Joint UK-Canada embassies will show the diplomatic intimacy between the two nations

It has been revealed that Britain and Canada are prepared to divulge an accord on Monday to establish joint UK-Canada diplomatic missions. As the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, arrives in Canada, he and the Canadian Foreign Minister, John Baird, are scheduled to announce this news jointly.

PM David Cameron had categorised in 2011 to the Parliament that United Kingdom and Canada were two nations, under one Queen Elizabeth, which were unified by one group of principles.

David Cameron, in a rather stirring address, had described the UK-Canada bond as a relationship of first cousins. The PM cited the intimate cooperation between the two nations in the 20th century during WW 1 and WW 2. Their robust cooperation to defeat Islamist terrorists in Afghanistan and to ensure democracy’s triumph in Libya and Syria was also cited by the PM.

Thus, Cameron proclaimed that it is obvious that UK would attempt to link up its embassies with Canada’s in countries, which suit the agenda of UK and Canada. This embassy link-up would advantage the two countries’ businesspersons.

What is likely to occur is that, in nations where Canada has a diplomatic mission but Britain doesn’t or vice versa, the two nations’ ambassadors will share the embassy facilities.

Canada is expected to acquire access to British diplomatic missions in Africa while Britain is likely to attain access to the Canadian embassies in the Caribbean islands.

However, this embassy linkup has riled certain Canadian academicians and politicians, who eye negligible political advantage for Canada from this linkup. They feel that Canada’s foreign policy influence will be diminished. Canada will appear as if it is a nation dependent on British foreign policy assistance. Canadian independence will appear to be diluted. Embassies/foreign policy shouldn’t be administered based on cost-cutting criteria.

Cousins can also have different foreign policy views like, in 2003, when Canada disagreed with the UK over the Iraq war.

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