Christian Conservative Christian "Independent"

I'm an evangelical Christian, member of the CPC, but presently & unjustly exiled to wander the political wilderness.
All opinions expressed here are solely my own.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Peter MacKay's Letter to the Globe and Mail

Apparently, The Hon. Peter MacKay has taken the Globe and Mail to task in a letter for their front page critisms of the Harper government's response to the evacuation of citizens.
July 20, 2006

Mr. Ed Greenspon,
egreenspon@globeandmail.ca


Dear Mr. Greenspon,

The Globe and Mail's front-page story suggesting that the Prime Minister's Office - or his Director of Communications - in any way hampered the efforts of the evacuation of Canadians in Lebanon is absolutely and patently false.

What is particularly unfortunate about your story is that such a statement could make it to the front page of your paper, supported by only unnamed "federal sources" and no effort whatsoever to contact the Prime Minister's Office to verify the accuracy of the claim. If you have a source that made such a false statement, I want to assure you via this letter that it is completely and absolutely untrue. I would also hope that, the next time the Globe and Mail suggests that the Prime Minister's Office was complicit in putting Canadians in harm's way, you would demonstrate the journalistic integrity to name your source and allow this office to comment on the record for the story.

The Prime Minister - and his office - has done everything possible to expedite evacuation efforts and has been receiving hourly updates on the status of operations. The Prime Minister's Office has supported Government officials to leverage every contact and every resource to expedite the evacuation of Canadians from Lebanon. The Prime Minister's Office has encouraged Government officials to be as forthcoming and timely with information as possible, while respecting the security protocols required for evacuation planning. The Prime Minister is fully committed to the evacuation of all who choose to leave Lebanon and to ensuring their immediate security and safety.

Given the severity of the current situation and operations in the Middle East, I would strongly encourage you as the Editor in Chief of the Globe and Mail to not allow uninformed and false sniping from the shadows of anonymity. I strongly believe that such serious allegations require sources that are prepared to go on the record - and stand by their statements in the light of day. It is profoundly disturbing and disappointing that an institution such as the Globe and Mail would allow such a story to be printed without either naming its source or allowing the Prime Minister's Office to comment.

The very serious allegations you printed are completely untrue and without merit. I sincerely hope in the future that the Globe and Mail takes its responsibilities to Canadians - and the truth - far more seriously than you have today.

In the interests of correcting your false and misleading story today, I am making this letter public via other members of Canada's media.


Sincerely,

Peter G. MacKay
Minister of Foreign Affairs

posted by Christian Conservative @ 12:03 p.m.  

3 Comments:

  • At Fri Jul 21, 09:46:00 p.m. EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I would like to add my voice to those frustrated by the ingratitude and lack of perspective offered by the evacuees that we have heard from on the news.

    They are being evacuated from a war zone, they are amongst 38,000 other Canadians seeking evacuation, the Canadian government is under no obligation to get them out, they willingly went to a dangerous region of the world and they are amongst the first to leave.

    Still, they complain like they are owed something better.

     

  • At Sat Jul 22, 10:11:00 a.m. EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Some of the news networks have started broadcasting grateful evacuees. I think in an effort to curb the fury many Canadians are voicing in regard to the ingratitude, and entitlement they've seen lately. However, they still keep on showing the clip of the woman holding her child saying "If I had know it was going to be like this I would have stayed in Lebanon under the bombs" Its statements like this that have really pissed ppl off.

    I think the MSM efforts to smear the Conservative gov'ts efforts, have largely backfired, with the wrath of Canadians being (unfairly?) directed at Lebonese evacuees.

    The last couple of days CTV has been trying to stem this tide by finally broadcasting some "thank you's" and occasionally admitting that the evacuation has basically been executed as well as can be expected.

     

  • At Mon Jul 24, 09:45:00 a.m. EDT, Blogger Luke Coughey said…

    It seems odd that our Harper is getting bad press about this at all. I know that Canadians are in Lebon, Isreal and other Middle East countries for many reasons. However, they are there by choice, knowing the risks of going to politically unstable and war torn countries. Yes, I think we should help, but it is not our fault they they put themselves in the middle of a war.

     

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