Article content continued

But an explanation is not a denial. The irritation of the other delegations — “the Canadians screwed everybody” was one of the kinder remarks — was widely reported, and if it is now maintained that Canada was never going to sign last week and everyone should have known that, it remains unclear how they could have been led to believe otherwise.

Diplomats generally do their utmost to make meetings between leaders as dull as possible: any disagreements are worked out ahead of time, behind closed doors, with a view to ensuring there are no unpleasant surprises on the day. Yet that does not appear to have been the case here.

No one doubts he had reasons for refusing to sign. The question is: were they good reasons?

That Trudeau told the conference’s chair, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, of his refusal in a private meeting just before the scheduled signing session would suggest the matter was in some doubt until the last minute. That the meeting ran long suggests this was hardly a formality, a matter of confirming what was already known, but was the subject of some negotiation.

But never mind. Let’s accept the official version that this was simply a determined prime minister playing hardball. No one doubts he had, and has, reasons for refusing to sign onto the deal — he didn’t just do so out of pique — but that’s hardly sufficient justification in itself. The question is: were they good reasons?

Needless to say the Prime Minister’s Office has been less than forthcoming about what his reasons were — and whatever might be said publicly, it may bear only a faint resemblance to reality: negotiations inevitably involve some degree of secrecy and doubletalk. But of the motives that have been floated, with varying degrees of official encouragement, none seems particularly creditable.