Late today, Canada announced it would send 10,000 temporary shelters to Burma. That's great news.
The Conservatives, however, can't resist taking some partisan political jabs at those — like the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc Québecois — who questioned the need to spend billions on four Boeing C-17 transport planes for our military. We'd always got our gear, aid, and soldiers to wherever they needed to go by renting rides from our allies or commercial operators and no one — and I've asked often right up and down the chain of command — has yet named an instance when Canadian assets were stranded because of the lack of a big jet plane. Those billions, others argued, were better spent on search-and-rescue aircraft or on new helicopters.
But the Conservatives were having none of that. They wanted the big Boeings and, by dang, they were going to get them. And, to their credit, they got them in record time, so far as a major Defence Department procurement project goes.
But really, do they need to lord it over their opponents while announcing what should be a wholly non-partisan initiative – sending aid to Burma?
Read the press release put out by the Canadian International Development Agency (Bev Oda, prop.) this afternoon. Can you sense the ALL-CAPS “told-you-so” attitude when CIDA points out that this aid is travelling to Burma via ONE of our FOUR C-17s?
Some excerpts for those too lazy to click through (and the ALL-CAPS part is from the original release):
…On Wednesday May 14, the shelter kits will be shipped from CFB Trenton to Bangkok via ONE OF the Department of National Defence's FOUR Globemaster C-17 aircraft. The International Red Cross Movement will then manage the shipment into the Rangoon region and distribute the shelter kits to people in need in the affected areas. “By using our C-17, Canada's Government is responding to the humanitarian emergency in Burma with a large shipment of emergency aid supplies,” said Minister MacKay. “These supplies will bring much-needed relief to Burma in a timely fashion.” … … On Wednesday May 14, 40 metric tonnes of emergency relief supplies will be moved from CIDA's emergency stockpile in Mississauga to CFB Trenton. They will then be loaded onto ONE OF THE Canadian military's FOUR C-17 Globemasters for airlift to Bangkok, Thailand where officials from the Canadian Government and the Red Cross Movement will receive them. . . .
Technorati Tags: aid, burma, burma, Canadian Forces, Conservativees, public relations, C-17
ALL CAPS? Where?
So the word “four” is capitalized. And that is evidence of “lording” it over their opponents? A slight exaggeration, no?
More than FOUR is ALL-CAPPED — Read again.
And, in any event, since when is a press release on aid delivery so interested in the logistics of the delivery of the aid?
“But really, do they need to lord it over their opponents ”
Why not ? After all they got it right, and they certainly will get no acknowledgement from either the opposition parties or the MSM, who seem more interested in quibbling about fonts than reporting the actual facts.
From the press release linked to:
“ONE OF THE Canadian military's FOUR C-17 …”
OK, maybe my eyesight is worse than I thought … but, are we talking about the same item?
I see caps on acronyms, on the word FOUR and, admittedly, I missed the offending “ONE OF THE …”
My abject apologies.
I also see caps on titles of people, place names, etc.
Are you advising Ms. Oda's department to adopt e.e. cummings' style?
From Wiki: “Cummings' publishers and others have sometimes echoed the unconventional orthography in his poetry by writing his name in lower case and without periods.”
As to boasting, how many times have we heard the mantra about Canada being “the best country in the world” and other forms of self-congratulatory statements, from all parties?
And since the Burmese (Myanmar, whatever they want to be called) government was, or still is, reluctant to open its doors to foreign aid, what would critics propose the government do? Start a war to have them accept our aid?
Those in the media that support the Liberals and their propaganda machine don't like having the Liberal record of inaction and waste over 13 years pointed out to them.
Its interesting when the media (Aiken) in this case think that because the government takes the opportunity to point out their accomplishments that is somehow wrong.
Let's see Aiken explain the Dion carbon tax which will drive ordinary Canadians into the poor house. That is something to write about.
First of all: It's Akin. That's A-K-I-N.
Second: Why do those, on the right or the left, change the subject and start looking for media conspiracy theories when confronted with an uncomfortable fact? The uncomfortable fact here is: No politician, general, academic, journalist or blogger has identified one instance when DART, Canadian tanks, or any other federal asset was unable to get to where it was supposed to go in time to do its mission before we got the C-17s.
Do we need more planes? Absolutely. Did we need giant strategic airlift? Operator, the lines are open …
Pretty bad when Aiken looks for capitals etc in a news release rather than focusing on the substance of the document.
I think he is bitter because Canwest wasn't invited to the “secret meeting” about the visit on Conservative Party headquarters.
Sorry David about spelling your name wrong. It is A- K- I-N. I stand corrected.
David if you want to run for office and get elected then you can do things the way you want to. The DART team was delayed in getting to the tsunami because they didn't have the airlift to get there. The government had to run around trying to lease a plane. It would appear you know more about what the military needs than they do.
That's the problem with this country and why Canadians have become cynical. There are always the naysayers or criticizers who find fault with everything that is done by government. Make an announcement and you have the media and a pile of other people criticizing the government.
No wonder we have trouble getting good people to run for parliament. Why would anybody want to be subjected to the nonsense laid on them by the media and others.
“The DART team was delayed in getting to the tsunami because they didn't have the airlift to get there. The government had to run around trying to lease a plane.”
Hmmm…the Tsunami hit Dec 26th 2004. According to this article ( http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1105017699125_27/?hub=TopStories ) DART left Jan 6th…11 days.
The Typhoon hit May 2nd, according to the news release the aid left Canada May 14th…12 days. Looks like leasing a plane was quicker.
M, how's Bond?
Too bad you didn't include this bit of information … the Burmese/Myanmar government did NOT want to let foreigners in. Hmmm, I wonder if that had anything to do with the delay …
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/burmamyanmar/1942422/Myanmar-cyclone-UN-launches-appeal-as-Burma-refuses-aid.html
“UN launches appeal as Burma refuses aid
Last Updated: 2:31AM BST 10/05/2008
The United Nations have launched a £96 million appeal to help the victims of the cyclone in Burma, despite there being no sign from the country's regime that it would allow foreign agencies to distribute the aid.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/06/usa.burma?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews
“US pledges more funds to Burma as regime refuses aid
The Bush administration today pledged $3m in new disaster aid to Burma, even as US response teams remained blocked from entering the isolated Asian nation by its military rulers.
The Burmese regime, notoriously distrusting of the west, has denied visas to US state department responders seeking to help rebuild after the devastating landfall of Cyclone Nargis on the weekend.”
In any case, regardless of which party is in power, there will always be Monday morning quarterbacks with 20/20 hindsight.
Yes, it would be oh so nice if partisanship were absent, but the reality is that some people will always find fault, second guessing the government.
M, check out this link
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080507/burma_relief_080508/20080508/
The disaster happened on May 2, and the Government announced its decision to go on May 8, which was SIX days later. Departure was held up because the Burmese government were refusing entry to aid workers, and the DART team ended up going to Thailand to await permission to go in.
David, why can I not post a proper link on this site ? Is there some technical problem with your site, or was I doing something strange with the link ?