Today's Globe and Mail reports that "Call me Steve" Harper is considering sending his fixers to show the Haitians how to run an election that gets the result you want without a lot of unseemly rioting in the streets.
Exactly who will be sent is something of a mystery. Her Jeanness, the former Governor-General, is already the UNESCO Special Envoy to Haiti (her homeland), but seems to be fully occupied with her onerous duties in, errr, New York.
It's unusual for Walt to pick up a comment from a reader of another website, but the following, from "Moerbrugge", was appended to the G&M article, and says it all better than I can.
Well certainly all the help - and billions of taxpayers dollars - we have sent to Haiti in the past has made things better.
I rate Haiti just behind Afghanistan as Canada's foreign intervention triumph - Canada's has really made a difference. Both countries are enjoying a period of peace prosperity and good governance thanks to our efforts.
In particular the police forces and military of these two countries have benefited from Canadian training and expertise and are functioning at a high level of efficiency and probity.
You can almost feel the gratitude.
With US support, Papa Doc and his son ruled the totally corrupted country for fourty years, without lifting a finger. Why would Canada get involved now?
ReplyDeleteHaiti is never going to change, no matter who is at the top. The people are some of the poorest in the world and will stay that way forever.
Just because the former GG is from Haiti, does that make us obligated? No way!