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The Trudeau government claims to have a human rights-driven foreign policy. But everything the prime minister says he most values and wishes to promote is a product of democracy. As political scientist Sheri Berman has written, while democracies can be illiberal and oppressively populist, non-democratic governments restrict the benefits of liberalism to elites and oligarchs on whose support the government depends. Undemocratic liberalism is a myth.

A Canadian foreign policy that champions the values of inclusive and accountable governance, including by promoting human rights, womens empowerment and gender equality, and respect for diversity and inclusion, as Trudeaus mandate letter to Champagne dictates, or that promotes a feminist approach to development, as does the mandate letter to Minister of International Development Karina Gould, must therefore build on a strategy of expanding and strengthening democracy abroad.

A directive to increase support for democracy abroad is in Champagnes mandate letter, and Trudeau has promised to establish the Canadian Centre for Peace, Order, and Good Government to lend expertise and help to people seeking to build peace, advance justice, promote human rights and democracy, and deliver good governance. This sounds promising, although what the centre, if and when it is established, will actually do is unclear. And Trudeaus record on democratization over his first four years in office is mixed.

Canada was at the forefront of unsuccessful efforts to force the autocratic Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro from office, declaring his re-election last year to be fraudulent. This was important, but the costs to Canada were low.

By way of contrast, when Saudi diplomats in Istanbul murdered and carved up with a bone saw Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident journalist they didnt like, Canada announced a review of existing arms export permits to the kingdom and a freeze on new ones while continuing to ship to Saudi Arabia $14 billion worth of light armoured vehicles.

Canada did impose sanctions on 17 Saudis linked to Khashoggis murder. The named individuals, who of course did not include Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, were already in Saudi jails when Canada sanctioned them, rendering the act symbolic at best. To claim that Canada will increase its support for freedom of the press in the face of such timidity, as Trudeau does in his letter to Champagne, takes some cheek.

It is regarding China, however, where the stakes on the health of global democracy are perhaps highest. China seeks superpower status, and as its reach expands so does its ability to persuade, cajole and coerce. Canada has so far held firm against Chinese pressure to free Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who is out on bail in Vancouver while awaiting possible extradition to the United States. It is widely believed that Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor are being detained in China as a retaliatory measure.

But Canada treats China solely as a desired trading party and not as an ideological adversary. This is a mistake. Canadas values are not the values of the ruling Communist Party of China. And while Canada lacks the economic levers of, for example, the United States, it is not without means to pressure the Chinese government and its affiliates. Meng is not the only member of Chinas aristocracy with multi-million-dollar mansions in Canadian cities or children in Canadian universities. Such individuals are vulnerable to sanctions, asset-freezes and visa restrictions.

Canada should consider such measures against officials involved in human rights abuses against Uighurs in Chinas Xinjiang province and against pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Of course, there will be repercussions from China. But if Canada is serious about supporting democracy and human rights abroad, it must be willing to pay a price for doing so.

If the Canadian government decides that price is too high, or that such tactics are ineffective, let it articulate an alternative strategy. The future strength of our liberal democracy depends on the strength of liberal democracy elsewhere. We need a foreign policy built on that reality.

Originally posted here:
2020: The year Canada must focus on strengthening global democracy - OpenCanada