,
7 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
Last night on CBC's The National, I said that the Canadian government is "milking" the case of the young Saudi who arrived here. A couple points of context.
-This was a 10 second clip from a 12 minute interview in which I also said there were other motives behind the decision...
-This was a 10 second clip from a 12 minute interview in which I also said there were other motives behind the decision...
...including that it is the right thing to do, and that it is consistent with the Trudeau government's efforts to develop a feminist and progressive foreign policy - so a way to walk what has often been criticized for being mostly talk.
-Also, there seems to be an assumption that it is criticism to say that the government is doing this in part for political gain, but I don't mean it as such. Au contraire - I actually said in other, longer interviews that this is smart politics by the government.
In democracies, that's what governments do - calculate where political gain can be found, especially in an electoral year. See a longer (French) interview here:
...but - clearly, when the foreign minister invites cameras, gets pictures of her taken with the refugee (and pauses for a second to ask for flowers), and said refugee was given a Canada sweatshirt, then yes, that it angling for political gain (and again - smart politics).
One point of interest for me: last August, Ottawa was discrete, and expressly sought to avoid provoking Saudi in its reaction to Saudi bashing. That was, as I said at the time, the right response then. Things are different now: an election is coming, there is limitedhope...
...of repairing relations with Saudi, and dynamics with Saudi have changed. It is more important than ever for western states to stand up to Saudi, which is actively self-banana-peeling itself, damaging everybody's interests. If the US won't do it then good on Canada for doing it
