More questions raised about Mackay’s helicopter ride
Government officials didn’t want to hold news conference; emails suggest minister had time to make other travel plans
Government officials were opposed to holding the Ontario media event that prompted Defence Minister Peter MacKay to catch a private ride on a search-and-rescue helicopter from a fishing trip in Newfoundland and Labrador two years ago.
Internal emails obtained by Postmedia News also raise questions over government assertions that MacKay’s attendance at the news conference in London, Ont., was confirmed only a few days before the event took place.
MacKay has been under fire since it was first revealed that a Cormorant helicopter was called in to pick him up from a private fishing camp and ferry him to Gander airport in July 2010 at a cost to taxpayers of roughly $16,000.
Critics accused him of using military assets for personal reasons when other modes of transportation were available, and then misleading Parliament about the issue.
The new documents will do nothing to quell the controversy, which originates with a decision made by the minority Conservative government in July 2009 to award a sole-source, $1-billion contract to a defence company in London to upgrade the Canadian Army’s fleet of light armoured vehicles. MacKay and Andrew Leslie, the army commander at the time, made the announcement at CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick.
They made the announcement as part of a broader $5-billion plan to purchase new vehicles and upgrade existing ones for the army after Afghanistan. In March 2010, the London-based company was about to receive a small $34-million contract as part of that larger $1-billion upgrade.
Government officials initially recommended against the London news conference, saying it was unnecessary.
They suggested issuing a press release instead.
“For your info,” a National Defence communications adviser wrote to her Public Works counterpart on March 18, 2010, “the recommendation I passed along here was not to do an event.”
“Understood,” the Public Works official replied. “I am recommending a news release only.”
It’s unclear who decided to organize a news conference at the London company’s plant despite these views, or when the decision was made, but the documents show the date of the event was moved twice for unknown reasons — once in April 2010 and again in May 2010.
MacKay as well as Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose, who is responsible for all federal government purchasing, were scheduled to attend both previous events.
Then on June 25, 2010, the Privy Council Office, the department that provides direct support to the prime minister and cabinet, notified Public Works the event was confirmed for July 9, 2010. The emails show Defence officials had been notified on June 28.
At that point, they began preparing talking points and communications products that were sent to MacKay’s office for approval.
In addition, while the main planning document for the news conference listed local Conservative MPs Joe Preston and Ed Holder as “TBC,” or to be confirmed, there is no such designation for MacKay or Ambrose.
Eleven days later, MacKay was hoisted from the ground to a waiting Cormorant before being taken to Gander where he caught a waiting Challenger jet to London. After the London news conference, MacKay used the Challenger to fly to his riding in Nova Scotia to attend a lobster dinner.
The total cost of the helicopter pickup was estimated at $16,000, while the Challenger flights were estimated at about $25,000.
MacKay’s director of communications, Jay Paxton, said in an email that the news conference “was important to inform Londoners and Canadians of this work during a fragile economic recovery.”
Paxton also maintained the minister’s attendance at the news conference was only confirmed a few days before the event was to take place.
“Clearly Minister MacKay has many scheduling interests that are always being juggled by staff,” Paxton said, “and he was confirmed for the announcement sometime between July 5th and July 8th.”
The government has previously offered a variety of explanations for the helicopter picking MacKay up from the private fishing camp, called Burnt Rattle.
In addition to saying the minister’s presence in London was confirmed only at the last minute. MacKay has previously said he was participating in a pre-planned search-and-rescue demonstration.
Other Defence emails, however, have indicated the demonstration was a “guise” designed to protect the minister from embarrassment should the pickup be discovered. Those documents showed the minister could have also taken a twohour boat and car ride to get to the airport in Gander.
Other emails show that one day after a TV report that MacKay used the helicopter, military officials began searching for instances of opposition members using military aircraft.