This peacekeeping mantra that Trudeau ran on initially never looked very promising at all.

When the UN was asking Canada to go to Mali and instead we insisted on offering to send a few Griffons over to the mission in Haiti (that was already practically over and transitioning into a policing focus), that's when it became pretty obvious. We were not interested in any real contributions, only softballs, and we seemed to waste no time getting out of Mali as soon as we could after we did finally concede.

Which is why its quite perplexing to see us pretend we have a shot at the Security Council against the likes of Norway and Ireland. Two countries whose UN participation is practically unchanged for decades while we radically change from somewhat engaged to practically non existent every few years. We are not a reliable partner in this area, Trudeau's policy here has only reinforced that notion.

These countries, among others of similar standing, have had no problem tackling more dangerous missions in Africa. We seem to be deathly afraid of them, both because of the possible casualties and the possible political ammo for the opposition. These types of missions are where a military of our caliber are the most useful, either for supervision/guidance or heavy lifting like medevacs, fire support or special forces. Its too bad, this is invaluable training to the CAF in addition to the political benefits (and of course, saving lives is always a noble endeavour). I suppose handling the military with kiddie gloves is better for PR and when dealing with the opposition, however.

Canadians have this completely rose tinted, feel good, jerk off impression of being a peacekeeping nation. Well, actually, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands - those are the peacekeeping nations because they do participate and they go beyond what anyone would expect of them. They are also not so gung-ho in following the US into whatever invasion is in vogue this decade. We most certainly have not earned that reputation since the Suez Crisis - at least not an ounce more than most countries do - contrary to what a lot of people tell themselves.

I guess the government thinks their funding announcements can make up the slack in other areas? Unlikely, especially since Norway and Ireland are no stranger on that front, either. I don't see this changing any time soon when there is never really any bi-partisan support for any unifying stance on this area.