• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Kandahar trip kept hush-hush

Slim

Army.ca Veteran
Inactive
Reaction score
0
Points
410
Kandahar trip kept hush-hush
orces swear guests to secrecy

OTTAWA -- Canadian Olympians and members of the business elite invited to join the military's top soldier on a trip to war-torn Kandahar have been sworn to secrecy about the timing and details of their tour.

And an Ottawa engineering firm set to bid on a multi-million-dollar tender to replace the army's trucks has pulled out of the junket only 48 hours before the scheduled departure.

Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier is surrounding himself with top athletes such as speed skater Catriona Lemay Doan and hockey legend Guy Lafleur as well as a select group of business leaders for a trip to Kandahar, where they will visit the 250 Canadian troops serving in the war zone.

He will also be joined by CBC comedian Rick Mercer, who slammed Conservative defence critic Gordon O'Connor yesterday for criticizing the tour.

Mercer said he won't be taking along a TV crew or entertaining the troops during his brief stint in Kabul and Kandahar, but will be getting a taste of the soldiers' work.

"When I agreed to go I agreed not to talk dates or who is going," Mercer said in an e-mail exchange, adding the value of the trip is purely "personal" for him.

"I have found these trips very personally rewarding in the past and have made a commitment long ago to do what I can when requested by the CF. They asked, I said 'yes,' end of story."

The Canadian Forces remained tight-lipped about their guest list, but did confirm that Dew Engineering's representative is no longer going.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Bill Graham distanced himself from the tour yesterday.

Rene Filiatrault, Graham's director of communications, refused to confirm whether Graham is even going to meet up with Hillier's delegation.

Filiatrault said Graham will head to Kabul aboard a different plane to meet his Afghanistan counterpart and Afghani President Hamid Karzai to discuss Canada's role in providing security and helping to rebuild the country.

 
Great idea actually. Get high profile Canadians who support the military, to go see the troops. It COULD drum up support of the military as well as increased funding in the years to come. Hillier has balls, and I appreciate that. Good on him.

:cdn:
 
Hillier has balls, and I appreciate that. Good on him.

Although I agree...his "balls" may provoke a "last minute cabinet shuffle" and replace our current CDS with another yes man...
 
Lost_Warrior said:
Although I agree...his "balls" may provoke a "last minute cabinet shuffle" and replace our current CDS with another yes man...
That would probably be the straw that would totally neuter the CF.
 
George Wallace said:
That would probably be the straw that would totally neuter the CF.

I have had a feeling for a long time now that the CF has already been neutered. I also believe that General Hillier is doing an excellent job of having the surgery reversed.

I hope, for our benefit, that he goes nowhere for quite awhile yet!! Good on him indeed!!  :salute:
 
What's up with Gordon O'Connor? Lately we've heard him complaining about DND wanted to buy new aircraft without the usual endless tendering process, and now he's complaining about this.
 
He's the defence critic; like all of his ilk, he can't make decisions, only bitch.
 
nULL said:
He's the defence critic; like all of his ilk, he can't make decisions, only *****.

His job, quite simply put, is to whine about anything defense related, whether good or bad, that the gov.t of the day does...
 
Pencil Tech said:
So all parties are really the same when you come right down to it.

No, I didn't say that...Truth to be told I really don't know one way or the other...My comment was stricktly confined to the Defense Critic of the official oppostion and what his job really is.
 
Slim said:
No, I didn't say that...Truth to be told I really don't know one way or the other...My comment was stricktly confined to the Defense Critic of the official oppostion and what his job really is.

But if he just automatically attacks anything the government does on defence, even when it's actually good (like buying new Hercs, Chinooks, Antonovs, etc, without the usual procurement process) isn't he saying that his party doesn't support that and would support the 'traditional" process just because the Liberals are now trying to do it differently?
 
Pencil Tech said:
But if he just automatically attacks anything the government does on defence, even when it's actually good (like buying new Hercs, Chinooks, Antonovs, etc, without the usual procurement process) isn't he saying that his party doesn't support that and would support the 'traditional" process just because the Liberals are now trying to do it differently?

...Who knows...Ask him.

All I can for certain is that his job is to make the defense minister's as hard as he can.
 
Have suffered thru a bunch of defense ministers and even more defense critics... and not one single decision by the defense minister will be greeted favorably by the critis(s).....
either it's too expenseve, too little too late, yada yada yada........ they woulda been bigger and better if they had been bought by their party... its the nature of the beast.... IMHO
 
Personally, I think it comes down to giving Canadians the impression that the defence policies of their government are wrong, irregardless of how inaccurate that may be.

No doubt Infanteer could add to this...

Back on track, I can't really see the point of bringing Olympians and celebrities into this; do their opinions on defence count for anything within the circles that they frequent, or among the people they associate with?
 
Null....
1. our mates get a chance to meet some entertainers and celebs that they would never have a chance to see otherwise.... yup - good justification
2. celebs see and speak to our troops - get a favorable impression of what we are doing over there and talk about it to the public & the press.... yup - good justification
3. celeb visit to Kandahar... gets air time.... yup - good coverage, good justification

win win situation if you ask me

Cheers!
 
You had me at #1, but the others were good points too. I guess I was just thinking of something like this...

http://www.celebrity-websites.com/celebritypetition.htm

-cheers
 
In an ideal world, the opposition critic is there to make the minister justify his/her decisions in public, point out errors and omissions and (perhaps) to suggest how it could have been done better.

Today, politics is becoming theater (and pretty bad theater at that), so the constant whining from the opposition critics is more of the floor show than anything else. Since we now live in an era where the Liberal government refuses to be held accountable and can even change the "rules and regulations" of Parliamentary procedure on a whim without fear of censure, opposition critics will have to go to some fairly absurd lengths to penetrate the armour and shift the sheeple out of their apathy/neutral mode. I look forward to the day when question period is hosted by "Fear Factor" or "Survivor: Siberia"
 
I honestly think that Gen (ret'd) O'Connor would make an absolutely horrible MND.  So far, he has done nothing as defense critic to dispel that thought from my BHG (brain housing group).

He has yet to field anything, anything at all, that he would be doing differently.  He lashes out and complains, but like all such, he is attracting no admirers, and is, in all probability, hurting the Conservative Party.  He is not offering an alternative, he is offering whining and crying.

Here is one guy that the OLO should fire and/or replace, in my opinion.

And yes, I know that Mr O'Connor was a black hatter.  He was even my CO once upon a long time ago............
 
a_majoor said:
In an ideal world, the opposition critic is there to make the minister justify his/her decisions in public, point out errors and omissions and (perhaps) to suggest how it could have been done better.

In other words...it is meant to be a "Devil's Advocate" of sorts.
 
Back
Top