Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada bases its international engagement on principles, not "popularity," and won't be swayed by "secret votes" at the United Nations.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper addresses the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York in September 2010. Harper says Canada will not stop basing its international engagement on principles 'regardless of what the outcome of secret votes is.' (Mike Regar/Reuters)The prime minister's comments Thursday come two days after Canada withdrew its bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council and ceded the spot on the powerful international body to vote-leading Portugal.

"As I've said before, our engagement internationally is based on the principles that this country holds dear," Harper told reporters at an event in eastern Quebec. "It is not based on popularity."

The Canadian government, Harper said, takes its positions based on the promotion of "our values — freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, justice, development, humanitarian assistance for those who need it.

"Those are the things we're pursuing, and that does not change regardless of what the outcome of secret votes is."

Harper made no mention of Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, who was blamed by Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon and Harper's own spokesman Dimitri Soudas for a lack of support on Canada's UN bid — a charge Ignatieff labelled "ridiculous."

Tories lack foreign policy plan: Dewar

NDP MP Paul Dewar says the Conservative government has not presented a clear foreign policy plan to the United Nations. (CBC)But critics were swift to blame Canada's failure to win a seat on the Security Council on the Conservative government's foreign policy, saying many of its decisions — including decreased African aid, its support of Israel and its stance on climate change and peacekeeping — are unpopular with the international community.

NDP MP Paul Dewar said Harper thought he could "show up at the last minute" and convince the UN to give Canada a seat without putting forward a coherent foreign policy plan.

"He talks about principles, but he doesn’t make the argument on what Canada stands for," Dewar said during an interview with Power & Politics with Evan Solomon.

"I guess Germany has no principles. I guess Portugal has no principles."

In recent months the government had been making progress on its international profile by developing a stronger relationship with China and hosting the G8 and G20 summits.

But despite the international attention, Canada showed poorly on the second ballot of Tuesday's UN vote — scoring just 78 votes to rival Portugal's 113 in a vote that needed a two-thirds majority to win.

John McNee, Canada's UN ambassador, made the surprise announcement that Canada would pull out shortly after.