OTTAWA — Justin Trudeau’s government articulated more foreign policy in the past 48 hours than in its first 18 months, but opposition parties say they are waiting for the Liberals to walk the talk. But the chances looked slim Wednesday after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called negotiations, which involve more than 120 countries, “sort of useless” because they are being boycotted by states that possess nuclear weapons. Participating countries produced a draft convention on a legally binding convention to ban nuclear weapons at the end of May after a first round of negotiations earlier this year, with an eye to stigmatizing nuclear proliferation. Laverdière wants more clarity on peacekeeping — with no further details offered by Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan Wednesday, alongside his defence policy review — and international assistance. Conservatives are still less enchanted, even though they have advocated for some of the changes proposed by Liberals in their defence review.

Source: National Post June 07, 2017 23:37 UTC