Lawrence Cannon would have us believe that it is Michael Ignatieff’s fault that, for the first time since the UN was created, Canada failed to win its bid for one of the non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council.
According to Cannon, Ignatieff’s musings about whether or not Canada actually deserved a seat on the council were taken to heart by the voting members, which means that although actual Canadians don’t appear to pay any attention to Ignatieff, international organizations take him very seriously.
The Harper government also plans to release documentation proving that Ignatieff is in fact responsible for many other disappointments and disasters affecting our once-united nation, including the decline in the polar bear population, traffic problems in and around Toronto, and diver Eric Sehn’s 4th place finish in Delhi.
After all, Ignatieff, with his book learning and unkempt eyebrows, is clearly hell-bent on destroying our national image. Not like Stephen Harper, whose collection of cowboy hats, leather vests and flak jackets prove he is all man, and whose international policies have nothing to do with today’s vote. Why wouldn’t the UN voters decide, en masse, to vote for Portugal, unless Ignatieff’s inflamatory remarks swayed them?
Obviously, the vote does not reflect anything else, such as Harper’s all-too-blatant pro-American stance, or his rather lopsided approach to the Middle East, or his government’s repeated fumbling of allegations of abuse and torture in Afghanistan, or his decision to stop for coffee instead of participating in an international world leaders’ meeting at the UN last year. Nor does the vote reflect global distaste for recent Canadian policy decisions, such as our moralizing about maternal health in developing nations, our backpedalling on climate change, our turning a blind eye to the tar sands problem, or our lavish and hypocritical overspending on the G8 summit.
Maybe Ignatieff should embrace the thought that his remarks were to blame – after all, perhaps he can parlay his apparently global influence into some voter recognition where it really counts… and if all else fails, he can always roll up the rim.