Canada's year in the limelight, are we any cooler now?

You could argue that 2010 took us a little farther away from our neighbour's embrace.
Canada has hosted the world this year: The Winter Olympics in British Columbia and two international summits. K'naan, a Canadian, born in Somalia, has rocketed to fame with what is now a soccer anthem:  Wavin' Flag.
 
We are the people who love to paste that red and white on our knapsacks, and suitcases. We want to say, "we are Canadian".
 
But, when we flash that flag, do we really have an honest view of how other people see us?
Who notices us, and why? Does our image need some buffing up?
 
I have to admit it did cross my mind that these are not the kind of questions most of us will be kicking around at the beach or on the deck.
 
But when I went out to Parliament Hill, to talk to people who were all there to celebrate Canada Day, I was struck by how many people have been thinking about these questions.
 
There has been some chatter in the media following the G8 and G20.
Some were giving Prime Minister Stephen Harper credit, for example, for things like the maternal health initiative and his work on strengthening relationships with China.
In fact, some pundits think these are signs of a more aggressive approach to foreign policy.

But, the jury among experts and the Canadian public is still very much out.
 
The day before Canada Day, Fred Peters from Winkler Manitoba was touring the Hill. He has his opinions.

"I really don't know too much about foreign policies. Some are good and some are bad so there's always a need to look at them when you start a program and check it out. Is it doing what we want it to do? Or is it harming the local people?"
 
I asked Peters: Do you think we are maintaining a strong influential role in the world internationally or are we becoming less powerful?

"I would say, the picture I get from the people that immigrate, there is no country except Canada," he answered.
 
A recent international poll by Ipsos Reid found that Canadians think they're more influential globally than the rest of the world does.
 
67 per cent of Canadians believe we have an influence in world affairs. Only 55 per cent of global citizens agree.

Andrew Cohen is an author, journalist and the president of the Historica Dominion Institute, which ordered the poll.

"Well I think that one reason may be that we're a contented people," he explained. "We have great wealth; we live off natural resources; we're a nation at peace; we've been a success, by and large, in terms of integrating immigrants, new Canadians who come here. And that probably leads to what isn't new in Canada, but a sense of self-satisfaction, some would call it smugness."

The most dramatic findings came in the area of foreign aid. Canadians perceive themselves as incredibly generous. The rest of the world doesn't see it that way.
 
As a percentage of GDP, Canada has never reached the goal set by Lester B. Pearson 40 plus years ago -- to give .7 per cent of GDP to foreign aid.
 
Instead, we are now somewhere in the mushy middle of OECD countries when it comes to aid as percentage of GDP.
 
When it comes to diplomacy, Cohen argues we could do better...and a little coherence would help. He points to our current battle to win a seat on the UN Security Council.
 
"We're fighting for a seat and in the past we would have been a shoo-in. On the environment we did not have successful conference at Copenhagen. Many people were very critical of Canada and its view of global warming. So that's hurt us. In other ways we've reconfigured our relationship with China now. When Mr. Harper arrived...it was all about human rights. They've moved away from that, it's now much more pragmatic; it's about trade. The Middle East: we're far more supportive of Israel than we were. In some ways, the government has moved quite sharply and firmly in certain areas, on China, on Israel, in other places less so."
 
David Mitchell is the president of the Public Policy Forum in Ottawa.

"There's a sense that we're not only falling behind but that we're falling short, falling short of our potential," he said. "There's a sense right now that in Canada we might be overestimating our influence and that the reality is we may be in a bit of a funk right now. People are not sure what Canada stands for."
 
Mitchell believes the days of Canada punching above its weight in the global ring are over.
 
"We haven't seen active foreign policy in Canada in a long time. In fact, we have to go back to the period of the Mulroney years in the 1980s as the last time we've seen an activist foreign policy. Canada's brand internationally has suffered for a lack of clarity."
 
Some attribute the problem to the current government's decision to swing more money towards defence, at the expense of diplomacy and development.
 
That means a quieter voice on the international stage.
 
And so, fumbles and missteps become more glaring.

Amy Cuse is another person I found on Parliament Hill the day before Canada Day.
 
"I live overseas and my international friends mock me for our Canadian policy. We do not have a good reputation overseas on the environment specifically," she told me.

I asked her if she thought that that's damaging our reputation.

"Definitely. I mean some of the expats who see me, they'll laugh and say, oh you guys are contributing to what per cent of the global pollution and yet your population is what?" she answered.
 
Cuse isn't the only Canadian getting flak.

Claire Demerse of the Pembina Institute argues Canada has lost credibility as a result of a weak stand on global climate change.

"What I've seen has been Canada is being perceived as part of problem, as a laggard," she said.
 
Demerse was at the Copenhagen conference and witnessed the fallout of Canada's performance.
 
"First of all Stephen Harper didn't decide to go until Barack Obama said he would go. What is the rationale for bringing Canada into those small rooms to have the key conversations when the U.S. is already in those rooms and we've explicitly said we'll do what they do?"
 
In fact, Canadians have come to expect it. The Ipsos Reid poll found 71 per cent of Canadians believe we do what the U.S. says when it comes to international issues.
 
But Canadians also seem generally confused about what our goals are, and what we stand for.
 
Martin Cuse is Amy Cuse's father. He also feels divided and uneasy when asked about how Canada spends its money abroad.

I asked him what he thinks of when he thinks of Canada's foreign policy.

"Very mixed up thoughts. Some ideas I agree with -- peacekeeping. Afghanistan, I'm not so sure."
 
I asked him if he thought Canada is generous when it comes to foreign aid.

"It is when it's spending on the military and Afghanistan...it is. But on poorer countries I think they can do more."
 
According to David Mitchell the problem may be the erosion of the federal government's role in Confederation.
 
Part of the solution, he says, is more clarity about the responsibilities of our leaders in Ottawa.
 
"What is the role? Is there a role in areas of shared jurisdiction? It really relates to the role of government in their lives. Citizens need to know who speaks for Canada. The federal government cannot indefinitely avoid playing that central coordinating role."
 
The question remains whether we are simply in a period of shifting priorities, with more emphasis on defence over diplomacy.
 
But the work of establishing a clear and coherent international voice remains unfinished.