The Liberal Party has a strange sense of humour. Yesterday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper let rip with a zinger during Question Period when the Liberals were going on about the treatment of Taliban prisoners:
STEPHEN HARPER (Canadian Prime Minister): I can understand the passion that the leader of the opposition and members of his party feel for Taliban prisoners. I just wish occasionally they'd showed the same passion for Canadian soldiers.
Ouch.
Now here's the punchline. The retort is delivered by no less than Denis Coderre:
DENIS CODERRE (Liberal, Quebec): It's a disgrace. The answer of the Prime Minister today was a disgrace. To ask to us make a choice between the Taliban detainees and our troops, I think it's infamous.
Denis Coderre?
Is this the same Denis Coderre who called General Rick Hillier a Conservative Party prop for daring to criticize years of Liberal Party neglect of Canada's military?
Gen. Hillier drew Mr. Coderre's ire after he referred to Liberal cuts to defence spending in the 1990s as a "decade of darkness" during a speech to hundreds at a major military symposium in Ottawa.
"I never thought he would become a prop for the Conservative party," an angry Mr. Coderre fumed afterwards.
Is this the same Denis Coderre that said he would rather that the Canadian Forces beg the Americans or Russians to lease heavy-lift aircraft than buy the aircraft for ourselves?
The government of Canada has finally inked a deal with Boeing Co. to buy four C-17 Globemasters, giant jets the Canadian Air Force will use to transport tanks and other large pieces of military equipment all over the world.
Denis Coderre, the Liberal defence critic, said that, were his party in power, he would cancel the contract.
"We don't need them. If I was Minister of National Defence, I wouldn't go for that. We don't need these C-17s. If I have a better deal to lease, then why do I need to buy these big planes?" Coderre said.
Is this same Denis Coderre who then that the real problem with the C-17 contract was that Quebec would not be getting enough money from it, and not that it was an unnecessary purchase for the military?
The C-17 plan, however, has triggered claims in Canada's House of Commons June 5-7 that since the contract will be awarded to Boeing without competition, Canadian firms would see few opportunities from the acquisition.
"Will the minister do his work and oppose any acquisition of military aircraft for which there are no economic benefits, no jobs for our workers and no technology transfers?" asked Denis Coderre, a Liberal Party member of parliament (MP) from Quebec, where many aerospace firms are based.
The problem is that Denis Coderre has never chosen the troops. Time and again, when the opportunity presented itself to stand on behalf of the troops, to tell them that their needs are important, to actually listen to their complaints, Coderre has reverted to partisan rhetoric, scolding the troops for daring to criticize his Liberal Party, and holding their purchases hostage to his own political agenda.
Denis Coderre stands only for Denis Coderre.
