Allan Gotlieb Canada's Global Promise Summary

In the articles “Romanticism and realism in Canada’s foreign policy” by Allan Gotlieb, and “Canada’s global promise” by Jennifer Welsh, both authors argue the need for Canada to re-evaluate their current foreign policy however, differ in the way of how Canada should strive for international growth. Firstly, both authors contend that due to Canada’s lack of involvement of being the “peacekeeper” that they use to be, Canada’s reputation of being the global player has taken a serious hit. In Welsh’s article she mentions many Canadians want to be more active on the world stage, and want to spend more money on over seas development, and such UN projects, however the problem “is that Canadians are rarely asked to make difficult trade-offs in spending”. As a result, the Canadian government has to make cuts in spending on such military resources, and programs, in

She than moves on to state, similarly to Gotlieb, that the United States primary concern at the moment is security, thus having Canada prove to the US that they pose no threat. Therefore, is it really Canada’s foreign policy if our main focus is external relations with the US. Welsh suggests that we must build upon other relations among the international community, as “the United States will not be the world’s only superpower forever”. Additionally, a recent report from a UN high level panel on collective security, state “today’s threats know no boundaries and must be addressed at the global and regional levels”, thus leading Welsh to suggesting that Canada follows the UN report, and create a foreign policy that “actively address these threats, in collaboration with other actors on the international stage”, compared to Gotlieb suggesting we stay away from UN ideas. In conclusion, though both authors have a different view on how Canada should approach their foreign policy, both Welsh and Gotlieb agree that in order for Canada to continue to grow in the international community, they must rethink their foreign