Since Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister in 2015, Canada has had five foreign affairs ministers, including current Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
The number of foreign affairs ministers under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has worked against Canada’s interests on the global stage, says Lloyd Axworthy, a former Liberal cabinet minister who held the post for four years.
Mr. Axworthy, nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work to ban land mines while he was foreign affairs minister for then-prime-minister Jean Chrétien, raises his concerns in his memoir, My Life in Politics, which is to be published in October.
“There’s been a revolving door of ministers, none having the time to develop good working relations or to be seen as a serious player,” writes Mr. Axworthy, an MP from Manitoba between 1979 and 2000, who also served as a cabinet minister under Pierre Trudeau.
Since Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister in 2015, Canada has had five foreign affairs ministers. Chrystia Freeland lasted the longest with three years in the post. Stéphane Dion held the job for 18 months, François-Philippe Champagne 14 months and Marc Garneau nine months. Current minister Mélanie Joly has been in the post since late 2021.
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By comparison, there were also multiple foreign affairs ministers in the decade that Stephen Harper was prime minister. From 2006 to 2015, they were Peter MacKay, Maxime Bernier, David Emerson, Lawrence Cannon, John Baird, Ed Fast and Rob Nicholson.
In an interview, Mr. Axworthy elaborated on his concerns, saying that a foreign minister needs time to get to know their peers around the world, making connections that allow for engagement on key, continuing issues. That process includes establishing a relationship with the prime minister.
He said he expected that the rotation is likely linked to the focus on the prime minister at the forefront of government. “Partly it’s a reflection of the increasing shift that so much of the emphasis in government today is on the leader, and there’s no question that Prime Minister Trudeau has kind of been the spokesperson and the face of Canada in the world, Mr. Axworthy said.
He said Ms. Joly has had a reasonable run of time in the office. “She’s beginning to provide the connections and links and bridging and bonding that’s necessary in that job,” he said.
Mohammad Hussain, lead press secretary for the Office of the Prime Minister, declined comment on Mr. Axworthy’s observations.
Mr. Axworthy also writes that there has been no serious examination of Canada’s international miscues and how to correct them.
“This is a symptom of myopia – unwillingness to confront mistakes and consider course correction,” he said, although he acknowledges what he calls Ms. Joly’s attempt to try, referring to a review of foreign-affairs infrastructure and a pivot to more involvement in the Indo-Pacific region.
He says that Canada’s inability to win a UN Security Council seat in 2020 was a sign of Canada losing traction with other countries.
Mr. Axworthy is not impressed with the federal Conservatives, either. “The problem is not just with the government: the Opposition has no better plans,” he writes.
Mr. Garneau also criticized the Prime Minister on foreign policy in his own memoir, due for publication in October.
In A Most Extraordinary Ride: Space, Politics and the Pursuit of a Canadian Dream, the former astronaut writes that Mr. Trudeau did not value the importance of a foreign affairs minister, and isn’t very good at international relations.
Mr. Axworthy’s book covers a life in politics. Born in Saskatchewan, he was raised in Winnipeg, received a PhD from Princeton University and entered elected politics in the 1970s as a member of the Manitoba legislature.
He writes that in his youth he dabbled with being a New Democrat, but attended a local meeting and didn’t feel comfortable with the strong left policy bent. “I soon came back into the Liberal fold where I’ve resided ever since – sometimes uncomfortably so.”
In 1979, he was elected MP in Winnipeg South Centre, beginning a run in federal politics that saw him serve as minister of transport, labour, employment and immigration, and foreign affairs – a post he held from 1996 to his departure from federal politics in 2000.
A Companion of the Order of Canada, he was president of the University of Winnipeg, where he taught earlier in his career, for 10 years, and now chairs the World Refugee and Migration Council.
With a report from The Canadian Press