Be Fruitful And Multiply

Thank you, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, for articulating an official response on behalf of Canada that does not slavishly emulate that of our great good neighbour, the United States of America. Although Canada did not have a close alliance with Egypt as the U.S. has had, guiding that country to reflect American values as much as possible in a geography where dictators, oil sheiks, monarchies reign and repress their populations, we do have many Egyptian-Canadians.

Many of whom doubtless feel as do the protesters in Tahrir Square, that the country would be better off without the autocratic oversight of President Hosni Mubarak. But Canada, through Prime Minister Harper, is not calling for the immediate stepping down of President Hosni Mubarak. Prime Minister Harper called for patience and respect and the proffering of dignity to a man who has served his country long.

Who has overseen a country of 90 million people, administering the tenth largest standing army in the world, maintaining a peace treaty with a neighbour reviled by most other nations in the neighbourhood, and brought the economy of his country to an enviable place, despite a lack of huge natural resources other than moderate amounts of oil and gas reserves.

Under his rule, while the country still has many poor, they are better off than they were, and government subsidized bread helps keep body and soul intact. One huge natural resource Egypt has unparalleled by all the others but Iran and Iraq, is antiquities and tourism, historical relics and pride in a fabled heritage.

Most Egyptians, unlike their president and his colleagues, see no value in maintaining a peace agreement with their neighbour, the State of Israel. Mr. Mubarak recognized great value to his country's dignity and its treasury by avoiding future wars with the State of Israel. It is possible that with his removal from office, that peace agreement will be abrogated.

When his colleague and former fellow General, President Anwar al-Sadat had the courage to defy the other Arab states by signing a peace treaty with Israel, on his assassination as reward for that courage, vice-president Mubarak stepped up to the presidency. Knowing he was right, even as his country was thrown out of the Arab League, he remained faithful to his peace principles.

Both Canada and the United States remain staunch allies of Israel, defenders of her right to peaceful existence among her neighbours. The U.S. has for decades given both Israel and Egypt billions in assistance, three-quarters of which is returned to the U.S. as payment for modern arms, greatly assisting employment in the United States. Egypt's unemployment remained dismal.

But then, this is a country whose majority religion deems it a gift of God and to God to be fruitful and multiply. It is a country, like the others in the region, with an over-abundance of young. Including young men who are restive and unhappily unemployed and as such unable to plan for their futures. As such, susceptible to the blandishments of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Now, in Egypt's hour of pending political collapse, the United States and its European allies urge President Mubarak, their long-time ally in the fight against fundamentalist Islamist terrorists, to step away, absent himself, surrender to the viral demands of democratic-inclined protesters. Who do not seem to understand that when power steps away, a vacuum occurs inviting not necessarily democracy but chaos and anarchy.

In response, the Prime Minister whom the embattled President Mubarak has newly appointed explains on behalf of his colleague: "The majority of Egyptians want honourable treatment and respect for a president who has spent a long time in power, in a civilized manner that is in keeping with the nature of the Egyptian people."

And Canada's Prime Minister Harper explains his view, that the new leadership implement reforms that "lead towards a future that is not simply more democratic, but a future where that democracy is guided by such values as non-violence, as the rule of law, as respect and respect for human rights, including the rights of minorities, including the rights of religious minorities."

History is being made. We will see whether we are the better for it.