Analysis challenges Harperites' foreign policy in Israel, Latin America, Iran and US.
by Samantha Bayard
OTTAWA — Author Yves Engler spoke out against Canadian foreign policy to a full house at Octopus Books in Ottawa last week. Engler's newest book, The Ugly Canadian: Stephen Harper's Foreign Policy, criticizes Harper on everything from his tar sands diplomacy to the low level war brewing in Iran.
He said Harper deserved "the Richard Nixon prize" for his "principled, forthright and steadfast international policies in the interests of the rich and powerful regardless of the consequences."
Engler emphasized the severity of Harper's actions; "Canada is a G7 nation. It is a powerful country that has significant consequences around the world…seen on so many different fronts: Canada is further
impoverishing already poor people, pushing for more militarism." He used Iran as an example of such targeted militarism: "Canada is not talking towards moving into a war with Iran but is involved with a low-level war with Iran as we speak, with the explicit intent of crushing Iran's economy."
Researching this, his sixth book, Engler said even he was surprised as to the depth to which the Harper government is lobbying for tar sands interests and sabotaging international environmental efforts: "It's the main thing Canadian diplomatic staff does in the US."
He said he wrote the book to raise awareness and incite critical thinking about policy: "Part of the way that the Harper government gets away with what it gets away with is that most Canadians are not actively engaged on these issues. There are all kinds of problems with domestic issues where the elite get to dominate the discussion, but on foreign policy it is that much greater because we have that much less of a personal experience with the matter," said Engler.
Complementing Engler's book tour are 300,000 Stop Harper's Crime stickers Engler produced and distributed, on Harper and topics such as climate, mining, Palestine rights and militarism.
Engler will take his book tour to Quebec City on October 16th, and then is moving through Southern Ontario and to Western Canada and the Maritimes.
For more information, sisit yvesengler.com/.
About Samantha Bayard
Samantha Bayard is a young journalist living and working out of Ottawa. She has been a contributor to the Straight Goods News family of websites since 2009. She is an avid cyclist and lover of animals.
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