Proud to be Canadian

Here is an article published in the Wall St. Journal regarding the snubbing of Canada for a seat on the UN Security Council.

Bravo, Canada

A U.N. snub is a badge of honor.

Life must be very good in Canada, or at least dull, judging by the domestic reaction

to its failed bid last week for a temporary seat on the U.N. Security Council. Listen

to the yowls in the papers north of the border: "A nation reeling," "humiliating

defeat," "a rebuke from the global community," "tarnishes our reputation," "a slap

in the face."

We say: Way to go. Canada seems to have annoyed a sufficient number of Third

World dictators and liberally pious Westerners to come up short in a secret General

Assembly ballot. The sins committed by Stephen Harper's Conservative government

include staunch support for Israel, skepticism about cap-and-trade global warming

schemes, and long-standing commitment to the Afghan war. Americans would be so

lucky to get a leader as steadfast on those issues as the Canadian Prime Minister.

The United Arab Emirates took credit for putting together a group of anti-

Canadian Arab and Islamic states to stop the bid for the two-year rotating chair.

The UAE also has a beef with Ottawa over landing rights for Emirates Airlines

going into Canada.

The U.S. role here is also embarrassing—to the U.S. Richard Grenell, a former

senior official at the U.S. Mission to the U.N., reported last week that America's

U.N. ambassador, Susan Rice, refused to campaign on Canada's behalf. Mr.

Harper's politics are not hers, and Liberal opposition leader and Obama political

soulmate, Michael Ignatieff, declared last month that Canada under Mr. Harper

didn't deserve to get one of the 10 temporary seats.

The farcical nature of all this was made clear when the Canadians lost to Portugal,

which—with all due respect to the memory of Vasco da Gama—is no global titan.

This small and economically hobbled Iberian country will now hold one of two

temporary spots reserved for Western bloc states. Germany was assured the other.

Canada, on the other hand, is a serious country. Under Mr. Harper's leadership,

Canada has avoided the worst of the global recession and emerged with a vibrant

banking system and strong currency (now trading near parity to the U.S. dollar).

The courage of its soldiers in Afghanistan, and in other missions, is testament to a

nation that honors its commitments. Canadians should wear the U.N. snub as a

badge of honor.