At an Economic Club of Canada event in Toronto last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly delivered an attention-grabbing, forty-minute speech summarizing Canada’s ‘pragmatic diplomacy’ doctrine. According to Joly, Canada’s foreign policy will be guided by a two-pronged approach: the vigorous defence of Canada’s sovereignty, and “pragmatic” diplomatic relations, which intends to indiscriminately engage “countries of different perspectives.”
Recent geopolitical pressures facing Canada have indeed come from outside our borders, however, some have been further complicated by our own domestic issues.
Pillar One: The Defence of Our Sovereignty
The first pillar, the “defence of our sovereignty,” is conceived to account for new, transnational threats. Minister Joly cited global cybersecurity threats such as sophisticated artificial intelligence, and emerging “digital” and “informational” attacks as rationale for greater domestic security. Digital threats are compounded by growing, socially destabilizing forces: irregular migration, political polarization, economic inequality, and powerful revisionist states.
This pillar’s aim is to protect our sovereignty through multilateral cooperation with our allies – most notably, the United States. Domestically, the defense of our sovereignty will include investments in the Defence Policy Updates – though both an update to defence policy and associated investments are still being deliberated within government.
Pillar Two: “Pragmatic Diplomacy”
The second pillar, “pragmatic diplomacy,” rejects an ideologically-driven approach to diplomatic relations. Minister Joly condemned a “West-vs-the-Rest ” absolutism, which divides the world into two camps, and unnecessarily pressures the Global South to bandwagon with — or balance against — our closest allies. Canada’s pragmatic approach would involve two major concentric spheres of diplomatic engagement: Canada’s close allies are held intimately in our inner circle, while the outer sphere includes all states that wish to engage with us.
Fundamentally, this second pillar is subordinate to the first. Canada intends to wield pragmatic diplomatic relations in service of the bolstering of our security apparatus; strengthening our national security is the ultimate goal, while pragmatic engagement is the diplomatic pathway to achieve that goal.
Domestic Dissent Amid Growing Geopolitical Uncertainties
Joly’s speech had no mention of how Canada’s shifting domestic pressures were impacting this revised foreign policy approach; but it is next to impossible to look at this speech in a bubble, without the context of current foreign policy challenges weighing heavily on the content.
Calls for pragmatic diplomacy and a move away from ideologically-driven decision-making on international affairs characterize the government’s response to the Israel-Hamas conflict, which has substantiated divergent views amongst Canadians and those within the Liberal caucus. Internationally, Canada’s call for a humanitarian pause aligns our approach with our major allies: the United States and the United Kingdom. However, the UN Security Council has been fractured in its approach to the conflict; Russia and China have vetoed US resolutions calling for a humanitarian pause. Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, has called for a ceasefire and Xi Jingping has argued that the “top priority is a ceasefire as soon as possible.”
Among the most powerful members of the Security Council, it is clear that Canada is standing with its closest allies.
Domestically, Minister Joly’s unwillingness to support a ceasefire places her at odds with the Liberals’ partners in their confidence-and-supply agreement. On Thursday of last week, all members of the NDP caucus signed a letter to the Prime Minister urging Canada to call for a ceasefire in the Middle East. This clearly raises a dilemma as domestic solidarity with the NDP would align Canada internationally with Russia and China as opposed to our allies.
Polarization at Home
The geopolitical uncertainty of the current moment is compounded by intranational-level complexities. Joly promised to “build on Canada’s diplomatic legacy,” by harnessing the “strength of our people.” Amid growing political polarization abroad and at home, this will indeed require significant stores of creativity and statecraft. Canada has just recommitted itself to the challenge.
