Search and rescue on the east coast of Canada is one of those cases where you can complain that all three political parties - provincial and federal - are guilty of playing slimy political games and you’d be right.
The latest move is the return of a CH-146 Griffon helicopter to 444 Squadron in Goose Bay, Labrador.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The return.
Trip 4 used to have three helicopters. In order to send some helicopters to Afghanistan, the Royal Canadian Air Force took one from here and one from there. One came from Goose Bay.
And now that the Afghan deployment is over, Trip 4 is getting its helo back.
Any connection between the two events is entirely coincidental. Well, except when politicians tie the two together in a way that is as disingenuous as other political and media comments on the search and rescue issue..
Defence minister Peter Mackay tied the two issues together:
"This helicopter represents another resource that can contribute to Canada's Search and Rescue system in support of primary responders in this region."
That quote is from CBC.
And intergovernmental affairs minister Peter Penashue said much the same thing:
“That will bring the number of helicopters from two to three and that will give full services to 5 Wing Goose Bay for their needs, as well for any request for ground search and rescue," he told reporters in St. John's.
The rest of the CBC story carried on with the same omissions and distortions used by the Fifth Estate in an earlier story they broadcast.
- srbp -