- To the personal attention of:
-
- The Hon. Lawrence Cannon
- Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Trade
-
- Ottawa
-
- Dear Sir:
-
- Re: Decision to take part in attack on Libya
-
- I am a former senior Canadian Government Trade Commissioner with extensive
experience in the Middle Ëast and in Libya where I was the first
Canadian official to establish substantial business relations with the
Revolutionary Government in the early 1970's.
-
- As with most Arab regimes of the Middle East, the
new government in Libya saw Canada as her trading partner
of choice, partly because we could provide modern technology but primarily
because we were free of any imperialist image. In Libya, as in the Middle
East, I was able to negotiate in principle substantial concessions and industrial
projects including a 50% interest in a very large producing oilfield
(Kufra) and a joint exploration partnership with the Libyan National Oil
Company, among other joint ventures. Although these agreements would
have earned potentially many billions of dollars for the Canadian participants, I
was denounced in Ottawa on political grounds for my achievments and
threatened with dismissal. My recommendations were rejected by
the the Lobby-driven Liberal government of the time (paradoxically
my paymaster) who blocked consummation of the agreements.
The Libyans then turned reluctantly to our competitors, including,
ironically, the former Imperial powers they had so
keenly sought to displace.
-
- Libya still holds good prospects for Canadian earnings but
will no longer look on Canada with favour if we are seen to have joined
the brutal, illegal and unjustifiable interference in her internal affairs. Such shocking
treachery by Canada is not only a violation of the sovereignty of a small friendly,
peaceful, defenceless nation but is also an inexcusable violation
of traditional Canadian diplomacy which earned us our valuable
- now-sullied - reputation as an "honest broker".among the
nations.
-
- Furthermore, it is mendaciously disingenuous to
rationalize the attack on Libya by speciously claiming
that the leader is a self-serving "tyrant" growing rich
at the expense of his subjects. In fact, Col. Ghadafi has been a "Man
of the People" to a greater extent than any other Arab leader and
has consistently used the country's oil revenue to their advantage,
to which thousands of Libyan students receiving higher education in Western
universities can attest. In a popular vote, the Libyan leader surely would
fare far better than his hypocritical counterparts in the Western
democracies, including our current Prime Minister.
-
- The hard truth, Mr Cannon, from which it appears you
have been hermetically sealed, is that participation in the military bullying
of Libya is an unprecedented betrayal of Canada's best interests. It will
diminish our earnings, self-respect and security. It will create distrust
and enmity among those who would be our friends. This is not
sound foreign policy.
-
- I strongly recommend that you examine both the credentials
and bona fides of those who have persuaded you and your colleagues
to betray our country's best interests, and that you investigate both
their unCanadian motives and (most-likely-alien) affiliations.
-
-
- Yours faithfully,
-
- Ian V. Macdonald
- 455 Wilbrod Street
- Ottawa ON K1N 6M7
- 613 241 5389
-
- Ex-RCAF,
- Member Royal Canadisn Legion, Dominion Command
- B.A. Queen's, M.A. Toronto
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