Opinion: Lester B. Pearson won a Nobel Peace Prize. Mark Carney is just happy to be here
By Andrew MacDougall
If the Prime Minister wants a to leave a legacy, he should stop serving as one of Trump’s extras.
October is the perfect time of year to drive up the Gatineau River and soak up the riches of the Canadian autumn. The gorgeous oranges and reds are enough to make this Canadian homesick.
And nostalgic.
For if you hang a left at Chemin Mill in Wakefield and continue past the spa, you stumble upon Maclaren Cemetery, the tiny burial ground that contains Lester B. Pearson, that giant of Canadian politics.
Pearson’s name was on my mind watching this week’s scenes of jubilation as the remaining hostages were freed from Hamas’ terrorist clutches and returned to their families in Israel. His legacy was on my mind as President Trump summoned the world to Sharm El-Sheik in Egypt to ratify his peace deal.
That’s because Pearson famously won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring an earlier dispute in the Middle East – the Suez Crisis – to an end. And while Mark Carney was present in Egypt, he was only there to stroke Trump’s ego and praise the people who actually did something to deliver a tentative peace to the region. We’ve gone from Lester B. to ‘happy to be here’.
Not that peace has actually been delivered. Pearson actually solved the issue (until it exploded back to life in 1967). Trump’s ‘plan’ features many stages, and the next stage – the genocidaires of Hamas putting down their weapons and buggering off – is an act precisely zero people believe will happen without a further fight. Gaza might lie in ruins, but Hamas is already roaming the rubble picking off any Gazan clans it deems helpful to the peace process or the future running of the blighted strip. In other words, Trump’s plan is, at best, an end to the beginning.
And so it’s a bit worrying that no actual detail was shared with the Sharm El-Sheik attendees, or the media present to cover it. Carney didn’t even bring Canadian media with him (an act that would have had me drawn and quartered during my time with Stephen Harper). The entire summit was the application of lipstick to the pig.
But why worry about details? In the Instagram age, the post from Egypt is enough. For his part, Carney was happy to joke with Trump, thanking him for the ‘upgrade’ to ‘President’ of Canada, a remark that earned him a smile and a slap on the shoulder from the president. We’re a loooong way from the Carney of the campaign trail. What does Mike ‘Elbows Up’ Myers make of it all?
One wonders what Lester B. Pearson would make of it all. Unlike Carney, Pearson was steeped in history and foreign affairs. Pearson served in the Canadian High Commission in London during the Second World War. He served as Ambassador to the United States as both the United Nations and NATO were born in the post-war years. It was only then that Mackenzie King appointed him as Secretary of State for External Affairs, the perch from which he would win his Peace Prize nine years later. For his part, Carney’s been to lots of meetings of international bankers.
Pearson also represented a nation coming into its own. Canada’s armed forces played a critical role in winning the Second World War. Its wheat and other commodities kept the world going as Europe was torn apart. Carney now represents a country that has fallen a long way down the league table. And while that’s not Carney’s fault, it doesn’t change the fact of Canada’s lack of centrality to global affairs.
Nor does it help that Carney gave away the big prize – recognition of a Palestinian state – before the cessation of hostilities and return of the hostages. Carney went along to get along, with no state to hand over responsibilities to, as will now be evidenced by the struggle to root the remnants of Hamas out of Gaza. Carney took the headline instead of contributing meaningfully towards a solution.
If Carney wants a Pearsonian-level legacy, he should focus on home. Instead of serving as a Trump extra, Carney should apply his formidable brain to his first budget, which is what will define his minority government and whether he sticks around long enough to mature into a statesman.
Source: https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/mark-carney-just-happy-to-be-here?itm_source=opinion
