Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Stephen Harper Refused Request to Stay in Haiti


With the Canadian media bowing at Harper's feet over his handling of the Haiti crisis, word on the ground was that we were not doing as much financially as we claimed.

The ships that Harper hurried from shore arrived empty, with only enough provisions for the military onboard. His goal was to protect corporate interests from Cuba, and while our soldiers acted admirably, and were legitimately embarrassed that they had arrived without medical supplies, Harper actions' were underwhelming.

It was just another opportunity for a photo-op.

And now we learn that he turned down a UN request to remain to help out. But he got his political leverage and already lost interest.
Despite attempts by the UN and local authorities to persuade Ottawa to keep the engineers in Haiti beyond the end of Canada's relief mandate, the military packed up and left. ``I think there was a strong request that they stay on,'' Nigel Fisher, the UN's head of humanitarian aid in Haiti, told The Canadian Press in an interview from Port-au-Prince.
I am so ashamed.

4 comments:

  1. After the disaster prorogue decision, Haiti was the neocons best Christmas present ever. Word is they cheered as they watched the news on CNN.
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    ANIMALS !
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  2. It really is embarrassing, I agree, Emily. Canada, for so long seen as a helping nation, somehow produce this jackanapes who isn't interested in humanitarian aid at all. How can that be?
    Okay, Canada produces run-of-the-mill criminals, and even horrific criminals sometimes, but we don't make Clifford Olson or Robert Pickton prime minister.
    So how did we elect Stephen Harper? Despite his wife's well-publicized fostering of orphaned kittens, he is not the kind of caring Canadian we want seen on the international stage. He's making fools of us all.

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  3. Not to mention the millions of dollars the Canadian government pledged very publicly and immediately seemed to have "forgot about", like a lot of other first world countries, when the time came to sign the cheque. It's absolutely disgraceful, especially since they spent enough to rebuild Haiti several times over on the G20 conference.

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  4. You're right Michael. And yet it's getting very little media attention.

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