decay of time. The stream of failures of its Security Council to act in a timely fashion over the last decade is the most visible signal that now is the time to dismantle and rebuild a fresh organization. Canada and the world should exploit the non-payment situation to pressure non-paying countries like the US to help rebuild an organization that they would be too embarrassed not to be part of and not to support by paying on time. Tapping our creativity to actually do this would be a dialogue exercise in itself and a suitable follow-on for DFAIT to sponsor when this discussion forum ends tomorrow.
To everyone, thank you for the opportunity to participate. And to the odd US citizen lurking out there, we Canadians don't really want to come across as whining about big brother South of us all the time, but we would rather you regard us as a trustworthy constructive conscience whose advice is hopefully worth listening to.

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Canada - U.S. Relationship

Contributor: fatmomma

Date: 2003-04-30 22:28:14


We do not need to start a new organization again from scratch. The USA at this time is not interested in listening to International voice. This is why the have not been paying for and supporting the UN even though their citizens were strongly in favour of it. We may want to regard the USA as a trustworthy constructive force; Canada serves as a conscience that the present USA government does not care to listen to. I am not whining I am seriously complaining about the present USA administration disregard for the wishes of other countries or even many of their own citizens

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