2008 Federal Election

David Emerson knows the cost to Canadians of the war in Afghanistan

By Sam Mooney ⋅ September 30, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Or does he?

Maybe I’m wrong in assuming there is an Afghanistan Cost Report.  I figured that it existed because it apparently has a name.  The thing is, it’s been two weeks since Harper said the Government would release it and it’s nowhere to be seen.

According to the PMO – "On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to thank
you for your e-mail, in which you raised an issue which falls within
the portfolio of the Honourable David Emerson, Minister of Foreign
Affairs. The Prime Minister always appreciates receiving mail on
subjects of importance to Canadians" - David Emerson is supposed to be releasing the report. ( Maybe the PMO isn’t familiar with the concept "the buck stops here" – nice job of ducking the issue guys!)

It’s been almost two weeks and there is still no Afghanistan Cost Report.

The response to my email started me thinking.  Stephen Harper doesn’t seem to have the report – if he did he would have released it.  Right?  No reason for the Government to sit on it.  Is there?  Politics and the upcoming election surely wouldn’t keep Mr Harper so busy that he would have time to release the Afghanistan Cost Report til after the election?  Would they?

Don’t you think that Stephen Harper said to David Emerson on September 17th "Dave, I just promised to release the Afghanistan Cost Report.  Take care of that ASAP.  Canadians deserve to know what the war in Afghanistan is costing them, especially now.  It might influence votes."

If I were Harper that’s what I would have said.

And if I were Emerson I would have replied "No problem, Prime Minister, my department is on it.  We’ll have it out to the public within a week"

Is there an Afghanistan Cost Report?

So now I’m wondering, does the Afghanistan Cost Report actually exist?  Because if it does I can’t think of a single valid reason for the Government not to have released it.

I can think of some invalid reasons:

• Harper is acting like a political candidate rather than acting like the Prime Minister.
• The numbers in the report are so horrendous that the government is afraid to tell us what they are.
• The Conservative campaign planners don’t want us to have the information before the election.
• David Emerson forgot to issue the report. (Glad he’s not my MP)
• Someone in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spilt coffee on the report so they have to redo it.
• The Conservative Party is afraid that that if Canadians knew the cost of the war in Afghanistan there’d be a revolution. (Nah, we’re Canadians, we’re polite not revolting)
• There is no Afghanistan Cost Report.

Let’s all raise our voices and say -

David Emerson, please release the Afghanistan Cost Report now. It’s two weeks overdue!

You can email Mr Emerson at:"David Emerson, P.C., M.P." <mina10@dfait-maeci.gc.ca>

If you’d like to see the other party leaders raise the issue – again – here are their email addresses:
Stephane Dion <Dion.S@parl.gc.ca>
Jack Layton <Layton.J@parl.gc.ca>
Gilles Duceppe <duceppe.g@parl.gc.ca>
Elizabeth May <leader@greenparty.ca>