CANADA PM CLAIMS HIS DIPLOMATS UNDERMINE HIM, PAPER REPORTS

The Epoch Times Ireland, Ireland
June 26 2007

OTTAWA-Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper complained earlier
this month that officials in his foreign ministry were undermining
the government’s overseas agenda, a newspaper reported Monday.

The Toronto Star cited what it said were transcripts of a closed
meeting Harper had with ethnic media, in which he attacked diplomats
for not obeying instructions.

"What is not acceptable, and it does happen on occasion, is for
a public servant to say ‘That may be the position of the elected
guys, but that’s not the position of the government’," he was quoted
as saying.

"All the (foreign) leaders I’ve talked to complain to me that their
foreign service wants to do what (it) believes is foreign policy,
not what the government-of-the-day’s foreign policy is. It’s a
universal problem."

If accurate, the report would support an impression in Ottawa that
Harper has little time for his Department of Foreign Affairs, run by
political rival Peter MacKay.

Earlier this year, Harper replaced the ministry’s top bureaucrat.

The offices of Harper and MacKay didn’t respond to requests for
comment.

The Conservatives, led by Harper, won power in January 2006 and since
then have taken a more pro-Israeli and pro-U.S. stance, as well
as rapping China and Russia for what Ottawa perceives to be their
unsatisfactory human rights records.

Harper made his comments when asked why he had last year described
the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey during World War One
as genocide- a significant departure from usual Canadian practice.

Turkey, which denies the charge, temporarily withdrew its ambassador
in protest.

"Canada’s recognition of the Armenian genocide, frankly, was a major
change in policy for the foreign service of Canada, not an easy one
to understand," Harper was cited as saying.

"All I can say is this: The way we overcome this is to provide very
strong direction."