An unapologetic Stephen Harper emerged from a weekend Commonwealth meeting convinced that his stand on climate change is the right way to go despite allegations that he isolated Canada at a major international forum.
"I think for the first time in a very long time, Canada's voice is being heard," Mr. Harper told reporters at the end of the three-day meeting of leaders from the 53-nation Commonwealth. "And the consequence of our voice being heard is that we're getting the changes that we want to see.
"I think that's what a country with an active foreign policy does," he said.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, on the other hand, derided Mr. Harper's position as a failure of leadership.
"Our role is to be exemplary, to show leadership, and to then encourage the other countries to do more," Mr. Dion said in an interview. "But if we want to go to the speed of slowest member of the class ... well, this is a big mistake. It's a recipe for catastrophe."
Canada fought vociferously against the initial wording of a proposed climate-change resolution that called for "binding commitments" for greenhouse gas emissions that would be applied to developed countries. Mr. Harper balked, insisting that if targets were to be binding, they should apply to all large emitters, in particular emerging economies like China and India, a member of the Commonwealth.
"Agreeing to an international statement like that doesn't get us anywhere any further than we're at already. If we're going to get an effective international protocol ... we have to get everybody to sign on at once."
The call for binding targets on developed countries was backed by Britain and other Commonwealth nations, especially small island nations like Malta, which feel threatened by rising sea levels.
But with Canada, Australia and New Zealand objecting, the Commonwealth leaders had to go back to the drawing board.
India and South Africa, who believe that the major responsibility for global warning remains with the developed world, said they would not sign on to "binding commitments" either.
Because the Commonwealth operates through consensus, any reference to "binding commitments" disappeared and leaders were forced to adopt a much weaker statement which calls only for "a long-term aspirational global goal for emissions reductions to which all countries would contribute."
Mr. Harper was incensed by suggestions that Canada was isolated at the meeting. "On the contrary," he told reporters, "it's the first time in these international meetings that a group of countries worked with us to assure a better result. The position of Canada is clear and we have no intention of changing it."
Although he said Canada was not isolated, the only country he identified as backing the Canadian position was Trinidad. Other sources added New Zealand and Australia, whose diplomats were still under orders from the just-defeated government of John Howard.
Mr. Harper said that he would never sign a Kyoto-like pact.
"The only way we're going to get an effective international agreement is to get everyone to sign on at one time," Mr. Harper said. "We already saw at Kyoto if we get a third of the world to sign on first and wait for the other two-thirds it's never going to happen."
The dispute over the climate-change wording is simply a warm-up for the United Nations negotiations in Bali, Indonesia, next week on whether to extend the Kyoto Protocol.
Mr. Dion scoffed at the notion of agreeing to "aspirational goals" when humanity is facing an enormous ecological threat.
He said yesterday that a Liberal government would commit Canada to binding targets to reduce greenhouse gases, and set an example for other countries to follow.
"It's doable without hurting the Canadian economy," Mr. Dion said. "To the contrary, if we design it well, we would have a country with more energy efficiency, with better industrial processes, built on recycling instead of waste."
Despite the criticism at home, Mr. Harper showed no signs of backing down. As with his stand on human rights in China or his reversing of Canada's traditional position on aboriginal rights at the UN, he thinks a muscular, single-minded approach to foreign policy is preferable even if it's not necessarily popular.
