On refusing to lead

Yesterday, it looked like Peter MacKay was in danger of taking a strong principled stand in favour of democratic self-expression. Today, however, MacKay sets the record straight, declaring that Canada will place an onus on the new Palestinian government to try to justify any continued aid:

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay tried to get Ottawa's Middle Eastern policy back in sync yesterday with a clarification saying Canadian aid to the Palestinian Authority is still under review and is subject to conditions set by Prime Minister Stephen Harper last month.

His written statement was issued one day after the new Conservative minister said "some Canadian aid will continue" to the Palestinian Authority on the basis of third-party assurances from Russia that the money would not be diverted for military purposes or to finance terrorism by Hamas.

Canada's aid represents a small amount of money compared to what's needed to keep the Palestinian Authority functioning, and indeed MacKay's statement yesterday implied that some of that would also be withdrawn to the extent that third-party controls couldn't be put in place. But at the very least, a strong commitment to ensure that Palestinians wouldn't be completely cut off from aid as a consequence of their electoral choices would have made it difficult for other countries to justify completely starving the PA of funds.

Instead, all of Canada's funding (like that of most states) now seems to be in limbo, meaning that the Palestinian Authority faces the prospect of trying to win the support of its citizens for long-term peace arrangements while its budget to provide for those citizens (not to mention to try to maintain order) is based solely on emergency funding. And it's hard to see what anybody has to gain when the one of the necessary parties in any peace talks is left wondering whether it will face financial ruin at any moment.