Confounded Canada

Canada and Germany have a lot a common. Both countries pride themselves on being good members of the international community. Both consider themselves ardent multilateralists who try to solve conflicts through the United Nations rather than go it alone. Both subscribe to a general foreign policy style of understatement rather than pushing themselves onto the global stage. And both share a very close, but not always easy relationship as junior partners of the United States.

Particularly in the security arena German-Canadian relations have traditionally been strong. For decades Canada operated military bases in southern Germany until they were closed in the 1990s. Due to their multilateralist approach to foreign and security policy both often joined forces to soften or balance out unilateral tendencies their bigger ally, the US, might display.

German caveats

For instance, it was a joint project by Ottawa and Berlin to bring NATO into Afghanistan, explains Janice Stein, director of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. "So I think it's fair to say that under those circumstances there was some Canadian chagrin about the caveats that Germany put around where its troops could be used and how they could be used and deployed in Afghanistan," she told Deutsche Welle.

"That I think is something that Canadians found difficult to understand, especially since Canada in the period from 2006 to 2011 in Kandahar province - the epicenter of the insurgency - had the highest rate per capita of casualties of any contributing member to the Afghan force," says Stein.

Just when it seemed that Canada might be ready to shelve its misgivings about Germany's perceived reluctance to contribute its fair share in Afghanistan, Berlin's image suffered another blow.

In March, Germany decided not to side with its traditional allies, France, Britain and the US and instead abstain in a UN Security Council vote on a no-fly zone in Libya alongside China, Russia, India and Brazil.

This baffled many Canadians. And again there was a special Canadian connection that made Berlin's behavior even more inexplicable to Ottawa than it might have been for many other partners.

Canada's push for Responsibility to Protect

"It was the Canadian government that led the Responsibility to Protect resolution through the United Nations at the General Assembly in 2005," says Stein. The Libya mission marked the first time that this mechanism was officially implemented and "it was surprising for Canadians that Germany was not there."

While Germany stood on the sidelines, Canada's parliament overwhelmingly approved the mission and deployed some 600 airforce and navy personnel for the operation. Its airforce conducted roughly 10 percent of the bombing raids against Moammar Gadhafi's troops. The country's important international role was underscored by the appointment of a Canadian general to lead NATO's mission in Libya.

Given the broad support for the UN-sanctioned Libyan intervention in Canada, it's no surprise that Berlin's stance didn't go down well in Ottawa.

"Libya has only highlighted the already existing disillusionment on the Canadian side with some of the decisions that come out of Germany," Petra Dolata, a Canada specialist at King's College in London, told Deutsche Welle.

Lost understanding

She believes that it would be a mistake to consider Canada's befuddlement simply as a minor hiccup in the relations between both countries. Instead she insists that Canada's consternation with Berlin runs deeper.

"I think Germany lost a lot of understanding," notes Dolata. Earlier, she argues, there was more of an appreciation of the special situation of Germany in Canada, but that has changed with new generations and new governments at the helm.

For many Canadians it is very difficult to comprehend the role of the military in the German context, says Dolata: "There is only so many decades that you can claim you are special and your Sonderweg."

While Canadians routinely contribute troops to peace-keeping missions, they are also prepared and willing to engage in combat operations if necessary. For Germany the first is difficult, the second all but impossible which for Canadians, but also other NATO partners, immediately raises the question of burden sharing and of Berlin's role in the alliance.

When asked what Germany can do to counter the growing gap between both countries, Stein has a simple answer. Canadians see Germany as the geostrategic leader of Europe and expect it to behave that way. "They see Germany as a wealthy country with resources and I think they are looking for Germany to take its responsibility seriously globally."

That train has already left the station, argues Petra Dolata: "I think it's even worse than that. I think that Canadians are no longer looking toward Germany even if they engage themselves with Europe. And if they do look toward Europe it's no longer Germany or even France, it's actually the UK that presents itself as the best partner."

Author: Michael Knigge
Editor: Rob Mudge