MacKay should apologize about chopper flight, opposition warns

OTTAWA—Defence Minister Peter MacKay should come clean or he will face calls for his resignation over a decision to hitch a ride on a search-and-rescue helicopter, opposition parties say.

MacKay brushed off attacks with clipped answers in the House of Commons Monday, while New Democrats and Liberals accused him of lying to the Commons over his 25-minute flight in 2010.

The minister was hoisted up to a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter from near a Newfoundland fishing lodge on July 9, 2010, and taken to Gander airport to catch a Challenger flight. From there he travelled to London, Ont., for a government announcement.

The minister has maintained that he was met by the search-and-rescue crew in order to witness a long-delayed demonstration of the aircraft’s abilities. But emails obtained by the Star last week showed an air force official ordered the ride to be carried out “under the guise” of a training mission only after MacKay made his request for the trip.

MacKay did not refer to any pre-planned demonstration Monday, but said “any suggestion that there was a re-tasking or diversion of search-and-rescue aircraft from their actual tasking is simply untrue.”

Liberal interim leader Bob Rae said the minister was “like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.”

“The worst thing you can do in the House of Commons is to mislead the House of Commons,” he said.

Both Rae and NDP defence critic David Christopherson said they want MacKay to apologize to fellow MPs. If that does not occur, MacKay may face concerted calls for his resignation.

“We’ll consider that next step when we see why he’s not able to at least say that he’s sorry. We now have him very clearly and categorically telling things to the House that are simply not the case,” Rae said.

International Aid Minister Bev Oda received a rare rebuke from the Commons speaker earlier this year when she allegedly misled MPs about a decision to cut funding to a Canadian development group.

The MacKay case “certainly gets close to the line in terms of resignation and it gets worse and deepens further when he won’t stand up and apologize,” Christopherson said.

“By continuing this made-up pretend story the minister is certainly leaving the impression that he’s misleading Canadians and misleading this Parliament and that’s serious.”

Origin
Source: Toronto Star