The Foreign Service Journal, March 2006

12 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A R C H 2 0 0 6 Conservative Party 124 seats in the 308-seat House of Commons to the Liberals’ 103. A CBC-Radio Canada survey found that more than half of those who voted Conservative did so because they simply felt it was time for a change, not out of concern over rela- tions with the U.S. ( http://www.cbc . ca/story/canadavotes2006/ ). No one expects a big change, how- ever. Prime Minister Harper, who was sworn in on Feb. 6, pledged that his minority government would begin work immediately on his priorities: clean up the government, reduce taxes, reform the criminal justice sys- tem and improve services for day care and health care. “They have to be careful about taking a very different direction for the country,” Donna Dasko, the senior vice-president of Environics Research Group, says. “The support they gained is not sup- port for radical change.” As far as bilateral relations are con- cerned, it is significant that Prime Minister Harper has tapped former Industry Minister Donald Emerson, the man who has been point-person on the Canadian logging industry’s dis- pute with the U.S., to handle the inter- national trade portfolio. For his own part, Mr. Harper put a focus on Canada as “sovereign, strong, united and free,” even promising that his tenure would represent “a change of government, not a change of country.” — Susan Maitra Davos Summit Showcases Global Trends The World Economic Forum’s annual Davos summit took on a new focus this year, one that foreshadows the economic future of the world ( http://www.weforum.org/ ). The primary topic of discussion was the economic rise of India and China. As former World Bank president James Wolfensohn stated, “We’re moving from six billion to nine billion people in the next 50 years, and all but 200 million are going to be added to the developing world.” Topics involving China and India ranged from their increasing strain on global resources and continued inte- gration into the world economy to potential future scenarios for each of the countries. Summit participant James Turley, chairman and CEO of Ernst & Young, said of India and China, “These countries are trans- forming more rapidly than the devel- oped economies did, and the knowl- edge and potential of their people appear limitless.” Despite the focus on China, its del- egation was relatively small, mainly because the annual summits happen to fall on the Lunar New Year. This has prompted WEF officials to con- sider a new conference to be held yearly in China in the summer. While a large portion of the sum- mit was dedicated to these countries, other issues were also discussed. These included global poverty, Iraq, Iran’s nuclear development and Hamas’ electoral victory. Angela Merkel, Germany’s first female chan- cellor, served as the keynote speaker at the opening session. She criticized Iran’s renewed nuclear efforts, saying, “Iran is not just a threat to Israel, but also to the democratic countries of this world.” Former President Bill Clinton advocated leaving the door open for dialogue with Hamas and Iran, in hopes of a peaceful resolution to both issues, and recommended that the United States maintain a military pres- ence in Iraq until the situation had been stabilized. — Shawn Guan, Editorial Intern C Y B E R N O T E S u