The Ottawa Couple

LIBERALS PROPOSE A BIGGER CANADIAN ROLE ON THE WORLD STAGE. CONSERVATIVES SCOFF.

This morning's Washington Post arrived with "Canada Unveils Plan to Bolster Influence Internationally," which describes embattled Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin's plan to increase Ottawa's influence overseas:

Canada's government said Tuesday it would beef up its military, bolster its diplomatic corps and overhaul its foreign aid in a bid to reverse the country's diminishing influence in global affairs.

"Our international presence has suffered," Prime Minister Paul Martin said in releasing a long-promised foreign policy review. "Now is the time to rebuild."

Conservatives, smelling increasing amounts of blood in the water as an influence-peddling scandal taints all things Liberal, are scoffing loudly: Nothing new, they say. Too limited, they say.

But the Martin plan combines potentially spending big to enlarge Canada's military and create a flexible disaster response force, while greatly narrowing the number of countries that receive Ottawa's foreign aid from 155 to 25, primarily in Africa.

Can a wounded Liberal party and an ascendant Conservative one agree on any of this before the scandal brings down Martin's government? I doubt it, but stay tuned for more—on the next episode of The Ottawa Couple.