Mulroney opened the speech with a criticism of Harper’s Conservative government over getting rejected for a UN Security Council seat in 2010, calling it embarrassing. “(It) is not, as this embarrassing rejection was characterized by the then-government of Canada, ‘a badge of honour’,” Mulroney said. “For all the self-congratulatory talk that ‘Canada is back,’ the world has taken note that the rhetoric has not been matched by action,” he said. “(Former Prime Minister) Mike Pearson set the target for industrialized nations to commit 0.7 per cent of GDP to foreign aid,” Mulroney said. “This has unfortunately over time become accurate, but it is a pathetic manner for a great nation to seek or assert ambitions of international leadership,” Mulroney told the UNA-Canada, whose mission is to promote the work of the UN.

Source: National Post November 22, 2019 13:00 UTC