Less than an hour after a massive earthquake turned Haiti into an unimaginable hell of death and devastation, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued an extraordinary call to action, remarkably putting the first Canadian rescue team on the stricken island by the next afternoon.
By all accounts, the launch of Operation Hestia (goddess of the hearth) was vintage Harper: No nonsense; no excuses.
It all started Tuesday evening, minutes after word of the Haitian catastrophe reached Harper’s office.
The PM was briefed aboard his jet as he arrived in Ottawa from a day-trip to Quebec, and immediately issued two clear orders from the plane.
First, the forever hands-on Harper demanded he be kept at the centre of the action and fully informed at all times.
Second, he made it crystal-clear that the Canadian government would do everything possible to come to the aid of the Haitian people – immediately.
One insider says everyone from the military brass to the high-ranking bureaucrats got the PM’s message: “He wanted it done, and he wanted it done two hours ago.” Defence Minister Peter MacKay was also sitting in a government jet, his flight delayed on the tarmac at Halifax airport, when his marching orders arrived from the PM’s plane.
Again, the directive from Harper left no room for interpretation.
As one senior official observed: “It was clear to everyone that by the next morning, the prime minister didn’t want to hear what anyone planned to do, but what we had already done.” Still on the runway in Halifax, MacKay was immediately on the phone to Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon.
[More]
Related:
Goldstein: Canada digs deep for Haiti – again
Updates:
2:00 pm EST, January 14th, 2010 — Canada’s disaster response team arrives in Haiti
2:06 pm EST, January 14th, 2010 — Haiti aid delivery faces obstacles
2:09 pm EST, January 14th, 2010 — Ottawa matching Canadians’ Haiti donations
Notes:
Lot’s of aid arriving but the first thing that needs to be sorted out is the question of who is going to be in charge of the rescue. “And No”…not the UN.
Bravo to Stephen Harper and his cabinent for their quick action. I see the Liberal Party of CBC has Frank McKenna on TV as the authority on Haiti????? Kudos to Weston for reporting positively on the Canadian Government. Kudos to CTV and Robert Fife for praising the Quick action of Canada.
The CBC coverage of this disaster is a disgrace. I watched Power & Politics with Evan Solomon for a while last evening . He was interviewing representative from the Liberal and NDP parties and kept asking them the question “has the Harper government done enough to help Haiti”? He seemed to be disappointed when these gentlemen praised the quick response from our government.
Now that’s what I call a leader!!
And while all this is going on, Goodale is on tv saying that if parliament wasn’t prorogued mps could be asking questions on how to help, what could/should/would Canada do. Alberta Aardvark has the speech up. Good thing we are not sitting, those lib mps would be asking questions. Lot different response than what Martin did.
Loved the response the PM gave when he was told that until Haiti officially asked for help, none could be given.-their communication systems are down, the Palace is destroyed, they can’t ask for help.
How will the libs/fb/media turn this quick action against the government as they didn’t follow protocol.
Ralph Goodale. A blowhard windbag, a 3 dressed up like a 9. Just shut up Ralph.
Harper did what every PM in recent memory has done when catastrophe has struck anywhere in the world. He did what Canadians expect.
I think the statement that “people don’t know the difference between Government and Parliament” is a beauty. Many people feel that Government is shut down because there is no Question Period. Maybe this will wake them up.
Don’t count on it Pat. They’re not asleep, just stupid. There absolutely cannot be any other excuse. The information is all out there for anybody with half a brain to educate themselves with.
For readers — this situation is going to go on for a long time and in the short news cycle it is not going to get better. For that reason I bumped the story out of my “Top Six” and moved the info to both “Canada” and “World” this morning.
This does not mean I don’t care. What it does mean is that I understand the media and while they do their thing there is an entire world to cover out here and Haiti is just one of the stories. I’ll continue to report the situation as demonstrated and I think Harper reacted properly in the circumstances. I will also say I agree with Greg.
I note those C-17′s Harper acquired with much bitching and complaining from the left now show their full worth. No more hitching rides — Canada is now a world player and in the days ahead we will prove it.
My country today, led by a PM who knows what he is doing, makes me very proud. And by the way. Those polls that came out during this news cycle (see Bourque) are for dogs. Next time out Harper will be right back where he’s been all along — far ahead of the pack.
Just flipped through the channels checking out who’s covering what. Here is what I found; ABC – General Hospital, CBS – Dr. Phil, NBC – Family Feud, CBC – Ghost Whisperer, FOX – non-stop Haiti disaster with reporters on the ground including embedded with the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marines. Didn’t check out CTV, don’t care seen enough. I’m stuck on Fox where the news is.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28417.html
Re: #10 — I leave my TV on Fox all day. If I want to know something I can rely on Fox to produce it and what does that say about CBC?
Why are we wasting our money on garbage?
“Harper did what every PM in recent memory has done when catastrophe has struck anywhere in the world”
Huh? What planet do you live on Larry. Harper is the first prime minister in living memory that has reacted this quickly and and this effectively. Had his immediate predecessors still be in power we would be waiting for the Russian aircraft rental agency to answer the phone. That is assuming the former prime ministers were actually in Ottawa and not some exotic beach enjoying the ‘Christmas Break’.
Re #11 - ditto plus I use Fox News as my homepage.
National Newswatch has a couple of Haiti articles buried near the bottom of their site.
Well below all the crititcal proroguing based crap. I guess Harper & Haiti aren’t near the top of NNW because there is nothing to slam PMSH. I heard that Jack Layton even had good things to say about PM SH’s quick response.
mid island mike
This is where an amphibious assault ship would be perfect for the task.
Room for 2,000 troops, hospital, power generation, water purification, 10-12 helicopters, command and control, movement of equipment like graders, loaders etc.
Lots of room for medical supplies, food, fuels etc.
mid island mike
Warning, sit down and put all liquid drinks away for fear of disaster on the keyboard.
Craig had positive things to say re the PM’s response and handling of this disaster.
Lloyd, Fife, Craig, what is going on.
These stoolies are trying to run the agenda Mary T and Fay. If there is anything that the lefty msm praise then it is ON THEIR agenda!! It is PC to support Haiti because that is a third world country and the citizen’s of Haiti subsists in a hand to mouth fashion every day. The country is totally dependant on hand outs – this is how the Unca Mo World Government thugs wish to see all of us living. Giving to Haiti is wealth redistribution to the lefties; it is just helping our fellow man in a disaster (not mann or man made), in un agenda driven people like ourselves. Weston is praising the Prime Minister because he wishes to control the political agenda in this nation and redistribution of wealth is on the agenda. End of story. As for the polls, I would venture to guess that most people could not care less about MIMI, Laydown or Ducippe , they are all grey; they do care about PMSH and some Conservative do not like auto bailouts, stimulus spending or Climategate denial. The Conservatives were probably criticising the PM along with the lefty crowd.
You just know that there will be some huge deal where the Unified (Coalition) Opposition will complain and ask for discipline of some kind, an apology at least, over the PM acting IMMEDIATELY, without asking permission of the opposition. Goodale!! What a cull!!
Re#16. Drugs will do that to ya.
I have noticed that the canadian national media seem to focus on OBAMA and the rescue mission team than our very own.
So far, I have not seen the canadian national media report from the canadian rescue team.
Re#20. No kidding. That begs the question, why were/are there no Canadian reporters onboard our C-17 that is already been to Haiti and back once or more? No 5 star hotels to stay in?
It took a while to find it but here is a piece from 05 and how PM Paul Martin and the Liberals handled the tsunami crisis. One big embarrassing photo op, culminating in the promotion of Zenon water (Mo Strong on the board of that company), enabled by a fully compliant Canadian media pool.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/cover050905.htm
Also, I am trying to find out how much of the 425 million in aid promised by Martin ever got to Sri Lanka. Initially it was virtually nothing – it dissappeared into CIDA -but did it eventually get there?
That is a very good point, Ward.
The last number I heard was 50 million that was actually spent on tsunami relief.
But that was probably two years ago. Havent heard a thing since.
A lot of that tsunami money never got to where it was going. Via google-the story is that the 435 million from Canada was over a 5 yr period, so from 2004-2009 it was to be given.
//
Sri Lanka questioned over missing $537m tsunami aid
December 27, 2009
Notice the date.
IMHO a lot of aid money disappears into the wrong places and hands. Reminds me of money given to a group in Canada. No audits, just give, give give.
And I remember one story that a country refused to cancel import taxes on relief coming in and millions of dollars of food and other supplies rotted. Donating charities could not afford them.
Reminds me of money given to a group in Canada. No audits, just give, give give.
Quebec? LOL
#26 and what about the $8 billion per year they get in fedeal transfer payments. Time the government reviewed this hand out system.
I wonder how much money the federal liberal party is contributing to Haiti relief fund?
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