Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

'That's respect'

by Aaron Wherry on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 12:27pm - 15 Comments

Glen Pearson tells a story about Peter MacKay.

Last week, I received an urgent call from a London, Ontario firefighter who had been on my crew when I was a captain for the department. His mother had passed away suddenly and the family was in shock. Worse still, his brother was a helicopter pilot at the Kandahar airbase and they had no idea how to reach him, especially in such a remote region. “Please help if you can, Glen, the family is finding this really difficult,” my friend said. I offered to do what I could…

And so I took a chance. I had Peter McKay’s email address for his Blackberry and I sent him a brief message explaining the circumstances. As Defense Minister, he was my only real chance of getting things done quickly. Within 30 minutes he returned my message, stating that he was, in fact, in Kabul, and though it was midnight there, he would get on it right away. He kept in touch with me through the night, updating me on the progress he was making.

The next day, the grieving helicopter pilot was on his way to his father’s side, his pain somewhat mollified by a respectful military and an able Defense Minister who overcame significant challenges to get him where he needed to be.

Tags: Afghanistan, Glen Pearson, Kabul, Kandahar, Peter MacKay

More by Aaron Wherry

Wayne

Wow … now this is the sort of story I like to read about. … Real stuff and real news with real people and a warm and fuzzy ending. Way to go Peter. It’s too bad we don’t hear more news like this as I have no doubt there is plenty of it .. way to go Aaron. I may change my recent opinion of the subject matter you post as you just surprised me by posting this article.
Jenn

Thanks for highlighting that story I probably would have missed. It’s wonderful to hear about when an MP, especially a Cabinet Minister, does a job well.

But I don’t know, Mr. Wherry. I’m not sure how your commenters are going to square this with the Liberal-loving media talking point. Oh no, I’ve figured it out. This must be the exception post, the one that proves the rule.

Matthew Fletcher

This isn’t a partisan issue. You, nor anyone else should try and make it one.

The Defence Minister did what any decent person who had the ability to do something would have done. It was the decent human thing to do, not a Conservative thing or an un-Liberal thing. Anyone who sees this as a partisan issue is just way too far gone to help.

LeenieJ

if you know to do good right? could be a leadership bid for the new new Conservative party. keep in mind though that the Fake-Conservative Partisan Trench-Makers extraordinaire have only themselves to blame for the current state of suspicion of their actions; because it all looks like an attempt to gain political points instead of just being decent and human. that is the most unfortunate consequence of the nastiness that has been nurtured and promoted and inflicted on Canada by this govt over the last 3 years while they set the tone in Parliament and govt and this country.

in spite of all this trench warfare foisted on us and the attempt to break us apart and pit us against each other, Canadians still help each other; still care about each other; and are very happy to see that a little bit of the good we expect happens. that is part of our genius; not good news for the Partisan Trench-Makers who have invested only in their vitriol; there really is a G-d.
Gee

ease up Matthew… Jenn was positive about the post. But she is correct to point out that Mr. Wherry does get a lot accusations when someone’s party is looking less positive.
Jenn

I agree what Mr. McKay did isn’t a partisan issue. Read what I said again. The partisan issue was Wherry highlighting the article on his “Liberal-only” blog. And many of the posters here are too far gone for help, as you no doubt know.

However, I must disagree that the Defence Minister did what any decent person would have done. I don’t know exactly what he had to do to get word to this helicopter pilot, or what he had to do to arrange for his transport home, But I expect it was more than tell the nearest General the problem and let him deal with it. I expect he probably had some personal involvement in getting word to this son. And so, I’ll say he probably went beyond the call of what anyone would have done, and he done good.

And now back to my regularly scheduled Conservative-bashing.

herringchoker

Funny, I seem to recall back when I was in the Forces we had a fellow who’s mother died (in Cape Breton) while we were on exercise in Alberta. He asked to go home and was told no. (He was eventually jailed for two weeks after he went AWL to attend the funeral.) I guess he should have emailed the defence minister instead, and everything would have been alright.

LeenieJ

yeah. this kinda reminds me of Ontarian Premier Mike Harris who, after undercutting their parent’s ability to actually provide for their own kids, said that if there were any kids out there who wanted a toy for Xmas they should call him; he would see to it that they got one.

wow. the power of position, eh?

john g

Thanks for flagging this post Aaron. Sad that it’s often as a result of something tragic, but it’s good to see that sometimes things do work well and partisanship on all sides does take a backseat.
William

Aaron, Thanks for pointing out good deeds from two pretty good men in Ottawa and while we are all in a generous mood, there are probably a couple of members from the NDP and Bloc who deserve a little positive praise in their lives.
Jason

McKay for Defence Minister… under Prime Minister Michael Ignatieff.
bettie

Thanks for telling us this story. It’s good to be reminded that we have good people in government.
http://www.savedarfur.org Sophia Geffros

That’s great.
It’s a shame it was a result of such a tragic incident.
Mike T.

Is it rare for an organization which requires up to the minute intelligence to need a full evening and a Minister to get an emergency family message to one of its members?
Critical Reasoning

Thanks, Aaron.