Former Prime Minister, The Rt. Hon. Joe Clark spoke at the UAlberta Faculty of Law on Thursday, November 28, 2013, to a packed auditorium of people eager to hear his take on Canada's place in the modern world and the problems he sees with the country's current approach to foreign policy.
Joe Clark was the country's youngest Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for External Affairs and the representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations. Throughout his career, as Secretary of State for External Affairs, President of the Privy Council, Minister Responsible for Constitutional Affairs, and Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations, he has represented Canada almost continuously on the international stage, earning a stellar reputation for far-reaching accomplishments in diplomacy and foreign affairs.
Basing his talk at the Faculty of Law, on his recently published book HOW WE LEAD: Canada in a Century of Change, Joe Clark gave an impassioned argument for Canada to reassert its international position as an agent of change, diplomacy, and peace. Drawing on our history, successes, and the unique qualities that we possess today, Clark described an ambitious but vitally important role for Canada - for the world's benefit, but also for our own.
"As power disperses in the world, so does the capacity to lead and, in almost every case, the most effective leadership will have to be shared, not only among states, but with other entities and, often, with citizens." In this scenario, Joe Clark asserted, the best approach should be "leading from beside." No longer will disagreements and conflicts be meted out using the hard power assets like military strength. Today's world calls increasingly for diplomacy, conciliation, and development - so-called "soft power" assets - said Clark. The current Conservative government, Clark said, has chosen hard power as its principal foreign policy emphasis. This has had the effect of sidelining diplomacy, and other agents of soft power. That choice has been wrong-headed and are counter-productive, argued Clark.
"I think there are some real opportunities for Canada internationally and it involves changing our view of what era we are living in. We are living in a new era where our assets are unusually valuable. This requires the experience and temperament of countries like Canada who are successful at managing and respecting diversity. And I hope to be able to help stimulate a public debate about what our options would be."
Clark briefly described his time as foreign minister as being a period of time that saw some of the most significant developments in world affairs in the late 20th century, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of the end of apartheid. The end of the Cold War, Clark says, was accompanied by a switch in the source of conflict. Ideology receded as a source of conflict and culture clashes began to increase.
Clark told the crowd that he felt that Canada's respected reputation is needed today more than ever before. Drawing on our diplomatic successes such on the Suez Crisis, apartheid, the Vietnamese boat people, the Tehran hostage crisis, the environment and several lesser known but equally instructive issues, Clark argued that Canada is in a perfect position to guide world politics through future challenges.
The cast of characters is also shifting, he noted. The traditional powers are not faltering so much as a diverse group of new countries are emerging, including many in Asia and Africa are growing in importance and power. Individual citizens, informed and at times inflamed by the Internet, are "less docile and compliant." Extremist groups are taking footholds in many regions and finding ready converts in the young, poor and unemployed. And a rapidly growing contingent of non-state actors - non-governmental organizations, faith-based groups and volunteers - including Greenpeace and the Gates Foundation, play increasingly more powerful roles in the developing world and the development of international treaties and policy.
Volatile demographics, unemployment, natural disasters, and the dramatic decline in foreign aid threaten great masses of the world's population. Add to this scenario a mobilized, independent citizenry much less inclined to deference than in the past. Never has the world needed an experienced, trusted mediator more than it does today. Clark explained, "When control and command grow less effective, consensus and persuasion become more valuable."
The Internet, Clark said, transformed the way people think. It has also meant that things like the Arab Spring happen.
"Communication is much more widespread and among the things (being) communicated is the sense among potentially desperate, angry people of how much better a world there is elsewhere, which causes them to militate against barriers in their own countries," Clark told the crowd.
There is major change and it happens to play into fields where Canada has strengths," Clark explained. "We are a country that has been respected in the developed world and in the developing world. We have been regarded as problem-solving partners across many of the divisions that have marked the world."
As the talk wound down Joe Clark touched on the subject of the Conservative government's lack of action on environmental issues and the inability to find common ground with U.S. President Barack Obama.
"A major obstacle to approval of the Keystone pipeline in the U.S. as it is constituted now is the reputation that Canada has acquired as a denier on climate change," Clark explained.
"The government is doing its best to try to overcome that, but those reputations are very hard to change."
Canada, said Joe Clark, has all of the qualities needed to step into a critical role of influence and leadership. "Of the range of opportunities open to a society like Canada, one of the most important lies outside our physical borders, in a world whose explosive tensions, and conflicts, and inequalities would benefit from the moderation, and initiative, and respect for others that have been among Canada's signature characteristics." The next step is simply to begin.
Photographs from the UAlberta Faculty of Law talk by Rt. Hon. Joe Clark can be viewed on Flickr