In his four years of intense travel around the world as foreign minister, John Baird didn't leave much room for sub-Saharan Africa.
Mr. Baird made brief visits to several sub-Saharan African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Tanzania. He met a number of African leaders in international forums. But it was always clear that sub-Saharan Africa was a lower priority for Mr. Baird and the Harper government than it had been under the previous Liberal government.
One of the most telling signs of this disengagement was Mr. Baird's failure to make a working visit to South Africa. For most his term as foreign minister, South Africa was the biggest economy in sub-Saharan Africa. (It was eventually overtaken by Nigeria.) South Africa was also a G20 member, a diplomatic power in Africa and a member of the BRICS partnership of five countries. Yet Mr. Baird never visited the country for bilateral meetings.
His failure to give priority to South Africa contributed to Canada's diplomatic errors here, including Canada's inadvertent snub of South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress, when it neglected to send any diplomats to the ruling party's 100th anniversary celebrations in 2012.
In private conversation, South African diplomats who deal with Canadian issues have expressed frustration at Canada's neglect of South Africa. In part, this stems from a Canadian foreign minister who showed little interest in one of Africa's most strategically important countries. It meant that Canada lost the goodwill that it had built up with the ANC in the 1980s when former prime minister Brian Mulroney pushed for Commonwealth sanctions against South Africa's apartheid regime.
Mr. Baird appeared to have three main priorities in Africa. The first priority was criticizing terrorism in Africa. He has issued a barrage of statements on African terrorism, criticizing groups such as Boko Haram and al-Shabab and calling them "repugnant" and "cowardly."
His second priority was promoting Canadian business and Canadian investment in Africa. On a visit to Nairobi in 2013, for example, Mr. Baird said he was keen to explore Canada's trade opportunities in Kenya – "especially for Canadian natural resource companies." He also helped to set up a bilateral commission between Canada and Nigeria, which had business issues as one of its main focuses.
His third priority in Africa was human rights, including gay rights. He was outspoken in criticizing Uganda and Nigeria for passing laws that would impose harsh prison sentences on gays.
"Canada is deeply concerned that Nigeria has adopted a law that further criminalizes homosexuality," Mr. Baird said last year in one example of this priority. "We call on Nigeria to repeal this law."