|
|
|||||||
|
Not Meeting Safety Standards |
|||||||
| London, Ontario - Saaturday, March 1, 2003 - by: Derrall Bellaire | |||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
responsibility |
Accidents can and do happen. When an accident involves equipment that could have been replaced, the excuses are harder to accept. In workplaces regulated by Workplace Health and Safety legislation, an offending employer would be subject to fines and other penalties. | ||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
40 year old |
But when the employer is the Government of Canada and the equipment is a 40 year old helicopter - nothing happens. | ||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|
Such was the case onboard the HMCS Iroquois bound for duty in the Arabian Sea. | ||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
1993 |
When the current government came to power in 1993, it was quick to keep the promise of canceling the contract to purchase the EH101 maritime helicopter. The contract had been signed by the former Tory government to replace the then aging Sea King helicopter. | ||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
not enough |
Over the last 10 years, the Chretien/Martin government has not only been slow to replace the Sea King helicopter, but it so massively cut funding that even the recent budget increase is not enough to cover day to day operations. | ||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
worst |
The men and women of Canada's Armed Forces deserve better. They are some of the best trained military personnel in the world. They should not be some of the worst equipped. | ||||||
| This is one accident that did not have to happen. | |||||||
|
|
|||||||
| Reference: | |||||||
| HMCS Iroquois' embarked Sea King crashes, Department of National Defence web site | |||||||
| HMCS Iroquois to Join Operation APOLLO Department of National Defence web site | |||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|
|||||||
