Mr. Speaker, 50 years ago the charter of the United Nations mapped out many high principles. These were noble aspirations but the reality of the UN has not lived up to that dream.
For decades the UN has remained incapable of acting forcefully to achieve those principles. The primary problem is that it cannot adequately finance its operations. If the UN is to respond to the many global problems which exist it must have sufficient resources to do the job. Since it has not been doing its job effectively, it is
difficult for the UN to take the moral high ground and pressure its member states to pay up.
What is required is major reform and the sooner the better. Without this I cannot blame some of those in default for not paying their bills. Why invest in an operation that is so bureaucratically top heavy, inefficient, and many times ineffective?
A further problem with the UN is the inefficient way the specialty agencies operate. Studies have found significant overlapping and duplication of work, limited responsiveness as well as a lack of transparency. In these agencies the UN has a tough time getting its job done. Certainly this is something that has created a number of institutional obstacles.
There are many areas where the UN should be improved and overhauled for the 21st century. To begin and most important, Canada must insist the UN eliminate the duplication and waste which contributes to its ineffectiveness. If the UN is ever to recover from its current crisis, this is an absolute prerequisite.
Furthermore, Canada must take a proactive and constructive role in reforming the UN so that it can better live up to its original goals of collective security, freedom, justice and human development. Canada is a respected player in the UN and we can provide effective leadership in the reform process. This will be extremely important going into the 21st century.
We must also strengthen the UN to attack the root causes of conflict, lack of democracy, poverty, abuse of human rights, intolerance and the uncontrolled spread of military technologies. In addition, many of the environmental problems which have emerged over the past several decades cannot be remedied without effective international co-operation. A revitalization of an effective UN would greatly help in all these areas.
The minister mentioned peacekeeping. This is a very important duty of the UN in which Canada has played no small part. Canadians attach a great deal of importance to our country's peacekeeping tradition but times have changed and peacekeeping is becoming more perilous and unpredictable. Therefore, this Parliament must establish clear criteria to make sure that our scarce peacekeeping resources are used where they can be most helpful and not used where conditions are unacceptable. We must realize that Canadians cannot participate everywhere. Our men and women in uniform have served the cause of peace very honourably for years and we are very proud of them.
Never again should our troops be left to twist in the wind, as happened in Bosnia, while the government in Ottawa failed to remove them for months and months from a dead end mission where the mandate could not be carried out properly.
In conclusion, the UN faces many challenges over the coming years. If this 50th anniversary celebration is to mean anything, then we must address these challenges head on. The UN will not survive unless it becomes effective, accountable and transparent in all of its activities. These are the changes that we need. These are the changes that the Reform Party will support.