A petition by Doug Porter of Burnaby, British Colombia calling for Canada to withdraw from the United Nations containing 60,000 signatures wereendorsed online by Conservative MP and shadow cabinet member Leslyn Lewis. This, in a word, is madness personified.
There are plenty of reasons to castigate the United Nations General Assembly, even more, perhaps the Security Council, but when it comes to the UN bath water, there are literally many millions of babies who depend upon its work for their very survival.
The hard right factions that inhabit Western politics have increasingly encompassed conspiracy theories regarding shadowy “world government” figures to fuel their opposition to the gathering of the world’s nations together in an assembly. That assembly was created with the aim of preventing a return of the kinds of global conflict that have too often engulfed the planet, causing many tens of millions of deaths in their wake. Today, such a conflict would threaten the very existence of the human race.
There is no question that the UN is a flawed instrument, but like democracy, it is the best option we have available. The predecessor to the UN, the League of Nations, was fatally hampered in its work when the United States (its original sponsor by the by) backed out. That may not have been the cause of the Second World War, but it certainly didn’t help.
Today, we are faced with a UN General Assembly which was only able to put together a call for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza by the omission of any mention of the terrorist organization Hamas, or the plain point of fact that Hamas began the current conflict through the largest massacre of Jews (mostly women and children) since the Holocaust and the kidnapping of Israeli citizens—including at least one baby—and Canadian citizens.
Despite Hamas’ repeated vows to continue its attacks and that it could not possibly have failed to anticipate the Israeli reaction, the best the UN could do was call for a ceasefire—full stop.
The spectre of horrendous civilian casualties has horrified the world, well at least much of the world, as Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s pursuit of niche votes seems to trump those concerns.
The latest indication of Mr. Poilievre’s ambivalence toward human suffering has been his failure to rein in his shadow cabinet colleague. If history is any indication, we may well expect him to double down on the matter. It is our fervent hope that the Leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition will voice support for the work of the UN, even if it sometimes requires an application of nose plugs.
Canada was one of the founding members of the UN and served six stints on the UN Security Council. Our work in conjunction with the UN has more often been a source of national pride than dismay. Anger and frustration may be a useful dog whistle for attracting votes, but does little to foster the founding principles of the Canadian Constitution—those of peace, order and good government.
Mr. Poilievre should step up and clarify the Conservative Party of Canada’s position on Canada’s membership in the UN—otherwise we must accept that his silence tells the story.
