[War] Canada: "The Worrisome World"

[Michael Downey]

"The Worrisome World"
Prime Minister R. Leon MacIntyre
Canada
2nd April 2013
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Foreign policy was MacIntyre's weakness. The Conservatives had
hammered that point constantly during the election; that he was a
glorified accountant from Halifax that wouldn't know the first thing
about dealing with the rest of the world. It hadn't worked, of course,
since Canadian paid more attention to domestic affairs that external
ones, and were more interested in recovering from the 2010 recession
than how and why people in other parts of the world were killing each
other. Afghanistan was over by that point, so the presence of the CF
in that part of the world had been a moot point.

Unfortunately for the PM, the world had decided to me no more stable
in the second decade of the 21st Century than it had in the first.
North Korea, then Belarus, and now labor violations in China, just
weeks after they'd signed a comprehensive trade agreement. North Korea
could destabilize East Asia and cause a global economic slowdown,
Belarus could cut of the flow of oil out of Russia and start a
slowdown in the EU, and China's human rights problems could endanger a
trade deal that MacIntyre had hoped to taut as a victory under his
belt and silence his naysayers.

"We have to understand that this situation involves only a single
company," Finance Minister DeMonte said to the gathered Cabinet for
their daily meeting before the House met in session. "Obviously we
should boycott this said company from doing business in Canada, but I
don't think it will damage our trade agreement."

"I'd agree with you if it was just contained to the company itself,
but we're talking about a major violations of human rights that runs
right up to the top of the Politburo," explained Daudelin, the Foreign
Minister. "I mean that's like someone at this table owning a sweatshop
here in Ottawa. If Hong can't keep her own cabinet in order, how can
we possibly trust her to prevent things like this from occurring over
and over? How will it look if all the textiles we import from China
are made with slave labor? And let's also remember that the scandal is
concentrated in their Security Ministry, the body that is supposed to
*enforce* law and order in China."

"I am not going to sink our trade agreement now because of this," said
MacIntyre finally. "I agree that this is bad and that we do need to
take steps, but we can't overreact. Today I will ask Parliament to bar
the involved company from doing business in Canada. We'll keep a close
eye on the situation and take steps to prevent goods made through
inhumane labor practices from entering Canada."

"And if Hong can't keep her house in order?" asked Daudelin.

"We're not at that stage yet. Let's just wait and see."

'Wait and see.' Those were three most spoken words for foreign policy.
Canada was a nation greatly affected by the actions of others but
lacked the ability or even the will to seriously influence things to
their advantage. The price you paid for embracing multilateralism.

"What about Belarus?"

"If Minsk does cut off the oil pipelines then the cost of energy in
Europe is going to spike," replied the FM. "We do import a fair amount
from the EU, especially Germany and France. Now I'm not saying it will
be a disaster by any stretch of the imagination, just that there might
be some headaches. But what I'm really worried about is military
tension. The Russians never respond lightly to threats like this, and
the Europeans are already reporting increased Russian military
activity on their side of the border. Understand, this is all
happening because Belarus' economy is falling apart, not because the
Russians are overcharging. And I honestly don't expect Moscow will
willingly subsidize Belarus' energy demands out of their own pockets."

"Could this become a NATO issue?" asked Mac, turning the Defence Minister.

"It's not shaping up like that as of yet," said Garneau. "Russia might
be a bit more pro-West in its outlook lately but they still don't
strike me as taking kindly to the West getting involved in their
affairs. I'll confer with the Pentagon and North Atlantic Council, but
for now I don't think NATO is going to get dragged into this. To me,
it's between Russia, Belarus and the EU."

And that was a relief to MacIntyre. War was the most wasteful and
pointless enterprise any state could engage in, and not having the
NATO alliance dragged into one was music to his ears.

"Okay, that's it for our two biggest foreign policy concerns. I'll see
you all in the House."
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Actions:
1) Boycott the company invovled in the labor scandal in China.
Emphasize to critics that this will not endanger the recent
Sino-Canadian Trade Agreement, so long as China keeps its house in
order.
2) Watch the situation in Belarus and cross fingers that this remains
a minor European affair and NATO won't become involved.