DEMARCHE REQUEST: G-4 FRAMEWORK RESOLUTION ON UN

UNCLAS OTTAWA 002097

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL CA UNSC
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE REQUEST: G-4 FRAMEWORK RESOLUTION ON UN
REFORM

REF: SECSTATE 126870


1. (SBU) Summary: The GOC supports us in opposing the G-4
proposal. Canada instead supports a model of Security
Council reform which would provide for no new permanent seats
but instead create a new category of eight four-year
renewable seats and one new two-year non-permanent (and
non-renewable) seat, divided among the major regional
players. End Summary


2. (SBU) Ambassador delivered reftel demarche to Foreign
Affairs Canada Assistant Deputy Minister for Global Issues
David Malone. Malone was familiar with our brief, and said
that where there is a difference in the U.S. and Canadian
positions, it is in the details. He said he understands that
the U.S. is open to the possibility of new Security Council
seats, albeit not the six suggested by the G-4. Canada does
not want to see any new permanent seats on the Security
Council at all. It can live with the current permanent
members but believes that adding additional permanent seats
would limit accountability by spreading the Security Council
too thin. In addition, the GOC believes that the members we
would add today may not be the ones we would want to see on
the council 60 years from now, just as the five original
members made sense at the time but would not be the choice
today.


3. (SBU) Malone said that the Japanese Ambassador had been in
to see him that morning to press Japan's case for a seat.
The GOC has tried to politely inform Japan and others who are
lobbying that Canada has taken a different approach to
Security Council reform and so cannot support their
membership, but have assured them that it is nothing
personal. Canada would like to maintain its position without
harming bilateral relations, in contrast to China, which he
described as having a "nearly dangerous expression of no
expansion."


4. (SBU) Whatever our differences, Malone said, the U.S. and
Canada are united in their concern about too large an
expansion. For a country that takes UN reform seriously,
Malone said, Canada worries that problemsolvers will take
their business elsewhere if the UN, either because of a large
dysfunctional Security Council, or because the larger reform
agenda was derailed by Security Council discussions, becomes
ineffective.


5. (SBU) Comment: The GOC position on Security Council reform
is summarized as follows in FAC documents: "We support Model
B, which provides no new permanent seats but creates a new
category of eight four-year renewable-term seats and one new
two-year non-permanent (and non-renewable) seat, divided
among the major regional areas. The longer term (four years)
of the members of the new tier provides for continuity and
depth of experience with issues before the Council. The
possible re-election for members in this tier reinforces the
benefits noted above, and the requirements for peer-vetting
and support will encourage potential Security Council members
to keep their credentials as good international citizens in
order. We also look forward to recommendations that go well
beyond the Security Council. For example, the need to set
out measures to facilitate an integrated response to the
diverse range of security challenges we face from the
proliferation of terrorism to improving UN coordination on
development, health, and environment. End Comment

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