Finally back from his lovely Moroccan vacation, Prime Minister Paul Martin announced yesterday that Canada would double its aid to victims of the tsunami disaster to $80 million, putting us in the forefront of developed nations that have pledged money to the relief effort. Today he followed that up by saying we're blowing by $80 million, but wouldn't say by how much. Meanwhile, the DART is being deployed and will be fully operational in a secure area of eastern Sri Lanka next week.
This is exactly the role Canada should play and I'm pleased. I only wish this reaction had come sooner. I strongly believe the right thing to do with the total of confirmed dead rising by the hour and 150 Canadians missing would have been to cut your vacation short and return home. Once back in Canada, a leader can lead by reassuring us that the DART would be deployed and significant money would be pledged. Instead, we heard nothing of value from Ottawa for almost a full week.
Better late than never I suppose, but it's truly a shame we had to wait to hear we would do the right thing.
