Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Liberal launches political storm by comparing H1N1 response to hurricane Katrina
By David Akin, Canwest News Service
November 2, 2009
OTTAWA ? Liberal party president Alfred Apps suggested Monday that the H1N1 crisis is Prime Minister Stephen Harper's "hurricane Katrina," a metaphor that outraged many Conservatives ? and also had some Liberals suggesting Apps may have hurt his side with an overheated analogy.
In an e-mail circulated to dozens of Liberals ? including the party's public health critic Carolyn Bennett, other MPs, and members of Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's inner circle of advisers ? Apps also lambasted Harper for gambling with the health of Canadians and for failing to act quickly enough to make sure any Canadian who wanted a vaccine for H1N1 had access to one.
"That single, irresponsible abdication of leadership triggered mass confusion," Apps wrote. "Now that Canadians are unnecessarily dying, we are all entitled to ask why this government thought it necessary or appropriate to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on slick partisan advertising promoting its pork-barrel infrastructure plan . . . while at the same time completely ignoring the need to educate the general public about the importance of infection protection and immunization, securing adequate supplies of vaccine and working with the provinces more closely to ensure an efficient and effective delivery system.
"Is the H1N1 pandemic the hurricane Katrina of our own laissez-faire, fend-for-yourself government?" Apps asked. "Reflect on the analogous situation we face. It's as though (Harper's) strategy, if not to turn a blind eye to the threat altogether, was simply to do the bare minimum and hope the problem would go away. There was no 'swine flu action plan' worthy of the name."
In an interview Monday night, Apps said he was not suggesting hurricane Katrina and the Canadian H1N1 crisis are equivalent in terms of the devastation each caused, but he said the two governments of the day approached each crisis from similar ideological standpoints.
"The point is it's the same values that underlie the way they've handled it," Apps said.
Then-U.S. president George. W. Bush and his government were widely criticized for appearing to be insensitive to the plight of hundreds of thousands in New Orleans and the U.S. deep south in the wake of hurricane Katrina and for failing to quickly provide appropriate federal aid to the region.
But the analogy outraged some Conservatives.
"It is very sad and unfortunate that the Ignatieff Liberals are desperately attempting to politicize the H1N1 preparedness efforts of the federal and provincial governments," said Dimitri Soudas, the prime minister's chief spokesman.
Tim Powers, a popular Conservative pundit on political talk shows, said it was a "stupid" comment and one reason why Liberals are trailing in the polls.
Even some Liberals, upon receiving Apps letter, questioned if the hurricane Katrina analogy went too far and would damage Liberal credibility on the file.
"One huge problem is that the public is unlikely to see this as a political issue," said a veteran Liberal, who advised previous Liberal leaders on their communications strategies. "Among many other things, health is a provincial responsibility."
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Li...response+hurricane+Katrina/2174078/story.html
By David Akin, Canwest News Service
November 2, 2009
OTTAWA ? Liberal party president Alfred Apps suggested Monday that the H1N1 crisis is Prime Minister Stephen Harper's "hurricane Katrina," a metaphor that outraged many Conservatives ? and also had some Liberals suggesting Apps may have hurt his side with an overheated analogy.
In an e-mail circulated to dozens of Liberals ? including the party's public health critic Carolyn Bennett, other MPs, and members of Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's inner circle of advisers ? Apps also lambasted Harper for gambling with the health of Canadians and for failing to act quickly enough to make sure any Canadian who wanted a vaccine for H1N1 had access to one.
"That single, irresponsible abdication of leadership triggered mass confusion," Apps wrote. "Now that Canadians are unnecessarily dying, we are all entitled to ask why this government thought it necessary or appropriate to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on slick partisan advertising promoting its pork-barrel infrastructure plan . . . while at the same time completely ignoring the need to educate the general public about the importance of infection protection and immunization, securing adequate supplies of vaccine and working with the provinces more closely to ensure an efficient and effective delivery system.
"Is the H1N1 pandemic the hurricane Katrina of our own laissez-faire, fend-for-yourself government?" Apps asked. "Reflect on the analogous situation we face. It's as though (Harper's) strategy, if not to turn a blind eye to the threat altogether, was simply to do the bare minimum and hope the problem would go away. There was no 'swine flu action plan' worthy of the name."
In an interview Monday night, Apps said he was not suggesting hurricane Katrina and the Canadian H1N1 crisis are equivalent in terms of the devastation each caused, but he said the two governments of the day approached each crisis from similar ideological standpoints.
"The point is it's the same values that underlie the way they've handled it," Apps said.
Then-U.S. president George. W. Bush and his government were widely criticized for appearing to be insensitive to the plight of hundreds of thousands in New Orleans and the U.S. deep south in the wake of hurricane Katrina and for failing to quickly provide appropriate federal aid to the region.
But the analogy outraged some Conservatives.
"It is very sad and unfortunate that the Ignatieff Liberals are desperately attempting to politicize the H1N1 preparedness efforts of the federal and provincial governments," said Dimitri Soudas, the prime minister's chief spokesman.
Tim Powers, a popular Conservative pundit on political talk shows, said it was a "stupid" comment and one reason why Liberals are trailing in the polls.
Even some Liberals, upon receiving Apps letter, questioned if the hurricane Katrina analogy went too far and would damage Liberal credibility on the file.
"One huge problem is that the public is unlikely to see this as a political issue," said a veteran Liberal, who advised previous Liberal leaders on their communications strategies. "Among many other things, health is a provincial responsibility."
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Li...response+hurricane+Katrina/2174078/story.html