Lloyd_Axworthy

Lloyd Axworthy

Lloyd Norman Axworthy, PC, OC, OM (born December 21, 1939, in North Battleford, Saskatchewan) is prominent Canadian politician and statesman from Manitoba. He is best known for having served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. Axworthy is currently President of the University of Winnipeg. He is a member of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, the first global initiative to focus specifically on the link between exclusion, poverty and law.

Personal life

Axworthy was born in Saskatchewan to a family with strong United Church roots, and received his BA from the University of Winnipeg (then known as United College) in 1961. He received his MA and Ph.D from Princeton University in 1963 and 1972 respectively, returning to Canada to teach at the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg.

Early years

Axworthy became involved in politics during the 1950s, becoming a member of the Liberal Party after attending a speech by Lester B. Pearson. He briefly aligned himself with the New Democratic Party (NDP) in the 1960s when Pearson, as federal opposition leader, called for American Bomarc nuclear warheads to be allowed on Canadian soil. He soon returned to the Liberal fold, however, and worked as an executive assistant for John Turner. Axworthy supported Turner's bid to become party leader at the 1968 leadership convention.

Axworthy ran for the party in Winnipeg North Centre in the 1968 election, and finished a surprisingly strong second against veteran NDP Member of Parliament (MP) Stanley Knowles. His first political success came at the provincial level. He first ran for the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in the 1966 election, placing second to Progressive Conservative Douglas Stanes in St. James. In the 1973 election, he was elected as a Manitoba Liberal in Fort Rouge, a riding that bordered on the one held by party leader Izzy Asper. He was re-elected in the 1977 election, and was the only Liberal in the legislature from 1977 to 1979.

Federal Government

He resigned from his position on April 6 of 1979 to run for the federal House of Commons, and in the 1979 election narrowly defeated former provincial PC leader Sidney Spivak in Winnipeg—Fort Garry. He was re-elected in the election of 1980, and became a cabinet minister in the government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. He served first as Minister of Employment and Immigration, and then as Minister of Transport.

In the Liberal defeat in the 1984 election, Axworthy was one of only two Liberals west of Ontario to be elected (the other being then Liberal leader John Turner). Axworthy played an important role in opposition, forcefully attacking the government of Brian Mulroney. He was an especially vocal critic of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.

Years as a Cabinet Minister

When the Liberals returned to power in 1993 under the leadership of Jean Chrétien, Axworthy became one of the most important Cabinet ministers. After the election, he was given responsibility for the vast new Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), and launched a major overhaul of employment insurance.

Axworthy's true interest was in international relations, and in a 1996 cabinet shuffle, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs. Axworthy excelled in this position, becoming a strong advocate of Canada's tradition of multilateralism. His greatest success was the Ottawa Treaty, an international treaty to ban anti-personnel land mines. He also campaigned against the use of child soldiers and the international trade in light weapons.

In 1999, Axworthy supported Canada's involvement in NATO's bombing campaign of Yugoslavia over the issue of Kosovo. The 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was NATO's and Canada's most controversial act as its first deliberate non-defensive aggression against another sovereign state.

Honors and Awards

In 1997, Axworthy was nominated by United States Senator Patrick Leahy to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on banning land mines.

Many political commentators in Canada believed he was a strong contender for the honour. He did not win, but was thanked by the recipients, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, as having been instrumental in their effort. In 1998 he was one of the two winners of the North-South Prize. and in 2003, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Retirement and later years

In September, 2000, Axworthy retired from public life and returned to academia, joining the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia. He is also a frequent public speaker on matters relating to international relations. He has published a number of books on this subject, notably Navigating A New World, a book on the uses of "soft power". He has served as a United Nations envoy tasked with resolving the Eritrean-Ethiopian War.

In May of 2004, he was appointed to his current job as president of the University of Winnipeg.

Axworthy is Chair of the Advisory Committee for the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch. He also serves on the advisory council of USC Center on Public Diplomacy and of Fair Vote Canada, and is an endorser of the Genocide Intervention Network and International Student Exchange, Ontario.

In February 2005, Axworthy gave a lecture entitled "The Responsibility to Protect: Prescription for a Global Public Domain" at the University of San Diego's Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Distinguished Lecture Series.

In 2006, Axworthy supported Bob Rae's bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, but supported Stéphane Dion after Rae dropped off the ballot.

External links

Publications

Navigating a New World, Knopf Canada Publishing, 2004
Liberals at the Border , University of Toronto Press, 2004
The Axworthy Legacy, Edited by O. Hampson, N. Hillmer, M. Appel Molot, Oxford University Press, 2001