On Monday, January 14th the U of T Law Conservatives hosted Chris Alexander, Member of Parliament for Ajax-Pickering. Appointed as Canada’s Ambassador to Afghanistan when he was only 34, Alexander is considered by many to be a rising star in the Conservative Party. His talk at the law school ranged widely from praising the strengths of the Canadian economy, current challenges facing the international political system, and the value of seeking a career in humanitarian law.
Chris began by offering a glowing assessment of Canada’s economic fundamentals.
“I’m very uncomfortable bragging about our country. We’re not known as braggarts. But we do have a story to tell. There’s a dynamism to our job market… we’re seen as the place where it is most likely to have a business succeed. Starting a business is easy and corporate tax rates are low.”
“It’s hard to measure, but I think there is an exceptional robustness to the Canadian Justice system. We have the soundest banks in the world, the most resilient financial system in the world. This is the one country in the world where… it’s not popular to be a banker, but it’s still respectable”
Turning to international relations, Chris argued that strong action against rogue states can be a necessary tool to prevent larger conflicts.
“There are about 5-6 WWII histories out there, and every one of those diagnoses of the causes of WWII says that it could have been much less serious if there had been concerted action against Mussolini, if there had been much stronger response from the Allies against Hitler, if there had been someone with more backbone than Chamberlain. The small conflicts of the world do add up to big issues”
In particular, he identified South Asia and the Middle East as areas of significant future conflict – regions which feature major unresolved border issues. He had particularly strong words on Pakistan’s relationship with terrorist groups in South Asia.
“If anyone doubts that al-Qaeda is really an institution, connected to government agencies in all kinds of uncharted ways, if anyone doubts how rooted they are in Pakistan, in their politics… go and see Zero Dark Thirty. The movie struck me as extraordinary… [the characters in the film] are trying to convince themselves that this was happening in isolation from what they’re partners in the ISI [Pakistani Intelligence] were doing… My prediction is that when all is said and done, there will be a very depressing truth to be told about why AQ has survived in Pakistan”
“Will we all stand idly by, while a state of 160 million people quietly provides safe haven for the largest terrorist organizations in the world? That is the hypocrisy of the international system, of the UN Security Council, of which Pakistan is a member, and the hypocrisy of international law, and its the hypocrisy of us all.”
Chris ended his talk by asking students to work on humanitarian issues, in humanitarian law.
“There is no faster way for us as concerned citizens to get traction on issues around the world than through human rights and a humanitarian presence. I don’t think the UN in Afghanistan would have been worth anything if we had not had a first-rate human rights staff”
