Canada not parroting U.S. pro-Israel policy: MacKay

While Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been criticized by some for siding with Israel in the current Middle East fighting, Foreign Minister Peter MacKay says Canada has not abandoned its traditional role as a mediator and neutral voice in foreign affairs.

(snip)

"That's not correct. We've changed nothing in the way Canada approaches these circumstances on a responsive basis. The current crisis calls for a response that is rational, that is based on information that is available that may not have been available before. "

"The PM has staked out ground that is consistent with other G8 nations and other nations in the process that will follow."

(snip)

"The Prime Minister has taken a very independent sovereign decision to participate in world events in a way that we feel is cognizant of all the circumstances including the history, the ongoing struggles throughout the region."

"It is very much in keeping with an effort to find a long-term peaceful solution, not one that is going to be a temporary quick fix. Canada is going to be a voice of reason."

"Canada is going to continue to speak up for the protection of people and people's rights and the cessation of violence," said MacKay, adding that a long-term solution will not be achieved by a unilateral pullback by Israel.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060723/mackay060723/20060723?hub=Canada

bush is starting to get enough traction that mealy-mouthed MacKay is forced to address it. Good.

Not a good sign for Harper.

The headline "Canada not parroting U.S. pro-Israel policy" is not a favourable one for them. A favourable one would be "Harper sets a made-in-Canada policy for the Middle East crisis", it denies, without saying, that our policy is a made in US one whereas the actual headline leaves the distinct possibility, in readers' minds, that what is being denied is likely the case.