Dr. Carolyn Bennett - I hate your guts. You made me agree with a conservative.
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq wasn’t satisfied. She told the CBC, “We are in a pandemic situation where Dr. Bennett should know better. First Nations communities should not be used as punching bags for a political party.”
And ... Carolyn.. honestly.. Shame on you.
Liberal MPs apologize for offensive flyer
By Christina Spencer, SUN MEDIA
OTTAWA — Liberal MPs apologized Wednesday for distributing a household flyer that attacks the government’s handling of H1N1 among aboriginals with the slogan “No vaccines, just body bags.”
The flyer, mailed as a message from Liberal health critic Dr. Carolyn Bennett, features a picture of body bags in a lab and a sick aboriginal child.
Grand Chief Ron Evans of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs told a parliamentary committee the flyer was “very disturbing...it’s really troubling to our people.”
The pamphlet arrived on doorsteps after an investigation into an incident in which an official ordered 100 body bags for a First Nations community in Manitoba struggling with an H1N1 outbreak. The investigation concluded there was no ill will and the number was a miscalculation.
Evans said the fact the flyer was apparently sent after the incident was resolved suggested the affair is now being politicized.
Bennett apologized, saying her party’s intentions were honourable.
Using the Cree expression for “I’m sorry,” Bennett said, “We would never do anything to offend; we did believe that raising attention for the real dire needs that we saw when we were [in Manitoba] was uppermost in our minds.”
Fellow Liberal MP Rob Oliphant suggested the flyers had been printed before the outcome of the body-bag investigation was known.
But Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq wasn’t satisfied. She told the CBC, “We are in a pandemic situation where Dr. Bennett should know better.
“First Nations communities should not be used as punching bags for a political party.”
chrisina.spencer@sunmedia.ca
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6 comments:
Even a non-political person like me can easily see this was a set-up. Shame on whoever allowed themselves to be used.
Ward.......No. I have to go walk the dog but this is the wrong story to post and say Bad Liberal Good Conservative.
The pamphlet was wrong; of course they should have thought first but instead went direct to shock advertising. But....to post this story and pronounce “shame”? To me - the attention paid to this story is a stupid red herring and detracts from the message.
Carolynn Bennett definitely f—ked up on this one but I defy anyone to challenge her passion or commitment to health. This is the woman who asks a question in the commons and is responded to with mockery and laughter. That’s a shame.
Shame is spending tax-payer money (yours and mine) on cheques with the Conservative party logos and or signatures paid to support new doorknobs in old buildings.
Shame is spending millions of our money again on advertising falsehoods about the great job they are doing and only dedicating a pittance of our dollars to inform the public of the H1N1 vaccine program. THAT's true shame.
This is all of our money combined the pamphlet sent out by the Liberals (as gross and wrong as it is) was paid for by their membership.
And sorry but ...hate is a strong word. Leona Aglukkaq's quote is quite frankly the pot calling the kettle black.
Somewhere there is a quote she made with regards to the role out of immunization shots - that all Canadians are treated equally. But to quote another dude (some lawyer from the US ) There is no greater inequality than to treat unequal’s as equals. I have no idea how the immunization program is rolling out in remote or fly-in-only communities – but if it’s anything like Ottawa – it’s a mess.
Aglukkaq is a Conservative and she spews the 'media lines’ designed to rouse your ire – cause it’s easier to make people angry than it is to find solutions.
Nope. I said what I meant and I meant what I said. What Bennett did was disgusting. Shame on her. The fact that we can name a dozen politicians who also do disgusting things does not make it ok. How she financed this stunt is not the point.
"...And then there was Warren Kinsella’s usual tasteful work in a Liberal flyer featuring bodybags…”
As revealed in Douglas Bell's blog at G&M
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/douglas-bell/the-brutal-truth/article1345498/
Nowhere do I defend the actions I simple comment on your level of passion for this issue. However as the Liberal health critic Ms Bennett apologised - she didn't authorise or create it – however she did take responsibility for it. It’s not an excuse but I bet she didn’t even see it until the justifiable uproar. So I give credit to an amazing woman for behaving like an adult.
The Liberal Party operates separately from government ...I’m not saying I know but one might ask how come the Aboriginal Peoples Commission (the branch within the party of Métis, First Nation and Inuit people) ok’d the release...heck maybe they did?....It was gross and disgusting apologised for and over. I think the huge amounts of taxpayer dollars spent on advertising to tell us how well the Conservative Party is spending our dollars is grosser. I think of all the cutbacks in programs and services for children, women, youth, families.....I think of our communities without decent schools, running water, or heat and I am enraged. But as you don’t vote in federal elections I guess this is why I am more passionate about what the elected officials are doing with our money than what a Party is doing with theirs.
And really - it’s never about how many wrongs or who does the wrong how many times - but if this is the issue that brings out the passion called hate in you....and not the other crap that elected officials do with our money that rarely gets mentioned. OK. (And for the record everybody is open to using us to make a point including the AFN - the only difference is who, when, why, and how. (Its exploitation any way you look at it.)
So ok - you can hate all you want - you don't vote so those of us who do will pay attention to the other stuff and try to make a difference.
So....because I like to believe I am an engaged citizen I posed the question to the Aboriginal Peoples Commission within the Liberal Party and I expect an answer from them. (Anyone can do this - or even lodge a "I am disgusted" comment at the Liberal Party web site : http://www.liberal.ca/en/party/commissions
Hi,
Can you please tell me whether or not the recent flyer that went out was approved or seen by the APC prior to its release? Does the APC have any influence over how the LIberal party represents issues affecting the Indigenous people of Canada?
Thanks
(real name)
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