UN ambassador explains Jerusalem vote abstention
Canada's ambassador to the United Nations says it was in Canada's best interest to abstain from a controversial vote on the decision by the United States to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
A controversial UN resolution passed 128-9 last month, with Canada among 35 countries that abstained from voting.
"The right thing to do in the interest of Canada and Canadians was to abstain," Marc-André Blanchard told The House.
"The Canadian position has been actually very, very appreciated by all parties involved," he said.
Ahead of the vote, the U.S. representative to the UN sent a letter to delegates that the United States. would be taking note of everyone's votes.
"As you consider your vote, I want you to know that the president and U.S. take this vote personally," Nikki Haley said.
Blanchard said Canada abstained because the resolution didn't advance the prospects for peace, not because of the Trump administration's threats.
"This is an approach that is not a traditional approach at the UN. But this is the approach that they are choosing as a country and it's their right," he said.
UN researcher Richard Gowan, an associate fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, characterized it differently.
"This was pretty crude diplomacy. And frankly it was silly of the Americans to push so hard because it was always clear that the U.S. was going to lose this vote by a big margin," he said.
Gowan said the U.S.'s pre-vote tactics might have persuaded some countries, including Canada, to abstain, but comes off as a weak moment in Haley's diplomacy so far.
"I'm sure that Canada was very sensitive to the pressure from the U.S, but it is true that Ottawa has always been skeptical of these votes in the general assembly concerning Israel and Palestine," he said.
The other countries who voted with the U.S. were Israel, Guatemala, Honduras, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, the Marshall Islands and Togo.