More details needed about Carney's plans to revamp foreign service, union head says

The Liberal election platform said a Carney government would send “more Canadian diplomats and officials abroad” to expand trade and “restore Canadian leadership.”

It also said the Liberals would issue a “new, full foreign policy” and launch a complementary national security review.

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office said no additional details were available.

Carney is expected to name his new cabinet later this month.

Pamela Isfeld, president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, said the union was happy to see the Liberal platform commit to enhancing diplomacy but now wants to know “how that is actually going to translate into action.”

A proper foreign policy review and fresh plan are “long overdue,” said Isfeld, whose organization represents more than 2,000 active and retired members of Canada’ foreign service.

There is no better time to undertake the project, now that Canada is considering its place in the world in the face of tensions with the U.S., she added.

Isfeld said many key issues in the recent election — including defence policy and economic and national sovereignty — are linked to diplomacy and the foreign service.

The review should take into account previous studies and involve consultation with public interest groups, Indigenous groups, provinces and municipalities, she said.

The last major federal review of the foreign service was released in 2005 under then-prime minister Paul Martin.

The government has mapped out strategies in recent years on Africa, the Indo-Pacific and the future of diplomacy.

As part of the diplomacy strategy, published in 2023, the government promised to expand Canada’s diplomatic footprint abroad.

Sen. Peter Boehm, a former foreign service officer, said that for any future review to be effective, it must consult with Canadians because “there really wasn’t that much in the platform.”

Boehm was chair of the Senate committee on foreign affairs and international trade in 2023 when it recommended that Global Affairs Canada examine its senior management structure to see how it could reduce the number of senior officials and reallocate resources.

Carney has emphasized the need for Canada to diversify its trading partners in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s global trade war.

Boehm said that might mean sending more trade commissioners to countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Isfeld said sending more diplomats abroad likely would require more resources — not just reallocation of current employees. She said staffing is essentially “bare bones” in many missions, with just one representative in some locations. 

“There shouldn’t be a section or a team in any embassy where there isn’t at least a backup,” she said.

Isfeld said ensuring there are at least two staffers in every mission probably would involve increasing the number of foreign service staff by at least 50 to 60 per cent.

The government also should consider hiring more Canada-based employees, depending on its priorities, as some divisions at Global Affairs Canada are “really understaffed,” she added.

Isfeld said some foreign service officers working in the United States have concerns about political issues in the country and a lack of access to services.

“I think people are feeling nervous and that’s going to translate when they talk to the people who are interested in replacing them,” she said. “It’s a shame because this is where we’re really going to need really good people.”

Boehm said Canada faces a “real inflection point in global relations” because the “old order” is being challenged by the United States.

He said he is looking to the coming throne speech for details about Carney’s plans for Canada’s presence abroad.

“This will be the opportunity for the government, for the prime minister, to set up that ambitious agenda that he was talking about during the campaign,” Boehm said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2025.