Ask The Reader: Canada and the Security Council

Much blaming now for who messed up Canada's application to be on the UN Security Council.  I scoffed yesterday, as I fell back on my UN-skepticism.  But before asking the reading about the relevance of this all, we might want to think why Canada fell short in votes. 
Possibilities include:

• Domestic disunity.  I find this pretty dubious, as most voting countries probably were not aware of Ignatieff's stance.
• Friends of Dubai: The timing of the vote is pretty bad, given the conflict with the UAE over Emirates Airlines and Camp Mirage.  
• Countries at sea level: Canada has not been making progress on the reduction of global warming emissions.  Indeed, it has gotten worse, rather than better.
• Opponents of Canada's Arctic Sovereignty: Russia, Denmark, maybe Norway.
• Friends of Portugal: Lots of finger-pointing here but it was a competition for votes and Portugal might have done something right, rather than Canada doing something wrong.  EU membership has its privileges, including getting support from members, those aspiring to membership, and those that just want to get on the EU's good side.

The question is, though, aside from the blow to Canada's collective ego, what is lost by not being on the UNSC?  That is my question to the readers, as I am blinded by my UN-skepticism.