This is either a huge political mistake by the PMO or an apology from the Globe and Mail just itching to be made:
The perception of inaction was exacerbated by the lack of information flowing last week about Canadian efforts to organize a response. In fact, Foreign Affairs staff realized last week that there was an emergency situation involving tens of thousands of Canadians brewing in Lebanon. But federal sources say there was an edict handed down by Sandra Buckler, the Prime Minister's communications director, dictating that the situation was to be kept under wraps.How do you keep a war zone under wraps? How do you keep the fact that Canada has tens of thousands of Lebanese citizens who return for visits under wraps? That wording is either weird or...wait for it...scary.
But whatever the outcome of the politics I think the real issue we have is that our Foreign Affairs department appears to be very incapable of dealing with Canadians in crisis in other places. There are few areas of jurisdiction all parties tend to agree on more than the role of government supplying assistance to citizens in crisis. Fundamental to the problem, however, appears to be the ability to communicate to large groups. Given that we are two decades into the miracle of information technology, why is it that we do not have a robust national emergency communication system for just these moments?
Comments
Gordo - July 20, 2006 11:15 am
1. What do you expect when a hick farm boy runs the place?
2. Not to worry! It's Super Steve to the rescue! With his own Airbus! And his wife! And photographer! Whoosh!
Alan - July 20, 2006 10:34 pm
Garth Turner sees two classes of citizen:<blockquote class="smalltext"> MP Garth Turner says Canada has a duty to remove all Canadian citizens from Lebanon, but long-absent foreign nationals with dual citizenship should cover the costs of their own extraction. That's particularly true of Canadian citizens abroad who haven't called Canada home for many years, Turner said. "If we're moving people out of harm's way who don't live in Canada, it strikes me that they would have to pay anyway," the Conservative MP for Halton said Thursday. "It strikes me that there would have to be some sort of recompense."</blockquote>I lived and worked in the UK, Holland and Poland. Pals have lived in the UK, Israel, Japan and Slovakia for years. They are Canadian citizens. Should they be treated differently in a crisis? If so - what is the legal authoritity for Garth to advocate the treatment of different citizens differently?
brian - July 21, 2006 9:36 pm
There are "tens of thousands of Canadians" in existence?
Hee hee... just kidding!