To the personal attention of:
The Hon.John Baird
Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Ottawa
Dear Sir:
Re: Decision to take part in attack on Libya
I am a former senior Canadian Government Trade Commissioner with extensive experience in the Middle Ëast and in Libya where I was the first Canadian official to establish substantial business relations with the Revolutionary Government in the early 1970′s.
As with most Arab regimes of the Middle East, the new government in Libya saw Canada as her trading partner of choice, partly because we could provide modern technology but primarily because we were free of any imperialist image. In Libya, as in the Middle East, I was able to negotiate in principle substantial concessions and industrial projects including a 50% interest in a very large producing oilfield (Sarir) formerly a BP concession, and an exploration partnership with the Libyan National Oil Company, among other joint ventures.
Although these agreements would have earned potentially many billions of dollars for the Canadian participants, I was denounced by my titular superiors in Ottawa on political grounds for my achievments and threatened with dismissal. My recommendations were rejected by the the Lobby-driven Liberal government of the time who blocked consummation of the agreements. The Libyans then turned reluctantly to our competitors, including, ironically, the former Imperial powers they had so keenly sought to displace.
Libya still holds good prospects for Canadian earnings but will no longer look on Canada with favour now that we have joined the brutal, illegal and unjustifiable interference in her internal affairs. Such shocking treachery by Canada is not only a violation of the sovereignty of a small, friendly, peaceful, defenceless nation but is also an inexcusable violation of traditional Canadian diplomacy which earned us our valuable – now-sullied – reputation as an “honest broker.among the nations’ .
Furthermore, it is both mendacious and disingenuous to rationalize the attack on Libya by speciously claiming that the leader is a self-serving “tyrant” growing rich at the expense of his subjects. In fact, Col. Ghadafi has been a “Man of the People” to a greater extent than any other Arab leader and has consistently used the country’s oil revenue to their advantage, to which thousands of Libyan students receiving higher education in Western universities can attest. In a popular vote, the Libyan leader surely would fare far better than his hypocritical counterparts in the Western democracies..
The hard truth, Mr Baird, from which it appears your predecessor was hermetically sealed, is that participation in the military bullying of Libya is an unprecedented betrayal of Canada’s best interests. It will diminish our earnings, self-respect and security. It will create distrust and enmity among those who would be our friends and clients. This is not sound foreign policy.
I strongly recommend that you investigate both the credentials and bona fides of those who have persuaded the Government to join the brutal attack on Libya. They have betrayed Canada’s vital interests. They are treacherous, dual-loyalist subversives and should be dealt with accordingly.
Yours faithfully,
Ian V. Macdonald
455 Wilbrod Street
Ottawa ON K1N 6M7
613 241 5389
Ex-RCAF,
Member Royal Canadisn Legion, Dominion Command
B.A. Queen’s, M.A. Toronto
