Lloyd Axworthy in town
Posted Nov 29, 2012 02:25:32 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Canada’s Technology Triangle event Thursday night has a notable guest speaker.
In Prime Minister Jean Cretien’s Cabinet he served as Foreign Affairs Minister, he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize because of his work banning land mines, an Officer of the Order of Canada, and is a past-President of the United Nations Security Council.
Honourable Dr. Lloyd Axworthy speaks at the CTT’s 4th Annual International Reception and Dinner.
Axworthy told 570’s Gary Doyle Show what he thinks we’re could be in danger of losing out on by choosing sides in the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
“I believe very strongly, as the government does, that Israel has the full right of self-protection and defence, there is no doubt about it, but we shouldn’t forget diplomacy along the way.”
Axworthy said in his time as Foreign Affairs Minister from 1996 until 2000, the dynamics in the Middle East were different, “We were heavily involved in what was then called the Oslo Process, which was an agreement between all the parties to try to work out a two-state solution [between Israel and Palestine] and there wasn’t the same degree of polarization that there is now.”
Axworthy said because the political landscape in the Middle East is in flux, pointing to the Arab Spring, the future in that region remains uncertain.
The 4th Annual International Reception and Dinner is being held at the Waterloo Inn Conference Hotel, King Street North, Waterloo, from Thursday from 5:30 pm – 9:30 pm.
