Shedding Light on Canada’s Foreign Policy Alignment JONATHAN PAQUIN Université Laval PHILIPPE BEAUREGARD Université Laval Introduction The purpose of this article is to explore the issue of alignment in Cana- dian foreign policy. In recent years, this issue has come up repeatedly in policy analyses ~Bow, 2008–2009; Massie, 2014; Paquin, 2012!. The pro- American tone of the Harper government and its political rhetoric to the effect that Canada is America’s “most reliable ally” have, for instance, revived the debate regarding Canada’s alignment with the United States ~Hart 2008; Lennox 2009; Nossal, 2011!. Prime Minister Harper’s posi- tions on the Iranian regime or the United Nations, and the fact that his government conceded that it would align its policies with US security regulations in the 2011 Perimeter Security and Economic Competitive- ness Action Plan, are often cited as examples in support of this argument ~Byers, 2008!. Others have maintained that, despite the end of the Cold War, Canada remains closely attached to its European allies because it shares with them common values and interests. As a result, Canada has acted in conjunction with its European partners on a variety of issues related to multilateral treaty initiatives such as the International Crimi- nal Court and the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty ~DeBardeleben and Leblond, 2010–2011!. Meanwhile, other analysts have asserted that Can- ada is increasingly standing on its own by making unilateral decisions Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank the Social Science and Human- ities Research Council of Canada ~SSHRC! and the Fonds québébois de la recherche sur la société et la culture ~ FQRSC! for their financial support. Thanks also to Doriane Angers for her excellent research assistance and to Justin Massie and the three anon- ymous reviewers for their helpful comments. Jonathan Paquin and Philippe Beauregard, Department of Political Science, Univer- sité Laval, Pavillon Charles-De Koninck, 1030, av. des Sciences-Humaines, Québec ~Québec! G1V 0A6 Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue canadienne de science politique Page 1 of 27 doi:10.10170S0008423913000449 © 2013 Canadian Political Science Association ~l’Association canadienne de science politique! and0et la Société québécoise de science politique