July 20, 2006: "Unnamed sources" ...

Bumped: This fits in with the media reports on July 21, particularly with Peter MacKay's letter. I had written the date incorrectly--fixed now.

Was this created "news" which was then "reported" later?

First, there was the news from the unnamed sources, then the article below was updated Thu. Jul. 20 2006 11:07 AM ET by CTV.ca News Staff. If you didn't read the G&M's negative spin on the Harper government the first time, here is is again. The name of the game is Bash Harper & Conservatives

Confusion and delays in evacuating Canadians from Lebanon have been exasperated by a lack of resources and micromanagement by the Prime Minister's Office, according to a published report.

[the previous report] ... The Globe and Mail reported Thursday that Foreign Affairs officials realized there was a growing problem in Lebanon last week. But, the Prime Minister's communications director, Sandra Buckler, ordered that the situation be kept under wraps, according to the paper's unnamed sources. [....]

On Tuesday, CTV's Janis Mackey Frayer reported that there was chaos in Beirut [....]

[S]ome 30,000 citizens have registered with the Canadian embassy [....]

How fast did they expect people to be evacuated from half way around the world? What would the G&M's Liberals have done? Set up a commission? Study the problem? Bring jut-jaw on TV to talk around it? Dither some more? Certainly, the Liberals didn't buy ships that would have come in handy, but then, who would have expected approximately 40,000 "Canadians" to be Lebanon, some even living in a Hezbollah zone, now a war zone? They live there--that is their home--though they must come to Canada, I assume, often enough to maintain Canadian citizenship and get health services. The beauty of easy-t0-get Canadian citizenship!

From "PMO wanted evacuation crisis 'kept under wraps'"
www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060720
/evacuation_060720/20060720?hub=CanadaAM

Related: Scroll down to the link to Terence Corcoran's excellent article today.