The criteria set out in clause 4, which provides that the Governor in Council must determine that “the making of the order or regulation is in the interest of international relations”, is a fairly widely cast provision that allows the government to make the assessment, for example, of whether the request was improperly made, was made for purely political purposes or for vindictive purposes, or was otherwise improperly made. In this case, clearly, it would not be in the interest of foreign relations to accede to such a request.
On March 7th, 2011. See this statement in context.