Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma visited Canada earlier this week to meet with several Canadian diplomats and make a keynote presentation at the 15th Conference de Montreal.
“Canada and the Commonwealth are joined at the hip,” he told Prime Minister Harper, as both leaders reviewed the pivotal role Canada has played in the modern Commonwealth since its creation 60 years ago.
The Secretary-General briefed the Prime Minister on preparations concerning the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) scheduled for Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, this coming November.
He informed Mr Harper that, in his view, “an alliance of Commonwealth elections commissioners should be created to ensure that Elections Commissions throughout the Commonwealth are self-standing, independent, and resilient enough to face pressures from whatever quarter, [and] is an idea whose time has come.”
Mr Sharma added: “The brand strength of both the Commonwealth and Canada is that both stand for values based societies in which self-improvement is both a constant goal and ongoing process.”
This is another valuable component that a federation or closer association of Commonwealth countries could possess, one by which we could assist Commonwealth nations that are in the process of or in dire need of political reform.
