Combined Embassies

From the Globe and Mail:
"Canada and Britain to run combined embassies"

A new agreement to open joint British-Canadian diplomatic missions around the world will be signed Monday in Ottawa. British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird will official sign the agreement tomorrow afternoon. It’s a step designed to expand the global presence of both countries will keeping costs down.  “We have stood shoulder to shoulder from the great wars of the last century to fighting terrorists in Afghanistan and supporting Arab Spring nations like Libya and Syria. We are first cousins,” Mr. Hague said in a written statement released to the media Sunday. “So it is natural that we look to link up our embassies with Canada’s in places where that suits both countries. It will give us a bigger reach abroad for our businesses and people for less cost.” As part of the agreement, in countries where Canada has a diplomatic presence but Britain does not, the two nations will share the embassy or consulate – and vice versa. Britain will make similar arrangement with Australia and New Zealand, in which all four commonwealth nations can pool their resources. “As the Prime Minister said when addressing the Canadian parliament last year: ‘We are two nations, but under one Queen and united by one set of values,’” Mr. Hague said in his statement.

^ I have some questions that need to be answered before I decide if I like this idea or not. If under this new agreement Canada and Britain will merely share the same building with their separate staff (and a British consular officer won't decide if a foreigner will get a visa to Canada or vice versa) then I think it is a good, cost-saving idea. If, however, a combined embassy will be staffed with either a British staff or a Canadian staff, but not both then I think it is a bad idea. It took Canada hundreds of years to finally be able to make their own decisions in Ottawa without first getting London's approval and has only had that right for 30 years and now it looks like that could be slipping away with these combined embassies. I will keep looking for more information. ^

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-and-britain-to-run-combined-embassies/article4561954/