WikiLeaks reveals Canadian ties

by Shawn Whitney

US diplomatic memos released by WikiLeaks in April and May reveal lies and deception by the Canadian government.

The memos expose that in 2003, on the same day that Chrétien was accepting kudos for supposedly refusing to join the US invasion of Iraq, high level Canadian officials were meeting with their US counterparts offering Canadian military assistance in whatever “discreet” way was possible.

Harper’s Conservatives gleefully inherited the Liberals’ double-dealing.

Afghanistan

Harper has worked behind the scenes to extend the mission in Afghanistan beyond the promised end date of 2011. WikiLeaks documents show that in 2009 the Tories were “putting all options back on the table” with regards to extending the mission.

During a meeting in 2010 with NATO chief General Rasmussen, Harper promised to consider the option of keeping troops on, only noting that the US withdrawal was “unhelpful” to him making the case for an extension.

He also noted the need to “manage” the public message and deal with the political difficulties generated by the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. By the end of 2010, Harper had agreed to extend the mission.

Northwest Passage

Harper made a name for himself as defender of the Canadian Arctic, promising increased defence spending to maintain Canadian interests.

This chest-thumping is part of a wider “cold war” in the Arctic in response to the fact that climate change is creating the potential to not only access massive suspected reserves of oil but also the possible Northwest Passage from Europe to Asia, dreamed of at least since John Cabot made an effort to find it in 1497.

Control of the passage would be of massive strategic and commercial value.

While Harper talks big, he has done little—a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by the US Ambassador at the time, David Jacobson. He joked that while Harper said “the issue has never been more important to our country... one could paraphrase to state ‘the North has never been more important to our party’” since it helped the Tories win the 2006 election.

These WikiLeaks revelations lay bare the parallels between the Tories and the Liberals. In fact, with the revelation that CSIS continues to secretly and illegally deliver the names of “terror suspects” to US authorities—a process exposed by the plight of Maher Arar—it is clear that our elected politicians are in good company in engaging in dirty politics, unaccountability and a lack of transparency.