Conservative Defence Critic James Bezan criticized Canada's 'shameful' lack of transparency
OTTAWA — Answers are being demanded after the Mark Carney government was caught covering up an Iranian missile strike on a Kuwaiti air force base that’s home to a Canadian military outpost.
Camp Canada, the Canadian-operated outpost on Ali Al-Salem Air Base located immediately west of Kuwait City, was struck during the Iranian regime’s ongoing missile attacks against Arab states nearly two weeks ago on March 1, reported French-language Quebec newspaper La Presse.
No Canadians were injured in the attack.
DND took week to reply
“Based on events since Feb. 27, efforts have focused on the force protection of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members, including relocating some within the region, staying in their location if force protection is appropriate, and where applicable, redeploying some back to Canada,” DND told The Canadian Press.
“All CAF personnel in the region are currently safe and accounted for.”
When asked why he didn’t inform Canadians about the strike, the prime minister implied that it wasn’t his job.
“I’m not the only spokesperson for the government,” Carney remarked during a Thursday evening press conference in Yellowknife.
“I’ll just confirm that members of the Canadian Forces are all safe and sound, I reinforce what I said in French that we are not engaged in these actions of the U.S. and Israel, we’re not engaged in offensive actions and we will not be engaged.”
Conservative Defence Critic James Bezan criticized Canada’s “shameful” lack of transparency in concealing the strike from Canadians.
“This is a failure of the government of not wanting to communicate, not being transparent, and not sharing with Canadians exactly how Canada is impacted by this war,” he said on Thursday.
DND communications effort ‘shameful’
Brett Boudreau, a former colonel with DND public affairs and fellow with Canadian Global Affairs Institute, told the Toronto Sun he was surprised at what transpired.
“Not surprised about an incident like that happening since it’s an active operational theatre, but rather how and when we found out,” he said.
“The recent public communications effort by Defence is shameful, the downward trend line in this capability is worrisome, and it is not obvious any senior leadership actions are being taken institutionally to improve.”
Boudreau said this sort of institutional mindset from DND and the Canadian government is fertile ground for both misinformation and disinformation — particularly when officials hide behind all-too-convenient excuses like “operational security.”
“This situation should seriously worry Canadians, and should seriously worry senior CAF leadership who are risking public faith, trust and confidence,” he said.
“The DND is now an organization that thinks confirming the number of soldiers who got frostbite on an exercise is a national secret, and that releasing an image of the RCAF commander signing an F-35 fuselage is too awkward to explain. Secrecy is a regrettable feature — not a bug — of the communications mindset at Defence, and directly hurts public trust in the institution.”
https://torontosun.com/news/national/federal-government-dnd-criticized-for-concealing-canadian-camp-kuwait
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