A Leader of Proud Integrity

"...As a leader of integrity who has earned the respect of his people, for his commitment to democracy, freedom, human rights and peace in the service of humanity", Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be in New York to receive a human rights award.  The Appeal of Conscience Foundation recognizing Mr. Harper as the World Statesman of the Year.




Canada's Prime Minister is placing more stock in the opinion of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation than he is in the foundational verities of the United Nations.  No big surprise there.  The United Nations and its creature offshoots like the UN Human Rights Council have more than proven themselves to fully misunderstand the meaning of the phrase "human rights", electing to have the world's worst human-rights abusers sit on the council, delighting in denouncing nations in compliance with human rights as abusers.

The current Conservative administration in Ottawa is fairly less than enamoured with the performance of the United Nations.  The United Nations' cabals returned the compliment when it denied Canada its usual turn as a member-country sitting on the temporary, revolving and elected 10-member Security Council.  Canada's closer ties with the State of Israel, generally treated like a pariah country in the UN has won it few admiring supporters.

Mr. Harper has been severely criticized by members of the Official Opposition in the House of Commons for travelling to New York to receive the Statesman award, but deigning not to respond to the UN General Assembly invitation forwarded to member countries to personally attend the opening ceremonies where many heads of state will address the members.  Mr. Harper has been present previously at two such General Assemblies.  John Baird, Minister of Foreign Affairs will speak for Canada again this year.

The Prime Minister will address a smaller, more select crowd a few blocks away from the United Nations.  The audience that to be present at a ballroom in the Waldorf-Astoria will be graced by a speech from Mr. Harper when he receives the Appeal of Conscience Foundation award.  The Foundation represents a coalition of like-minded business and religious leaders whose values quite obviously reflect those of the Prime Minister.

Under this government, Canada has made a deliberate decision to act decisively in reflection of the country's own values.  As the Prime Minister informed a Conservative party convention in 2011, it was no longer his government's intention to behave at the United Nations as did his predecessors who, unlike the Conservative government, sat in at the annual naming and shaming exercises targeting Israel at UN human rights conferences.

This government "Is no longer just to go along and get along with everyone else's agenda.  It is no longer to please every dictator with a vote at the United Nations".  And good to his word, this government passed on attendance at the latest version of the anti-racism "Durban" conference whose sole purpose appears always to target Israel as a racist country.

 During this most recent session of the General Assembly, Canada's delegation walked out even as Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech which routinely repeats his country's determination to exterminate the Zionist State seems to have been held to be inoffensive to many of the other delegate countries.