MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 7 July 12
- “CFB Esquimalt personnel are among more than 1,400 Canadian military members in Hawaii participating in the Rim of the Pacific biennial exercise. The mass training manoeuvre involves 22 nations, 25,000 personnel, more than 42 ships, six submarines and more than 200 aircraft. It is designed to put militaries from Pacific Rim nations through advanced warfare scenarios, allowing them to strengthen their ties and their ability to respond to evolving situations, in a region considered critical to the global supply chain. Canada, including the West Coast navy, will experience a number of firsts during this year’s exercise, the world’s largest of its kind. CFB Esquimalt submarine HMCS Victoria arrived in Hawaiian waters Tuesday and is gearing up to reach additional milestones on the road to becoming fully operational ….”
- AGAIN with the East Coast rescue chopper issues! “Concerns are being raised after a Cougar helicopter was called to airlift an injured man Thursday when the military said it had no Cormorant available in Gander. The three search and rescue Cormorants at 103 Search and Rescue Squadron were out of service at the time of the incident. “It’s a dangerous precedent that they’re setting by having a private company do SAR for us when we have our own Canadian Armed Forces out here not properly armed to do the job,” NDP MHA George Murphy said. The priority for military search assets is air and sea rescues. But federal officials can agree to assist in land searches. Murphy questioned what would have happened if an emergency had developed at sea during the time all Gander Cormorants were out of service. “If the Cougar helicopter was tasked yesterday to do its own job, we would not have had anything in this province, in Newfoundland and Labrador, besides a couple of Griffons in Labrador, to respond to anything that would have been of a crisis nature anywhere else in the province,” Murphy said ….”
- Canada on tracking international small arms: too expensive, bulky and privacy invading “Canada says the United Nations’ push for a global agreement to track and control the trade of firearms is “unrealistic,” and could result in a costly, ineffective new bureaucracy. In talks at the final round of Arms Trade Treaty negotiations, now taking place in New York, federal government officials warned the treaty could result in privacy violations and exorbitant administrative bills. Their objections echo those expressed by the Conservative government about Canada’s now-defunct long-gun registry, repealed recently after a caustic and divisive national debate. Canada’s position on the arms treaty negotiations was outlined in a speech earlier this week by mid-level diplomat Habib Massoud, a deputy director in the department of foreign affairs’ non-proliferation and disarmament section. “In Canada’s view, detailed reporting about each and every transaction can, in certain circumstances, be both impractical and unrealistic,” Massoud said in the speech. “The sheer volume of such transactions would overwhelm virtually any administrative system now in existence.” ….”
- “On behalf of the Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, Eve Adams, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Member of Parliament for Mississauga–Brampton South, will speak at the Canadian Veterans Advocacy’s Second Annual Veterans Rendez-Vous (today in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario) ….”
- Another “Atta Boy!” from the Minister of Public Safety on nabbing bad guys “The Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, and the Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, made the following statement on the sentencing of Mikael Jim Prone. He was sentenced today in Vancouver to 48 months, with credit for eight months served, on charges under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, including one count of human smuggling and other counts related to possessing, importing, exporting or dealing in documentation used to establish a person’s identity ….” – more on the dude in question and his crimes here.
- War of 1812 “When the Harper government set out to commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812, it promised to celebrate a formative event without stirring up anti-American sentiment. A new government video advertisement designed to educate Canadians about the conflict throws all that nuance out the window. To borrow a phrase from the mockumentary This is Spinal Tap, Ottawa’s “Fight For Canada” ad turns the dial up to 11. “Two hundred years ago, the United States invaded our territory,” the narrator tells viewers in a grim and determined voice as war drums and frantic violins play in the background. In what might be better titled “1812, The Summer Movie,” the video – now playing in theatres – is designed to stir up patriotic fervour. It’s a one-minute adrenalin trip full of dark forests, closeups of weapons and battle, and pride at repelling American assailants – one that is more Jerry Bruckheimer than Canadian Heritage Moment ….” - here’s the video so you can judge for yourself (after the commercial, of course).
