Saudi-Canada spat: Is Twitter the right medium to conduct foreign relations?

As the diplomatic dispute between Canada and Saudi Arabia intensifies, some Canadians say they don't agree with the way in which the two countries have communicated their grievances.

Those missives have been delivered largely over Twitter for millions to read.

Many Canadians don't believe Twitter is the proper medium to conduct foreign relations. Among them is David Mulroney, the former Canadian ambassador to China.

"What you have is Canada, in the form of the Canadian government, and then the Canadian foreign minister [Chrystia Freeland], speaking directly to the Saudi government," Mulroney said in an interview with Checkup guest host Renee Filippone.

"And when that happens, the volume goes up and the risks are a lot higher."

Diplomatic dispute

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week that his government will continue to use Twitter as a way to speak out on human rights issues happening in other countries.

Trudeau's government has been under fire since Freeland's tweet was sent Aug. 3 condemning the arrests of women's rights activists in Saudi Arabia.

Since the tweet was posted, Saudi Arabia condemned Canada's tweet as "interference." And as a result, the country's government retaliated by kicking the Canadian ambassador out of Riyadh, and ordered Saudi students and hospital patients in Canada back to their home country. Saudi Arabia also said there would be no new trade deals with Canada. 

But Mulroney said he wouldn't have used social media to express his concerns over human rights issues. 

Mulroney worked in the Beijing embassy between 2009 and 2012. He said his office used the Chinese social network Weibo to communicate with Chinese citizens. He said it was a way to help people discover things about Canada they didn't have access to. Some of the posted messages included information about human rights.

"When I was in the embassy in Beijing, we were very careful not to use [Weibo] to speak directly to the Chinese government."

Rather he said, "We let Canada speak for itself."

Was Canada right in speaking out?

During Checkup's discussion on the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Canada, callers like Dave Podulchuk in Gimli, Man., said they felt the Canadian government did the right thing in defending women's rights activists in Saudi Arabia. 

Podolchuk, who has spent some time in the Middle East with the Canadian Armed Forces in 2009, said it's not the first time Canada has taken a stance on human rights issues in another country. 

"The government is doing the right thing and we should always speak up on human rights abuses in Iran and Saudi [Arabia]. We did it before, and it's not out of style."

"For the leader of Saudi Arabia, [Mohammed bin Salman], to have a hissy fit over one statement, it's not the right way to go about having diplomatic relations with another country."- Mariam Hamou, from London, Ont. 

Mariam Hamou, from London, Ont. agreed Canada was right to speak out, but questioned the use of social media.

"It's who we are. Maybe not going about it on Twitter was the right way to do it," she said.

"For the leader of Saudi Arabia, [Mohammed bin Salman], to have a hissy fit over one statement, it's not the right way to go about having diplomatic relations with another country."

Mulroney said in spite of Saudi Arabia's poor human rights record, it is a country that Canada needs to rely on when it comes to issues like trade and climate change.

After all, many people from Saudi Arabia currently live in Canada, he said. 

"We need to change our tactics. We need to understand that we're in a very different world."

Written by Samantha Lui.