Canada Needs a Foreign Policy Makeover — And Mark Carney Might Just Be the Tailor

By all accounts, Prime Minister Mark Carney has made a bold — and necessary — promise: to reinvest in Canada’s foreign service and redefine our global posture in a time of rising geopolitical uncertainty. In an era shaped by unpredictable alliances, economic shocks, and great-power rivalry, Carney’s signal that diplomacy is due for a revival is both timely and vital. But as always in politics, the devil will be in the details.

Canada’s foreign service has been operating on fumes for years. Staffing levels at many embassies are so lean that entire sections rely on a single diplomat — with no backup in sight. The president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, Pamela Isfeld, couldn’t have put it better when she described our global diplomatic presence as “bare bones.” In some missions, we don’t even have two people doing the job of one.

This is not just a human resources problem. It’s a strategic liability.

If we want to seriously engage with the world — to expand trade beyond the U.S., to advocate for our values, to have a seat at important tables — then we need more than high-minded rhetoric in a party platform. We need people. We need expertise. We need modern, coherent foreign policy grounded in both Canadian values and real-world priorities.

The last time Canada took a hard look at its foreign policy and diplomatic structure was in 2005. That’s two decades of drift in a world that has changed beyond recognition. Since then, we’ve seen the rise of China, Russia’s aggressive revisionism, a U.S. retreat from global leadership, and the weaponization of trade. Yet Canada has mostly clung to its outdated assumptions and underfunded institutions.

Senator Peter Boehm, himself a former foreign service officer, was right to warn that Carney’s vague campaign commitments won’t mean much without proper public consultation and a serious rethink of Global Affairs Canada’s management structure. We can’t afford to slap a new coat of paint on an aging institution — we need to reengineer it from the ground up.

Expanding trade commissioners to Latin America, Asia, and Africa is a promising step. But if our diplomats don’t have the tools, resources, or security to do their jobs — especially in complex postings like the United States — then any such moves are doomed to fall flat. Canada needs to rebuild the muscle of diplomacy with long-term investment, clear priorities, and institutional reform.

It’s good to hear Carney plans to issue a new, full foreign policy and conduct a national security review. It’s overdue. But words alone are not a strategy. The upcoming throne speech will be his chance to show that this isn’t just political window dressing — that Canada is finally ready to step back into the world with purpose.

For too long, we’ve coasted on reputation and principle while the world moved on. It’s time to catch up.