Ottawa’s efforts to restore relations with Tehran going ‘nowhere,’ says academic
by Beatrice Paez (feat. Thomas Juneau)
The Hill Times
June 20, 2018
The Trudeau government is unlikely to fulfill a campaign promise to normalize diplomatic ties with Iran, because, among other things, it is consumed with managing consular cases and it is still dealing with the legacy of Harper-era policies, says Thomas Juneau, a professor at the University of Ottawa, who spoke at a panel hosted by the Iranian Canadian Congress in Ottawa on Tuesday.
“The status quo of not having embassies in each other’s capitals is not going to change in the foreseeable future. Because if the government wasn’t able to change that reality [two and half years into its mandate], I don’t see how that’s going to change any time soon,” said Prof. Juneau, a former analyst with the Department of National Defence. “They were not because of the legacies of Conservative initiatives. …. They were not working because of consular cases that have poisoned the environment. They were not working because of opposition within the Liberal party. They were not working because Iran-Canada relations are not a priority for this government. Our plates are full with Trump, NAFTA, and the [crisis] in the Middle East.”
Peggy Mason, president of the Rideau Institute and former ambassador of disarmament to the UN, and Prof. Omid Milani, a professor of law at the University of Ottawa, were among the other panelists at the event organized by the not-profit organization that represents the interests of Iranian-Canadians in Canada.
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