News

The old prime ministers, a restless bunch, are on parade.

Jean Chrétien fires off harsh words at Stephen Harper for his decision not to attend the Beijing Olympics.

Brian Mulroney is stewed at the Harper government's treatment of him in the Karlheinz Schreiber affair. The word is out that his Quebec clout might not be on display in the next federal election.

And Paul Martin? He's not exactly quiet, either. The Prime Minister might be interested to know that the Liberal big guy has been holding extensive talks with the Barack Obama and John McCain camps on his idea – an idea Mr. Harper opposes – of creating a new league of nations.

With the state of the universe increasingly ulcerous, with the Group of Eight and the United Nations Security Council hardly representative of the new global order, Mr. Martin has intensified his campaign for a new international body of 15 or 20 powers to give global governance a chance.

While not divulging details, he said his talks with the U.S. presidential contenders, particularly the Democrat, were most encouraging. “The Obama people … understand this issue. They understand that the United States has to do things differently.”

The stated preference of Mr. McCain is for a league of democracies. But Mr. Martin explained over dinner that, for a new body to be effective, it can't leave out megapowers such as China. He described how his G20 campaign has picked up support from China, France, Britain and others.

It's “going to happen,” he said. It's “inevitable.” But after putting the idea in play, Canada risks being left on the sidelines because, he said, the Harper government is opposing it. “The way in which the world is run is going to change over the next five years. With the rise of China and India and with what's going on in Russia, it's going to change dramatically. If we don't take the lead on this, I'm going to tell you what is going to happen. The people who take the lead are going to forget about us – pretty damn quickly.”

Sharp words. There's no doubting his fervour. And it's hard to argue against his notion that, to make progress on issues such as nuclear proliferation, the removal of trade barriers and global warming, non-democratic powers have to be brought to the table. Otherwise, it's bloc v. bloc.

But Mr. Martin could hardly expect Mr. Harper to embrace such a grandiose Liberal proposal – one that the Bush administration opposes – from his former antagonist. That would be bizarre, indeed. The Conservative PM sees the world differently, adhering to a harder line. He's not going to tout Mr. Martin's league of nations. That kind of non-partisanship left Ottawa eons ago.

Mr. Martin, who received an award this week from Tufts University for his work on global governance reform, was the driving force behind the expansion of the G8 group of finance ministers to a G20. Asian countries, he recalled, were saying, “You're not going to dictate to us without us being at the table.” He went to the U.S. treasury secretary and they mapped out the new organization. He wants the same thing to now happen at the head-of-state level. “Issues can't be solved by Americans talking to the Europeans and the Europeans talking to the Canadians and that kind of thing. The solution lies with the U.S. and others talking to China, India, Brazil.”

Mr. Martin is about to turn 70. Ten good working years left, he said. Along with the new league, his preoccupations are African development and the aboriginal file. Those and the six-hole golf course he's had built at his Eastern Townships estate, where he recently played host to Canada's former top soldier, Rick Hillier.

He has his memoirs coming in the fall, possibly in mid-election. They will trace his life and include topics bound to stir big headlines. “How can I not talk about things like the sponsorship scandal?”

If there's an election, he said he'd do some low-key campaigning in individual ridings. Particularly irked by Conservatives' fiscal management, he is debating whether to speak out on the economy.

After his tough run as PM, he isn't fading away. Of the issues that consume him, none is more important than his league of nations. His optimism may be outrunning his better sense of judgment on this. But we should hope not. With China in dramatic ascendance, with Russia moving back into cold times, with multilateral institutions inadequate, a new forum for global governance is essential.