Bill Graham, Pierre Pettigrew, Jim Peterson

Abstract

SHORTLY BEFORE THREE IN THE AFTERNOON of 5 October 2004, Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson and her husband, the writer John Ralston Saul, pulled up front of the house of commons a black limousine, on the way to deliver the second speech from the throne of Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin.There had been a spate of stories on the possible role of the controversial governor-general if the minority government-the first a quarter of a century-was defeated a vote of confidence the house, but few observers expected anything very dramatic. The most newsworthy item seemed to be the fact that their excellencies, whom critics accused of extravagance and pretence, had arrived a limousine, rather than the traditional horse-drawn landau.The mood was well short of electric, which was fitting. In its speech, the government, which had pulled victory from the jaws of defeat at the 11th hour the run up to the 30 June election, reiterated its bland election promises and expressed the pious hope that all parliamentarians could rise above partisanship.Canada's international role was discussed seventh, after the economy, health, caregivers for children and seniors, aboriginals, cities, and the environment. This shouldn't have been a surprise, given the modest role foreign affairs played the two pre-election debates of the party leaders. Under a section entitled role of pride and influence the the government said that in today's world, effective international engagement is needed to advance national aspirations, and then repeated its plans to release an international policy statement and invest more the military. The following day, an editorial cartoon the National Post captured the spirit of the speech by showing the child's cartoon figure Barney the Dinosaur sitting on a throne singing, alongside the prime minister, I love you, you love me.Two events, however, quickly made a mockery of this somnolent beginning for the government, which was 20 seats short of the majority that makes the passage of legislation so much easier, if not quite automatic. The first event was purely political. Despite the almost universal belief that the opposition parties had nothing to gain by forcing another election and hence would risk nothing to provoke one, Conservative leader Stephen Harper and Bloc Quebecois chief Gilles Duceppe responded to the throne speech with a dangerous game of brinkmanship. They put intense pressure on the government by forcing a vote on a Bloc amendment to the speech. A crisis was narrowly averted at the last moment through the intervention of New Brunswick's Conservative Premier Bernard Lord, who urged restraint.The second event, which exploded the government's face out of the blue the same day, meshes perfectly with this article's examination of the three cabinet ministers responsible for Canada's foreign and defence policy-Defence Minister Bill Graham, Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew and International Trade Minister Jim Peterson. Only four days earlier, the Department of National Defence had issued an upbeat press release about the transfer to the Canadian navy of the newly renamed Chicoutimi, the last of four aging diesel electric submarines purchased from the British navy. Graham said that the handover illustrates the progress we are making establishing a modern submarine fleet that will serve Canadians extremely well for the next 25 years. Despite the delays getting all four submarines to Canada, they represent a vital national asset. Now, it turned out, Chicoutimi had sent a distress signal from the coast of Ireland. News that began as an embarrassment would quickly turn into a tragedy.What became clear is that the government's hopes for a better-received foreign and defence policy than under former Prime Minister Jean Chretien-who was widely criticized both for the deterioration Canada-US relations and the country's modest defence capacity-were not going to be easily realized, even leaving aside potentially dangerous issues such as Canada's participation the United States' ballistic missile defence program. …