Francophony

Stephen Harper goes to France today for the least pleasant part of his European trip, putting up with the arrogant and hypocritical moralizing of Jacques Chirac and Dominique de Villepin, especially over Lebanon.

He will not, however, be paying a call on the head of La Francophonie, through which France continues to exercise the illusion of being a world power (half of whose members aren't even French-speaking nations, but through which Napoleon marched his army.)

In any event, why does Canada have a minister of state for relations with La Francophonie and not one for the Commonwealth? Britain still can exercise some actual influence over world affairs, and culturally, politically and economically, the Commonwealth is far more relevant to Canada than France's group of tin-pot former colonies.

Source: Globe and Mail