The successful implementation of the Copenhagen Accord on climate change is arguably more critical for Canada than for any other country. This is because it offers an opportunity to shift the focus from Canada not meeting its Kyoto target to Canada playing a proactive role as a constructive contributor to the Accord.

The Canadian government has started to take steps in the right direction. Recent announcements by the government include contributions to fast-start financing under the Copenhagen…

The list of accomplishments is long, but incomplete

The militarization and intensified violence of the Mexican government's crackdown on the narcotics cartels; the recent major efforts by Jamaican police to bring to justice organized criminals in Kingston; a 50-year civil conflict in Colombia that has claimed thousands of lives; Central American youth gangs that have extended their activities throughout the United States and into several Canadian cities; the "failed" state of Haiti, which for…

Canadian foreign policy has been adrift for some time. The days of its golden age when Lester Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in ending the Suez conflict after Britain and France invaded Egypt in 1956 are long gone.

For at least the past 30 years and arguably longer, Canada has been seeking a position in the world that recognized our dependence on the United States while asserting our independence and attempting to create and use influence elsewhere in the world. That policy…

Will the G8 and G20 summits mark a high-water mark for Canadian involvement in international affairs, or a moment when Canada repositions itself at the centre of the action? Everyone knows massive changes are sweeping aside the old ways. It's pretty well assured we won't be hosting a G8 again, and Canada's next G20, should it continue to exist, comes around in 2030. 

As Canada moves down the ranks, from the world's seventh-largest economy to 10th and lower, it must navigate the rise of Asia,…

Mexican President Felipe Calderon's visit to this country this week comes at a crucial time both for Mexico and for the bilateral relationship with Canada.

At home, Mr. Calderon faces enormous challenges in his war on the drug cartels, an opposition-dominated Congress that is blocking or watering down much of his ambitious liberal reform agenda, falling popularity in the opinion polls and the prospect that his party, the Partido de Acción Nacional, will lose the presidential elections in 2012.

Much ink has been spilled over Canada's so-called G8 initiative on maternal and child health for the developing world. Many have urged the government forward on this laudable mission, while others-demonized as spiteful people with a narrow domestic agenda-have railed against the government's exclusion of funding for abortion. 

The facts behind the debate are more complicated than this. 

First, maternal and child health is already high on the agenda of most donor countries. These two items…

December 19, 2009 - National Post, Douglas Goold, Op-ed--

India is in a sorrowful and angry mood. Having just passed the first anniversary of the "26/11" terrorist bombings in Mumbai, it continues to deal with a growing list of apparently Pakistani-inspired spies and terrorists.

The feeling was palpable on the streets of Mumbai, where I stayed during the week of the anniversary, as part of a Canadian International Council research trip to India.

There was anger in the air as the nation…

December 1, 2009 - Ottawa Citizen, Charles Burton, Op-ed--

There is a high degree of consensus across all federal parties that Canada's priorities with regard to China are, first, to promote our prosperity through trade and investment between our countries and, second, to encourage high-quality Chinese immigrants to move to Canada.

We also want to collaborate with China in areas of mutual concern such as fair trade, environmental sustainability, limiting the spread of disease, respect for…

November 27, 2009 - Globe and Mail, Charles Burton, Op-ed--

All the federal political parties agree that Canada's priorities with regard to China are, first, to promote our prosperity through trade and investment between the countries and, second, to encourage high-quality Chinese immigrants to move here.

We also want to collaborate with China in areas of concern such as fair trade, environmental sustainability, the spread of communicable diseases, respect for human rights, transnational…