Canada Bans Coverage Of Returning War Dead

[Pierre the Great]

Canada Bans Coverage of Returning War Dead

Canada's new Conservative government barred the media from covering the return Tuesday of the flag-draped coffins of four soldiers killed in Afghanistan, angering political opponents and some families.

The government also has stopped lowering flags to half-staff outside Parliament each time a Canadian soldier is killed, prompting Liberals to accuse Prime Minister Stephen Harper of trying to play down the growing human cost of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan.

Fifteen Canadians have been killed, including Cpl. Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles Mansell, Cpl. Randy Payne and Lt. William Turner, who were slain in a roadside bomb blast Saturday in southern Afghanistan in the deadliest attack against Canadian forces since they deployed to Afghanistan in 2002.

Canadian military officials blamed remnants of the toppled Taliban government for the bombing.

Their remains were to arrive Tuesday evening at a base in Trenton, Ontario.

The media learned Monday that they would be barred from the evening ceremony, a decision that mirrors Bush administration policy blocking media coverage of the coffins of slain service members arriving in the United States.

Like the Pentagon, Canadian Defense Minister Gordon O'Connor cited privacy concerns as a reason for the media ban.

"When the bodies return to Trenton, where the families receive the bodies for the first time and they come face to face with the reality that their loved ones are dead, this is for their private grief," O'Connor told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. on Tuesday. The four bodies are the first returned to Canada since the Conservative government took office.

O'Connor noted that media were allowed to cover the solemn send-off ceremony just before a Hercules transport plane left Kandahar with the bodies.

He also said the Conservatives — who toppled the Liberals from nearly 13 years in power in January — were returning to an 80-year-old tradition of honoring fallen soldiers by only lowering the flag on Parliament Hill once a year, on Nov. 11, Remembrance Day.

Harper dismissed accusations that he is using the power of his office to conceal Canada's mounting military casualties from the public spotlight.

"It is not about photo-ops and media coverage," Harper told the House of Commons, which engaged in a raucous debate. "It is about what is in the best interests of the families."

The families of at least two soldiers said they were disturbed by the media blackout and the lack of lowered flags.

Dinning's uncle told the CBC the family believes the government is trying to cover up the growing casualties in Afghanistan and was disturbed they were not informed of the decision to cancel what had been a public ceremony for the returning war dead.

The CBC has been broadcasting live the repatriation ceremonies for each soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Richard Leger, father of Sgt. Marc Leger, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2002, told the CBC on Tuesday that the nationally televised return of his son's coffin helped his family to heal.

Sgt. Leger was one of four Canadian soldiers killed by a U.S. pilot who mistook their live-ammunition exercise for a hostile attack. The soldiers were the first Canadians to die in combat since the Korean War.

"I think Canadians need to see this, every Canadian. It says we care about these soldiers," Leger said, as tears rolled down his face.

Ujjal Dosanjh, a Liberal member of Parliament and his party's defense critic, called the media ban "absolutely un-Canadian."

"Dare I say president Harper is following in the footsteps of President Bush?" Dosanjh said.

He said the decision not to lower the flag on Parliament Hill was disrespectful.

"If I dropped dead tomorrow walking the street, that flag would be lowered," said Dosanjh. "I think we owe the soldiers that we've sent into harm's way that kind of respect."

Canadians — the majority of whom applauded their government for declining to join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq — are increasingly concerned about the human toll in Afghanistan.

The 2,300-strong Canadian force took over control of Kandahar from U.S. troops in February.

[Pierre the Great]

He's just taking cues from his long lost buddy Bush. He's a pathetic.

[KoZed]

Aaah, what's the deal with the Pierre Elliot Trudeau avatar?

Take it from a Poli. Sci. graduate: P.E.T. was an egomaniacal power freak obsessed by his own legacy and hidding behind an intellectual image. He screwed up Canada in more ways than he helped it.

Bad, bad man.

[Pierre the Great]

Yeah but he was the last one that actually had ideas. Harper, Martin, Chretien, Campbell didn't have any. Mulroney tried to break up the country.

So you're saying bringing the constitution home was a bad idea along with Bi-lingualism and the charter of rights and freedoms?

[KoZed]

Yeah but he was the last one that actually had ideas. Harper, Martin, Chretien, Campbell didn't have any. Mulroney tried to break up the country.

I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here, because I have no love for any politician, especially not for Harper and Dubya... But even Bush didnt went as far as using something as tyranic as Trudeau's War Measures Act.

In democracy, politicians are nothing but reflection of the masses. There's no politician with ideas right now because the people have too many conflicting ideas. We're living in the age of undifferentiation, of the smaller common denominator. A party with too many ideas, or ideas that are too clear-cut, can't access to power.

Trudeau and most leaders from the 60's/70's were just riding the crest of the Baby Boom's wave. I think in 1969, over 60% of the population was under 18 yrs old. Its easy to have "ideas" when you got one huge homogenous generation backing you up.

Nowadays, you've got divisions all across the board. To please the greater number, you've got to dilute your ideas and policies to the point of uselessness...

Edited April 26, 2006 by KoZed

[Pierre the Great]

The War Measures Act was only used because that was the only option Ottawa had left and Bourassa was the one pushing for the act to be called.

Very true. History would have been differnt if the conservative party elected a Progressive Conservative as its leader instead of an Alliance member.

I know what it is like. I have social tendencies but here in the midwest I'm view as a Communist and all I want for the country is bi-lingualism because the country's main language in 50 years is going to be spanish, some kind of universal health care- 40 million + don't have it and free speech which is being silenced by the fcc.

I want to move to Canada not just because I want to but for my own well being. I'm killing myself down here. But the thing I hate about a republic is that your representives never act in your own interests and you can't implement change like you can in a parliamentary system.

[KoZed]

So you're saying bringing the constitution home was a bad idea along with Bi-lingualism and the charter of rights and freedoms?

The Constitution and Bill of Right was a big fuss for nothing. The admendment procedure of the Constitution is so complex, its impossible to change it. So now instead of being subjects of Great Britain, we're subject of the past and the Supreme Courts.

Bi-lingualism was a huge mistake, a short-sighted anti-Separatism device disguised as a national ideal, completely irrelevant and impraticable in the reality of the country.

Same thing with the "Canadian Mosaic" philosophy. By trying to protect minorities, it also locks them up in isolated ghettos and is a huge obstacle to necessary integration.

And that's just the beginning. In short, Trudeau tried to use the central government (and spending) to do a nation building process similar to what you see in some Third World Countries after colonialist forces have left. A nation imposed by elites never works, because its always remote to the actual reality and diversity of people's daily lives. The result is that now, 20 years later, the Federal political scene is divided along regional lines and philosophies and seemingly incapable of going forward.

The War Measures Act was only used because that was the only option Ottawa had left and Bourassa was the one pushing for the act to be called.

Very true. History would have been differnt if the conservative party elected a Progressive Conservative as its leader instead of an Alliance member.

I know what it is like. I have social tendencies but here in the midwest I'm view as a Communist and all I want for the country is bi-lingualism because the country's main language in 50 years is going to be spanish, some kind of universal health care- 40 million + don't have it and free speech which is being silenced by the fcc.

I want to move to Canada not just because I want to but for my own well being. I'm killing myself down here. But the thing I hate about a republic is that your representives never act in your own interests and you can't implement change like you can in a parliamentary system.

No system is perfect. The weaknesses of the Parliementary system are the strenghts of the Presidential system. The US system is, in theory, pretty well-thought out; its just very badly implemented, mostly because of lobbys and interest groups. But politics is power, and money is the biggest power of them all, so its all "normal".

Canada will definitely have to decentralize itself sooner or later. The Central government, the way it was built by Trudeau, draws his power almost entirely from spending. Welfare states, with an aging population, won't be able to last long under their current form. And provincial provinces can't pick up the slack unless they have more powers.

Big changes coming up, but its an opportunity to come up with something better.

Anyway, nice chat, you seem cool despite your PET avatar. Sorry, the guy just gives me a rash whenever I see him...

Edited April 26, 2006 by KoZed

[revvvrob]

WOW KoZed - very insightful commentary. I've was raised in Montreal - but lived in Missouri, NYC, now Toronto - my wife is from Ohio ... you're right, no system is perfect and the strengths of one system are very often the flaws in the other.

My estimation of you has just risen! Wow! You know more than EHM!