TransitBart
Senior Member
I think he is ridiculous let alone a trade mission.
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- Thread starter King of Kensington
- Start date
SunriseChampion
Senior Member
I agree that it's shameful to shortchange veterans, but what terrorists are you speaking of?
Khadr?
Let's recap: Omar Khadr was taken to Asia as a child by his father. I doubt he had a choice in the matter.
While there he injured an American soldier with a grenade, making him a child soldier, if anything, and a combatant in the theater of war.
Child soldiers are coerced into fighting. That doesn't make them terrorists. Much like LMVDR in that other thread, I'm not sure you know the meaning of the word.
That grant to Linamar must be a joke. *shakes head* Corporate welfare bums aren't why I pay taxes. I wish the government would realise this.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Someone seem to have forgotten Harper cut veterans funding and Trudeau put money back in - not to the level which is preferred but for Conservatives to use it as a talking point is a joke.
AoD
AoD
Admiral Beez
Superstar
Now Trudeau is shafting the Belgians?
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada...ting-belgian-royalty-business-delegation.html
In 2005 I joined Team Canada with PM Paul Martin for a trade mission to China. That trip included a grand invite to the Great Hall of the People where the Chinese PM opened the event and spoke to the 300-odd Canadian businesspeople, bureaucrats and politcos.
Now, the Belgium king, queen and 150 business leaders come to Canada on a trade mission, and the PM has no time to meet them?
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada...ting-belgian-royalty-business-delegation.html
In 2005 I joined Team Canada with PM Paul Martin for a trade mission to China. That trip included a grand invite to the Great Hall of the People where the Chinese PM opened the event and spoke to the 300-odd Canadian businesspeople, bureaucrats and politcos.
Now, the Belgium king, queen and 150 business leaders come to Canada on a trade mission, and the PM has no time to meet them?
Jasmine18
Senior Member
BurlOak
Senior Member
Trudeau is busy campaigning in Hamilton.
Also, Rideau Hall welcomes Belgian royalty with a German flag
It's just like these guys don't take their jobs seriously - or maybe they just don't have the ability to realize the responsibilities of their jobs.
kEiThZ
Superstar
This is really shocking. I've dealt with protocol offices at Foreign (now Global) Affairs before. They are usually on top of stuff like this. And will usually catch things you never think off.
Faux pas do happen though. I was once at a meeting for Pakistani officers dealing with Afghanistan. Clerk never contacted protocol prior. Ordered ham sandwiches for lunch.
Usually though, if you contact protocol they know all this sort of stuff. And have templates to plan out everything.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Heads should roll for this one - getting flags right is fairly basic stuff - and it isn't a country where the flag changes every 6 months either. And this isn't some no name government office, it is Rideau Hall.
AoD
ADRM
Senior Member
Aren't the protocol people in the GG's office bureaucrats, as opposed to political staffers?
kEiThZ
Superstar
I'd argue that feeding Muslim generals a Ham sandwich when they control the supply lines to several thousand of our troops is far more dangerous than a flag flap for a visiting trade delegation.
The military had its own protocol office exactly for this reason. Largely because military protocol is different. And because pissing off foreign generals can get people killed. Generals are accorded the same respect as ADMs and DMs as per protocol.
In the case of Rideau Hall, I'm actually not even sure they have their own full time foreign protocol staff. I think they rely on Global Affairs. Had a friend who served as one of the GG's ADC. And he setup a lot of stuff, working with Foreign Affairs. I remember being surprised at the time that the GG didn't have an actual staffer for this. Dunno if things have changed in 10 years since he was there.
Methinks this is a contractor faux pas (printed wrong flag) that was missed in the setup. Embarrassing? Sure. Fireable offence? Hardly.
AlvinofDiaspar
Moderator
Oh no question about the faux pas in the case of the Halal violation, but I am not going to let this one slide either. You have staff enough to have to order flags and find a way to put them up but you don't have the smarts to check if they are the right ones? The material impact might be nil, but the sloppiness and process failure demands a response.
AoD
Admiral Beez
Superstar
I agree, and it was discovered before the VIPs arrived, albeit thanks to a sharp eyed Belgian beforehand.
It’s more a snowball effect of Trudeau’s silly trip to India and his other head shaking moments, such as ignoring the Belgium delegation. Had this flag thing been an isolated thing we wouldn’t care.
kEiThZ
Superstar
They are. You can't really blame Trudeau for this one. Somebody at Rideau Hall or the event contractor screwed up.
I'm sure they Belgians had a laugh over it, while the GG probably yelled at his ADCs furiously, and we'll be giving them even more of a grand farewell when they leave.
The questions for politicians are largely about whether Rideau Hall is adequately staffed. It's probably far down on the list of Canadian concerns. But in my time in Ottawa, it was sort of surprising how few resources our head of state had at her disposal. And a good chunk of it largely provided on military generosity, in deference to her position as Commander-in-Chief. Shouldn't be that way though.
It was actually tough to get people who wanted to work as military ADCs for the GG. It's a thankless job where you're a senior military officer essentially serving as a butler. And you work insane hours, travel whenever she wants, and unlike the rest of the military, you have to have 10 pressed uniforms in the closet cause you have to look perfect every day. The only way they ever got people to do it was lots of promotion points from getting a performance evaluation signed by the GG.
ADRM
Senior Member
Funny you say that -- it was Terry Milewski's first question of the Belgian Foreign Minister on CBC this evening, who chuckled, and said "well, it is pretty close to the German flag."
SunriseChampion
Senior Member
That's just........I mean, I feel embarrassed right now.
The Belgian flag, in addition to having vertical bars, has different proportions and the orange-yellow is a different hue to that in the German flag.
I know this isn't done nowadays (societal lack of self-responsibility) but I'd sack the loser who made this particular mistake for being absolutely useless to me.