Paul Wells: Canada needs new ambassadors in Beijing and Paris, and career diplomats are likely to face stiff competition from political appointees
A strange week of farewell to the Prime Minister. (Don’t read anything in it. What kind of fool would read anything in it?) On Monday, Justin Trudeau sent a statement to dismiss his ambassador in Beijing, Dominic Barton, with affection. “Dominic, my friend, thank you for your work and dedication to our country and the people of Canada,” the prime minister’s statement said. “Canada is stronger because of your service and I wish you all the best.”
On Tuesday, Trudeau stopped by the glorious French embassy on Sussex Drive to see his former ambassador to Paris, Isabelle Hudon, be admitted to the Légion d’Honneur. During his time in Paris, he tweeted, Hudon “worked hard to promote gender equality, strengthen the relationship between Canada and France and much more. Congratulations Isabelle! “
Both facts raise questions. Trudeau writes that Barton helped shape “Canada’s priorities with respect to China. Thanks to their efforts, Canada is now better positioned to … achieve our diplomatic goals. ” Well then: what are “Canada’s Priorities Over China”? And that are “Our diplomatic objectives”?
As for Hudon, who consulted about the transition between the first and second Trudeau administrations and has long been a prominent figure at Quebec Inc., I was impressed with how diligently she is commercialized your efforts during only your first few months as Executive Director of the Business Development Bank of Canada. A columnist once suggested she would be a great mayor of Montreal. At the time, 13 years ago, he didn’t, and in any case I wonder if his ambitions, if any, lie elsewhere. Anyway, here she was on Sussex Drive with the Prime Minister of Canada.
Both Hudon and Barton benefited from the prime minister’s surprisingly exuberant praise. Mélanie Joly, Trudeau’s last foreign minister, chimed in with her own ode to Barton and He got into trouble from one of my colleagues. Joly isn’t supposed to be too shocked. Agreeing with the boss, as we have often seen, helps a liberal’s career more than disagreeing with the boss. Balloon it hurts. I’m also not in the mood to refute Trudeau’s praise. It’s clear that Barton worked hard to get the two Michaels freed, and that Hudon was as appreciated by her French hosts as she was by her Ottawa colleagues. But work, dedication, and service are at stake for many dozen Canadian diplomats, and very few of them have a public high-five with the big man on their way out. It’s hard to shake the suspicion that what Trudeau liked best about these ambassadors was simply that he already knew them before they presented their diplomatic credentials.
These considerations are important as several key diplomatic posts open around the world. There have been complaints among foreign service for life when the Trudeau administration hands over a series of ambassadors to politicians appointees. Such complaints are always selfish (career diplomats will always prefer career diplomats who can theoretically go to anyone) and in some cases the appointments are perfectly routine. Washington, London, and Paris often go for political appointments. Sometimes they do a great job. David McNaughton helped alert Trudeau’s team to the possibility of a Donald Trump election victory in 2016, and helped the quarterback respond when it happened.
But when Ian McKay, a Japanese-speaking former national director of the Liberal Party of Canada, became Canada’s ambassador to Tokyo, he reinforced the suspicion that the diplomatic corps faces tougher competition than ever.
Now Canada needs new ambassadors in Beijing and Paris. Career diplomats used to regularly become Canadian ambassadors in Beijing. But so far Trudeau has sent a former Cabinet colleague (John McCallum) and then a McKinsey kingpin who had already advised Trudeau on economic policy. Sensing a trend, China’s top brass in Global Affairs Canada have recently left the department. Which leaves less hands for China to ship to China. I know everyone wants to debate what our relationship with China should be and, to say the least, I have noticed Trudeau’s reluctance to participate in a substantive way on that issue, but the ambassador must be someone, and now Joly’s department doesn’t have as many people to consider as it used to.
In 2022, based on customary turnover rates, it seems likely that posts will open in Moscow and at NATO headquarters in Brussels. And then there’s Stéphane Dion, whose appointment in 2017 in Berlin and Brussels cconfused and upset the neighbors and whose more modest appointment only in Berlin seems to be ending soon.
Trudeau, and Joly, if he can influence the prime minister’s decisions, have a half-dozen chances to appoint envoys whose departure will be worth the over-the-top tweets when their appointments end in turn. A government defines its priorities, whether it wants to or not, by adding up its options on issues like these.
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