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David Emeson: Minister Foreign Affairs

Edward Campbell

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David Emerson: Minister of Foreign Affairs

I think there is an interesting connection (but, maybe only in my imagination) between David Emerson and Louis St Laurent. Many commentators*have noted that Emerson, like St Laurent, is a skilled policy man and the intellectual equal of the prime minister and, like St Laurent, Emerson is famously unskilled as a partisan politician. Each, also, provides much needed political support in an important region. There are, even, some connections between Emerson's implicit task of changing Harper's (and the old Reformers’) mind on China and St Laurent's explicit task of changing Québec’s mind re: the war against the axis.

Both also took over somewhat dysfunctional foreign affairs bureaucracies.

In St Laurent's case King was PM and the ghost of O.D. Skelton still stalked the halls of the department – for some good (both King and Skelton crafted a marvellously well qualified and highly skilled service) and lots of ill (policy based on Skelton’s mindless Anglophobia and King's deeply ingrained propensity to “Do nothing by halves which can be done by quarters”

Emerson's challenge may be more daunting. The once mighty and internationally envied Canadian foreign service is a thing of the past. The very things that made it so very, very good were anathema to Pierre Elliot Trudeau and he set about dismantling what he saw, correctly, as an insular, Oxbridge based service that did not respect Québec’s unique point of view. Mulroney continued Trudeau's policy vandalism because he saw (in e.g.Jack Pickersgill, Lester Pearson,Mitchell Sharp and (later) Marcel Massé) the department, indeed the upper ranks of the entire civil service, as a hotbed of Liberal partisanship. The end result is that we have a dispirited service that no longer attracts and retains the best and brightest and, consequently, fails, again and again, to provide the centre, especially the PCO and PMO, with the top quality advice they need. PMs ever since Trudeau, have, more often than not, been their own foreign ministers, further weakening the foreign service. Emerson's problem is that foreign policy is too large, too complex, too important and too urgent to be managed by a small (divided) cadre in the Langevin Block. (You don't need to like or even believe Garth Turner, but his explanation of who does what to whom in the Langevin Block is pretty clear and accurate.)

It is fair to argue that St Laurent, by dint of his quiet, respectful and incredibly competent style and his well known integrity saved the struggling (in 1945) King government. In 1948 the Liberal party, as opposed to St Laurent himself, was convinced that only St Laurent had the stature to win a fourth consecutive government in 1949 – which he did, followed by a fifth in 1953. It is not clear that Emerson is the only (or even ‘best’) choice for the Conservatives – there are others, like Jim Prentice, who may be acceptable choices as leader – but he should not be counted out. There were some pretty competent and well known Liberals in cabinet in 1948, too: Jimmy Gardiner and “Chubby” Power who formally contested for the leadership and C.D. Howe who did not.

In any event, Prime Minister Harper now has an opportunity. It will, I think, be harder for Emerson to happily quit politics from the Foreign Affairs portfolio. The challenges and possibilities are too great. Emerson is, I believe, the very best sort of public servant, as was St Laurent. Keeping him should be a high priority task for Stephen Harper. That means, first and foremost, finding a safe Conservative seat for him – preferably in BC, ideally in Greater Vancouver - but Mike Pearson held Algoma East which is a long, long way from his home in Southwestern Ontario so maybe anywhere in BC will do. Secondly it means letting Emerson rebuild Foreign Affairs – despite Harper's own belief that the civil service is a hotbed of partisan Liberals.

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* See e.g. Lawrence Martin and Jeffrey Simpson in the Globe and Mail.
 
It's too bad that Emerson's constituents are more partisan than he is.  Where other MPs have swithed parties (Keith Martin, Belinda Stronach, Scott Brison, etc.), they have had no problems retaining their seats.  But if he runs in another, safer riding, will the optics of switching ridings be unfavourable for him and the Tories?
 
RangerRay said:
It's too bad that Emerson's constituents are more partisan than he is.  Where other MPs have swithed parties (Keith Martin, Belinda Stronach, Scott Brison, etc.), they have had no problems retaining their seats.  But if he runs in another, safer riding, will the optics of switching ridings be unfavourable for him and the Tories?
Optics schmoptics.

Harper should sell this as being his ability to use the best and brightest Canada has to offer, no matter what their politics. Harper has provided not good government, but great government. People of both liberal and conservative views should join in support of competent, effective leadership.
 
The best and brightest fit in to a British Flag view of the world. We had and have disagreements but we also did Brit View and ABCA View. Did we ever do NATO View? Without a fully integrated reserve follow-on force I have to conclude that we didn't - and thats no slur on the regular forces - its a comment on 2 generations of Canadian Foreign Policy Calculations.

You could also argue we are long out ABCA - because the A and A are non aligned and far away.

So back to Harper`s statement on Weaponry - gets some serious heat if you want to be taken seriously.
 
Dave Emerson Minister of Foreign Affairs
:rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:
first thing id do
:rules:  :rules:  :rules:
and if he didnt comply
:sniper: just the once
he's a bloody a**
and if he wants to talk to me personal
he knows where to find me...
i know mods
smarten up ...sigh
going for a cold compress and a beer ...
                      scoty

ps was foolin with ya all is all
 
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