“O Canada” was played in Saudi Arabia this week for the first time in 26 years. That quarter-century silence tells the real story behind Mark Carney’s visit to Jeddah.
The last Canadian prime minister to visit Saudi Arabia was Jean Chrétien, in 2000, during a 12-day Middle East tour driven by a very different ambition: to reinforce Canada’s role as a credible participant in the Oslo peace process and to lead the international working group on Palestinian refugees. Canada then aspired to play a distinctive diplomatic role in the region and strengthen multilateralism.
What will the Elbows say?
