Canada's Martin calls Bush, offers Katrina help

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N01277949.htm

Canada's Martin calls Bush, offers Katrina help

OTTAWA, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, under fire at home for not reacting faster to Hurricane Katrina, called U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday to offer help "in any way and at any time", an official said.

Some opposition politicians are upset that it took Martin's office until late on Wednesday to issue a statement expressing Canada's regrets about the damage done by the hurricane.

A spokesman for Martin said the prime minister had been due to call Bush on Monday to discuss a dispute over lumber. But after the hurricane struck, Canadian officials agreed with the White House to put the call back to Thursday.

"He (Martin) told the President that the country stands ready to help in any way and at any time and that Canadians are quite anxious to help," the spokesman said.

[daleo]

1. Canada offered help days ago, through the deputy PM's office

Splitting hairs about whether it was Martin or Deputy P.M. Anne McLellan is just petty. Now Bush just has to give the go-ahead, but that might take a month of cake eating and guitar lessons.

[Maple]

2. PM's office issued a statement

offering help before that, and are already working with officials on the scene...but really...this is no time for sympathetic phonecalls.

Presumably Bush wouldn't have time to do the 'social thing'

Just get on with it.

[glarius]

3. Here's the offer Canada made days ago....

<snip>
On tonight's news, CTV (Canadian TV) said that support was offered from Canada. Planes are ready to load with food and medical supplies and a system called "DART" which can provide fresh water and medical supplies is standing by. Department of Homeland Security as well as other U.S. agencies were contacted by the Canadian government requesting permission to provide help. Despite this contact, Canada has not been allowed to fly supplies and personnel to the areas hit by Katrina. So, everything here is grounded. Prime Minister Paul Martin is reportedly trying to speak to President Bush tonight or tomorrow to ask him why the U.S. federal government will not allow aid from Canada into Louisiana and Mississippi. That said, the Canadian Red Cross is reportedly allowed into the area.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4543972

[Amonester]

4. Pink Slips waiting to be delivered...

"Department of Homeland Security as well as other U.S. agencies were contacted by the Canadian government requesting permission to provide help. Despite this contact, Canada has not been allowed to fly supplies and personnel to the areas hit by Katrina. So, everything here is grounded."

Department of Homeland Security's and other U.S. agencies' management personnel "waiting" to get fired???

Under this mal-administration, bet your chips they're all gonna get promoted!! :crazy:

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[VegasWolf]

7. The homeland security people are still on vacation. nt

[iverglas]

5. I was just gonna say that!

And here's the link to the earlier, possibly more civil/on point thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1738511&mesg_id=1738511

It's arguable that some of the offers of help from far-flung places are grandstanding and politicking, and might reasonably be viewed with a jaundiced eye. That just isn't the case with Canada.

North-south ties are strong in North America, historically, geographically, culturally, socially -- despite some also very important differences in all those regards. (And that goes for the US and Mexico as well as Canada and the US.)

It makes a hundred kinds of sense for governments on both sides of the border to respond with help virtually automatically in situations like this, without waiting for, or expecting, a formal invitation through a dozen channels.

Interestingly, I heard this morning that the Governor of Louisiana had accepted assistance directly from the government of British Columbia -- and I was hoping that would happen. Leave the damned Bush out of it -- Canadian province to US state works.

Here's what we've got, what do you want and where do you want it? is all that should be expected and needed, and even that should just be a formality. "The plane full of medical supplies is in the air, tell us where to land it" would work -- just like you'd take dinner next door if the neighbours were in a car crash without checking to see whether the kids were hungry first.

To treat Canada like foreigners in this kind of situation is just as ridiculous as it would be for us to treat the US that way next time we have an ice storm that wipes out our infrastructure for a few weeks in the winter.

[LisaM]

9. And the ties between parts of Canada and New Orleans is even stronger

These people share the same blood, for god's sake.

[glarius]

10. You're speaking of the Acadians (Canada's east coast) & Cajuns

I wonder how many Americans know that the Cajuns are descended from the Acandians who originally setted there from Canada....Do they perhaps think the French blood of Cajuns is from France?....

[LisaM]

11. Yes, I am, and they probably all feel sick right now

I would think most Americans know this, though who knows? I have always lived near Canada, but many Americans seem really unacquainted with Canadian history.

[Lisa]

17. the British expelled Acadian settlers from the Maritimes, forcibly ...

Some of them managed to make their way back, after a long and arduous voyage -- but many stayed in Louisiana. Families were split up, and there are many heartwrenching stories of husbands, wives, and children never seeing each other again.

And now the descendants of the Acadians are suffering displacement and grief again, in the aftermath of the hurricane.

[iverglas]

6. "Canadian Rescue Team Sent to Louisiana to Assist in Searches"

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000082&sid=awhmdYLAa_1Q&refer=canada

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- British Columbia,
Canada's westernmost province, sent a search
and rescue team to Louisiana to assist recovery
efforts after Hurricane Katrina devastated the
U.S. Gulf Coast area earlier this week.

Vancouver's heavy urban search and rescue
team flew to Lafayette, Louisiana, following a
request from state officials, British Columbia's
Public Safety Minister John Les said late
yesterday in an e-mailed statement. Other
Canadian provincial governments are ready to
assist, the Canadian Television Network
reported on its Web site.

The team includes 32 search-and-rescue
experts, two doctors, 12 paramedics, four
search dogs and experts trained in handling
hazardous materials and assessing damage, the
government said. The rescue team will be under
the command of the Louisiana State Police, the
statement said.

... Other Canadian provinces, including Ontario and Manitoba, said they are prepared to send electricity repair crews and possibly medical workers, CTV said.

That's the way it's done. Our feds can hardly do anything without the US feds' permission, but the provinces' hands aren't tied by that ... and perhaps fortunately, the Louisiana governor is a Democrat.

[glarius]

8. It's pathetic, even criminal that they have to work AROUND the Bush

administration, in order to bring aid to the American people....DISGUSTING!!!!!!!

[Supersedeas]

16. by passing * may be a wise move.

[iverglas]

12. more stuff Canada's prepared to send/do

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20050831_katrina_template_050831/?hub=CTVNewsAt11

... The 45- person <BC search and rescue> team -- which was dispatched to Southeast Asia after the Boxing Day tsunami -- is equipped to provide emergency room doctors, building engineers and swift water rescue personnel.

... on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Human Health Services contacted Canada's public health agency, asking for an inventory of emergency supplies that Canada could send at a moment's notice. That inventory was completed Wednesday.

McLellan said U.S. officials are still assessing their needs, but Canada will be prepared to send everything from water purification systems to the Canadian military's Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART).

... Elsewhere in Canada, Ontario is looking into whether its medical and hydro workers can help, and Premier Dalton McGuinty spoke to the U.S. ambassador to Canada asking what the province can do.

... Manitoba Premier Gary Doer said officials with Manitoba Hydro have also offered to send staff to the affected areas to help restore power.

... "If you look at the impact of hurricane Katrina, we'll be sending well over 100 Canadian Red Cross workers in the coming weeks," <Canadian Red Cross spokesperson> Charest told Canadian Press from Ottawa.

On that medical supply thing -- it was bureaucrats contacting bureaucrats, and that's exactly how this sort of thing should be done -- and the bureaucrats should be making the actual decisions, too. Politicians not needed, except to express the sympathetic noises and tell the bureaucrats to get on with it.

[AlamoDemoc]

13. More help from Canada

The Canadian Red Cross has set up a fund for online donations.
KELLY PEDRO AND APRIL KEMICK, Free Press Reporters 2005-09-01 03:09:03

Londoners were opening their wallets yesterday to help victims of hurricane Katrina, which has left thousands dead in its path and most of New Orleans under water.

Phones at the London branch of the Canadian Red Cross have been ringing off the hook with calls from people wanting to help.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2005/09/01/1197050-sun.html

Ontario Offers to Help Flood Victims
Cindy Clyne
Wednesday, August 31, 2005 5:31 PM

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has asked the American Ambassador to Canada what the province can do to help flood victims in southern U.S. regions hit by hurricane Katrina.

While, relief efforts by Canadians in disaster zones are usually organized by the federal government, McGuinty says he has asked Wilkins what specifically Ontario can do.

http://www.cfra.com/headlines/index.asp?cat=2&nid=31478

[iverglas]

14. ain't it ironic

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/08/31/Canadian_relief_Katrina20050831.html

But McLellan said medical drugs may be among the first items Canada is called upon to ship south.

They'll just have to trust those Canadian drugs, I guess.

And I guess that's "medical drugs" as distinct from Marc Emery's. ;)

Canadian relief agencies have moved to help the U.S. states hit by Hurricane Katrina.

Winnipeg-based Mennonite Disaster Service said Wednesday it is gathering donations to help send hundreds of volunteers to rebuild homes.

Lois Nickel of the Mennonite group said volunteers from nearby states could be in Alabama by the weekend, helping to clear roads of fallen trees. She said a U.S. team is heading to Gulfport, Mississippi, where they hope to establish a base camp for volunteers next to the city's Mennonite church.

[democracy eh]

15. Canada can also provide plenty of softwood lumber

for the reconstruction of the gulf coast

Maybe the phonecall was about softwood after all?

[fooj]

18. They've been loaded up and ready to go for at leat 36-48 hours!

OMG!

[Karenina]

19. Canada was willing and able

to send water, medical supplies, a few helicopters to drop sandbags on the levee (the U.S. ones never showed up) or maybe pluck some of the stranded souls from a roof or overpass... DAYS AGO. DAYS AGO.

How many are dead now?