Tuesday, April 13, 2010

"Government at war with citizens"?

Evidently hyperbole is not lost on John Ibbitson at the Globe and Mail. He is adamant that all information regarding our ongoing military operations should be released to the media, and that failure to do so represents our Government waging war on its own citizenry. "Those outside government insist that in an open democracy everything must be revealed unless there is a compelling reason not to." A compelling reason you say? Like releasing information that could endanger our troops currently deployed in the field? Mr Ibbitson also believes that the Government should disclose detailed information about police investigations before they even begin.

I am outside the Government, and I believe there is information in their possession that should not be immediately released to Kady O'Malley. Our combat operations will end next year. When our troops are out of harm's way, then that would be an excellent time to review those "sensitive" documents and draft our future military policy. Soloman and Milewski were shocked today that one of Afghanistan's Governors is not a nice guy. These people have been in a perpetual state of civil war for how many years? You aren't going to find many Gandhis rising to power in that environment. It is unfortunate that we have to work with people who do not meet the lofty standards of our own democracy, but it is a sovereign country that will need to be able to take care of itself once we leave.

6 comments:

  1. Well, if we are in info crisis now,
    what would Ibbitson call the Chretien years?

    From the Information Commissioners website

    http://www.infocom.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr_spe-rep_rap-spe_rep-car_fic-ren_2008-2009.aspx

    For fiscal year 2004-2005, Citizenship and Immigration received a grade of " F ",

    2008-09 Citizenship and Immigration Canada 5
    A Outstanding

    For fiscal year 2004-2005, Justice received a grade of " F",

    2008-09 Department of Justice Canada 5
    A Outstanding

    For fiscal year 2004-2005, PWGSC received a grade of "D" ( Adscam )

    2008-09 Public Works and Government Services Canada 4.5
    B Above average

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  2. The opposition got a shock today-lol- when Peter McKay told them, Canada does not elect the govenors of Afghanistan.

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  3. Nice, after I posted this the Globe and Mail changed Ibbitson's headline from war on citizens to access of information at crisis point.

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  4. The title to Ibbitson's piece was "Government at war with citizens over right to information"

    but sometime after my post it was changed to:

    "Canadians' access to information at a crisis point"

    What time at night does the Globe and Mail go to press for the next day's paper?

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