Pubdate: Sat, 14 Apr 2012 Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN) Copyright: 2012 The StarPhoenix Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400 CANADA'S ROLE AT SUMMIT SMALL Prime Minister Stephen Harper's ride into Cartagena, Colombia, this weekend should have been one of triumph. Five years after declaring Canada as a nation of the western hemisphere, determined to focus political, economic and assistance programs on the Americas, he should have been welcomed as a hero at the Summit of the Americas for trumpeting a region that has continued to advance economically, socially and politically while much of the rest of the world sailed into the doldrums. Alas, reality has stymied Canada's determination to play its Americas card. Far from being seen as a prescient predictor of the region's good fortune and a champion of its social evolution, Canada has been outed as a bit player with weak resolve and contradictory - some suggest backward - economic and social policies. It was left to Trade Minister Ed Fast this week to explain to his colleagues in Peru why Canada continues to clutch on to its anachronistic egg, dairy and poultry marketing boards even as he petitions for support to be allowed into the important Trans-pacific Partnership trading bloc. Peru, by the way, is already among the nine member nations that make up the tariff-free bloc that bridges the Americas with Asia. Mr. Fast repeated a half-hearted commitment Mr. Harper made this month to President Barack Obama and his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderon, that Canada will bring supply management to the table if that's what it takes to see what others have to offer. Canada, which is becoming desperate for a diversity of marketing opportunities, has little leverage in playing hardball with Latin America. Unlike Europe and the United States, the Latin American economy has thrived over the past half decade in large part because of Asia's rapacious demand for its raw material. And the region hardly sees Canada as a natural ally. Its governments have complained about Canada's weak royalty regime that allows resources to be sold cheaply. More critically of late, Canada has become the region's laggard when it comes to liberalized drug strategy that's being promoted to pluck the wings of the powerful, brutal, and destructive drug cartels. Although the markets for these drugs are primarily north of the Rio Grande, the worst of the social disruption and violence - worse than during the political violence of the 1970s and '80s - is felt from Northern Mexico to Central America to the Amazon and Andean coast. The Harper government's determination to continue the war on drugs that's been proven so ineffective for decades runs counter to most in the region - including across the B.C. border in Washington, where Initiative 502 calls for licensing marijuana farmers and distributors in an effort to wrest profits from drug cartels and pump $606 million into state coffers. Canada wants and needs to play on the world stage when it comes to international trade. Mr. Harper's trip to Cartagena is a down-to-earth reminder that this means it won't be left to Canada to set the rules. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom