Tuesday, August 21, 2007

A PR Stumble by Harper

You would think that Steve would be extremely careful about how he talks about Canada's Afghanistan war casualties, considering that he seems to think his government just has a "communications" problem (ie. the propaganda just isn't working) when it comes to boosting support for the war. (It's a bit more complicated than that, Steve.)

But today, during his SPP press conference with Bush and Calderon, when Harper was asked about the war he made reference to Pte. Simon Longtin "the first member of Quebec's Van Doos regiment to be killed in Afghanistan" and said, "I note the death obviously...of a...of a Canadian soldier...Longtin, I think was the name". (G & M video at the 45:18 mark)

Frankly, if I was a Longtin family member, friend or military colleague, I would be personally offended that our prime minister would be so blasé about his name. Add to that the massive opposition to the war in Quebec and the fact that Steve is now trying to do whatever he can to gain support in that province and those 5 words speak volumes about his detached attitude. There's simply no excuse for not being sure about the name of a Quebecois soldier who just lost his life in this war that Harper and his cronies continue to pimp.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment