Reply #8: And the Canadian government, I'm ashamed to say, [View All]

is in "Ready, Aye Ready!" mode under new PM Paul Martin. He aspires to replace John Howard as George Bush's favourite lickspittle. I'll be surprised if he finds an intervention he doesn't like.

Montreal has the world's second largest population of Haitian ex-pats, and Aristide lived there in exile in the early 1980s. Montreals Haitians, early this week, called Martin "an accomplice to Bush assassin." (The Montreal Gazette: http://tinyurl.com/yvd4h)

And from rabble.ca:

Did Canada support a coup in Haiti?
Canada has sided with two colonial powers
by Yves Engler
March 3, 2004

Does Prime Minister Paul Martin support democracy in the Americas or U.S.-orchestrated coups? In his first major foreign policy move, Paul Martin's government faithfully followed the U.S. and the French lead in removing the legally-elected president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, from power.

Contrast this with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) whose chairperson, Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, said in a statement that CARICOM deplored “the removal of President Aristide” from office, as setting “a dangerous precedent for democratically-elected governments anywhere and everywhere.”

In other words, Canada has sided with the two colonial powers with a centuries-old tradition of meddling in Haitian affairs, instead of with the Caribbean nations which have endured a shared history of slavery and other forms of exploitation.

...

Unfortunately, the evidence suggests Paul Martin has turned his back on millions of Canadians who want this country to support and build real democracy around the world. Instead, he has joined with right-wing extremist elements in the U.S. who tell the world "it's our way or the highway."

http://tinyurl.com/2kedh

Thanks for the thread, Tinoire.