Dangerous game of ‘diaspora politics’ is here to stay

[ Toronto Star ][ May 18 00:01 GMT ]

Thestar.com columnist Natalie Brender recently argued that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka this November is because of that country’s deteriorating human rights and governance record. Harper’s purpose, she claims, is “to convey principled condemnation of what’s happening to human rights and democracy in Sri Lanka” in a challenge to our claim that this is more obviously pandering to the Tamil diaspora in order to win votes. She then went on to state that sometimes “Ottawa’s foreign policy decision-making is logically inexplicable except by reference to a diaspora community’s pressure and votes” and that “those cases of egregious pandering to diaspora communities are not the rule in Canada’s foreign policy-making –neither with the Harper government nor with previous ones.” [ full story | comments ]

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Updated: 2013-5-18,5:40:1

Canada 'appalled' at Sri Lanka Commonwealth meeting