Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Monday, April 16, 2012

Peter MacKay Relies on Smoke and Mirrors When It Comes to An Announcement of “New” Search and Rescue Funding, Say Critics

On Sunday Defence Watch published a DND press release in which Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced $8.1 million in “new” federal funding for search and rescue prevention and response.

The emails immediately started to come in questioning the claims about “new” funding for SAR. In fact, the funding is part of a regular annual contribution to SAR and not new, say Defence Watch readers.

“Our government understands the importance of investing in new initiatives aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of search and rescue in Canada,” MacKay said in a statement announcing the money. “This money will support projects that build search and rescue capacity and strengthens the response of search and rescue.”

The DND press release continued:

“In 2012-2013, this new funding will allow for the purchase of life-saving equipment and tools; the development of training standards; collaborative interoperability exercises between the Canadian Forces, the Canadian Coast Guard, Parks Canada, and the over 15,000 specially trained air-ground-marine search and rescue volunteers; the development of outreach prevention and awareness programs to targeted audiences like flight safety for private pilots; the building of search and rescue capacity in the marine environment on the coasts; and the development of virtual trainers for the air and marine search and rescue environments.”

As mentioned, Defence Watch readers took issue with the claim about new funding. They say the funding is awarded each year and has been for more than a decade.

The NDP’s Jack Harris also weighed in with this email to Defence Watch: “The New Initiatives Fund is an annual 8.1 million dollar allocation for research, studies, etc. administered by the National Search and Rescue Secretariat,” he wrote. “Been operating since 1988. Part of the National Search and Rescue Program established based on recommendations from the Ocean Ranger Commission. The federal Cabinet also established The National Search and Rescue Secretariat at the same time and the SAR New Initiatives Fund was set up as one element for improving SAR. The annual budget has been $8.1 Million for years. The website calls for proposals annually. NOT new money.”

So Defence Watch went to Peter MacKay’s office to ask about the claims from readers that this $8.1 million was not new money. MacKay’s spokesman Jay Paxton emailed this one line response:

“A new merit list is submitted each year to support search and rescue initiatives.”

So it isn’t exactly “new” money after all. It’s the same money and each year the list with the $8 million worth of new projects is issued annually. The Coast Guard has a list of some of the worthy SAR projects from the New Initiatives Fund that have been funded going back to the year 2000. You can read those here:

So what exactly is going on here? DND sources tell Defence Watch that a couple of things are at play. Mr. MacKay’s office has been trying to show that the government is heavily supportive in search and rescue in the aftermath of the death of Burton Winters and the controversy about the lack of SAR response from the Canadian Forces.  You may note that some of the protests about the lack of SAR response got rather personal, with some in Burton Winters’ community pointing out that the CF eagerly went to pick up Mr. MacKay at a private fishing lodge in a SAR helicopter but wouldn’t come out when asked to search for the 14-year-old boy.

In addition, sources say Mr. MacKay’s office is eager for any kind of “announceables” to show that defence spending is contributing to Canada (see the previous Defence Watch posting about 7 press releases about minor construction contracts in one day).

That quest is, at times, reaching desperation, sources say. As an example, they point to the March 20th press release issued by DND, which NDHQ communications specialists are still talking about. That one had Mr. MacKay announcing a contract for $5,943 for a firm to put some barriers up.

Here is that press release (note the spelling errors were in the original press release):

Minister MacKay Announces Contract Award at the Montreal Garnison

OTTAWA, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – March 20, 2012) – The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, today announced a contract award to Serbec Inc, for the installation of barriers to block the access to the rooves of various armouries of the Montreal Garnison. The contract is valued at $5 943, and will help sustain the economy in the community and region. ”The government is committed to providing the Canadian Forces the facilities and equipment to do their jobs safely and effectively,” said Minister MacKay. The CF is a first-class, modern military delivering excellence at a home and is a strong and reliable partner in the defence of North America making meaningful contributions to international security. The Government of Canada conducted an open, fair, and transparent competition process to award a contract for this project. The Department of National Defence holds a large number of properties all across the country to support the Canadian Forces, including some 21 000 buildings, 2.25 million hectares of land, 5 500 km of roads, and 3 000 km of water, storm, and sewer pipes.

Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: David Pugliese

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