Walkom and McQuaig on Harper's politicking

Commenting on Harper's appointment of former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley to a panel set to study the Afghan war, Thomas Walkom writes in the Star:
"Our role in Afghanistan really about US ties"

None of the five on it is an expert on that country (although one, former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley has twice visited there.) Yet four – Manley, former New York consul-general Pam Wallin, former Washington ambassador Derek Burney and former CN Rail chief Paul Tellier – have been intimately involved with the problems of Canada-U.S. relations, and in particular with the campaign to convince Americans that Canada is not soft on terror...

After the 9/11 attacks, it was Manley – then foreign affairs minister – who pushed his colleagues in government to meet U.S. security needs. ...

[John Manley:]"I was saying, `Excuse me ... have you been reading the papers lately?' while some other ministers were saying, `Let's not be sucked in by the Americans,' I thought these people were nuts and I still do."

Meanwhile, in New York, then consul-general Wallin was handling the thankless job of explaining to Fox News why Canada wasn't joining Bush's war on Iraq. ...

So too Burney. Chief of staff to prime minister Brian Mulroney when the original Canada-U.S. free trade agreement was signed and, later, ambassador to Washington, Burney has kept his eyes fixed firmly south.

"Canada's place in the world is defined by our relationship with the U.S. and our ability to keep the U.S. engaged in multilateralism," he told one interviewer in 2003.

As for Tellier, he has had to deal with border issues head-on. In the aftermath of 9/11, the then CN head spent his time urging Canada and the U.S. to forge a security deal that would keep traffic moving across the border.

Linda McQuaig chimes in:
"Clever ploy to extend the war"

The opposition parties had Stephen Harper pretty much over a barrel when it came to Afghanistan, refusing to give him parliamentary support to continue the unpopular war beyond 2009.

That was before John Manley came to Harper's rescue last week...

Manley himself is a pro-American hawk who, as foreign affairs minister in the wake of 9/11, famously struck a combative tone when he stressed the country's war-fighting past, telling reporters “Canada does not have a history as a pacifist or a neutralist country.”...

This could leave Dion in the difficult position of having to reject the advice of a bipartisan panel — headed by a respected Liberal...

[The appointment of Manley] also lays the groundwork for the re-emergence of an elite consensus in favour of more robust Canadian co-operation with Washington's aggressive military stance in the world