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Oh, how the ironies abound!
Pearson's Nobel Prize left in dark
Foreign Affairs workers 'are just apoplectic'
GLORIA GALLOWAY
From Friday's Globe and Mail
OTTAWA — There will be no peace when Mexican and American dignitaries, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff, pose for the cameras with Canada's Foreign Minister Friday.
The Nobel Peace Prize that graces the foyer of the Foreign Affairs building in Ottawa has been hidden behind curtains, a projector screen and rows of Canadian, U.S. and Mexican flags. It was awarded in 1957 to former prime minister Lester Pearson — the man for whom the building is named.
The prize, a medal plated in 24-carat gold, as well as the parchment certificate of his award and a bronze statue of Mr. Pearson reclining comfortably in a chair, stand atop three marble pillars near the front doors where visitors can easily peer into the plastic cases that protect them.
But there will be no such viewings during the day-long Security and Prosperity Partnership Ministerial Meeting because the iconic symbols of Canada's positive international influence have been barricaded to make way for a press-conference backdrop.
And Government House, the home of the Governor General is being...
That's exactly my point here.We don't really know Harper.
It's getting to the point where I cringe everytime I come to...
Just what is the point of this story? Is someone attempting to...
14 reader comments | Join the conversation
In fact, they appear to have been bricked off from the public: the image projected on the screen that blocks them from the public is one of a blue brick wall.
Mr. Pearson won the medal for the work he did as Canada's foreign minister acting on behalf of the United Nations to bring an end to the Suez crisis of 1956. A year after he was presented with the honour, he became leader of the Liberal Party and then prime minister in 1963.
Pearson family members said last night that they were not particularly concerned about the barricade that has been erected around the statue and the Nobel prize because it is a temporary measure.
But Keith Martin, the Liberal foreign affairs critic, said he believes the Conservative government has deliberately covered the prize because it is a symbol of Liberal success.
“People who work at [the Pearson building] are beside themselves,†Mr. Martin said. “The Foreign Affairs workers are just apoplectic that the Prime Minister would have the audacity of covering up one of Canada's foreign policy victories and is using that in his propaganda war against the Liberals.â€
This is a way of elevating the Conservatives and diminishing the Liberals, Mr. Martin said. “But these symbols and these victories belong to Canada, they belong to Canadians, they don't belong to any political party,†he added.
Mark Holland, Mr. Martin's Liberal caucus colleague, was even more direct.
“It's symbolic of the fact that they have shifted away from a peacekeeping focus to a far more militaristic one,†he said.
But the Conservatives said yesterday that the Prime Minister's Office had no hand in covering the Nobel prize — and that this is not the first time this type of barrier has been erected around it.
The Protocol department is in charge of setting up the displays, and the curtains are required so cameras will not have to shoot into the light, said Dan Dugas, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Peter MacKay.
“Moving the display, the department tells me, would have been awkward as there is no secure place to store it and it requires extensive handling, as a complex art display would,†Mr. Dugas said.
“The statue, medal and parchment, which form the collection, are part of a permanent exhibit. Due to its historic significance and value, this exhibit is highly protected. Any relocation would place it at unacceptable level of risk of compromise.â€
As for the Liberal criticisms, he said, they are an indication of how far “foreign policy discourse has fallen since the ime of Mr. Pearson.â€
Pearson's Nobel Prize left in dark
Foreign Affairs workers 'are just apoplectic'
GLORIA GALLOWAY
From Friday's Globe and Mail
OTTAWA — There will be no peace when Mexican and American dignitaries, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff, pose for the cameras with Canada's Foreign Minister Friday.
The Nobel Peace Prize that graces the foyer of the Foreign Affairs building in Ottawa has been hidden behind curtains, a projector screen and rows of Canadian, U.S. and Mexican flags. It was awarded in 1957 to former prime minister Lester Pearson — the man for whom the building is named.
The prize, a medal plated in 24-carat gold, as well as the parchment certificate of his award and a bronze statue of Mr. Pearson reclining comfortably in a chair, stand atop three marble pillars near the front doors where visitors can easily peer into the plastic cases that protect them.
But there will be no such viewings during the day-long Security and Prosperity Partnership Ministerial Meeting because the iconic symbols of Canada's positive international influence have been barricaded to make way for a press-conference backdrop.
And Government House, the home of the Governor General is being...
That's exactly my point here.We don't really know Harper.
It's getting to the point where I cringe everytime I come to...
Just what is the point of this story? Is someone attempting to...
14 reader comments | Join the conversation
In fact, they appear to have been bricked off from the public: the image projected on the screen that blocks them from the public is one of a blue brick wall.
Mr. Pearson won the medal for the work he did as Canada's foreign minister acting on behalf of the United Nations to bring an end to the Suez crisis of 1956. A year after he was presented with the honour, he became leader of the Liberal Party and then prime minister in 1963.
Pearson family members said last night that they were not particularly concerned about the barricade that has been erected around the statue and the Nobel prize because it is a temporary measure.
But Keith Martin, the Liberal foreign affairs critic, said he believes the Conservative government has deliberately covered the prize because it is a symbol of Liberal success.
“People who work at [the Pearson building] are beside themselves,†Mr. Martin said. “The Foreign Affairs workers are just apoplectic that the Prime Minister would have the audacity of covering up one of Canada's foreign policy victories and is using that in his propaganda war against the Liberals.â€
This is a way of elevating the Conservatives and diminishing the Liberals, Mr. Martin said. “But these symbols and these victories belong to Canada, they belong to Canadians, they don't belong to any political party,†he added.
Mark Holland, Mr. Martin's Liberal caucus colleague, was even more direct.
“It's symbolic of the fact that they have shifted away from a peacekeeping focus to a far more militaristic one,†he said.
But the Conservatives said yesterday that the Prime Minister's Office had no hand in covering the Nobel prize — and that this is not the first time this type of barrier has been erected around it.
The Protocol department is in charge of setting up the displays, and the curtains are required so cameras will not have to shoot into the light, said Dan Dugas, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Peter MacKay.
“Moving the display, the department tells me, would have been awkward as there is no secure place to store it and it requires extensive handling, as a complex art display would,†Mr. Dugas said.
“The statue, medal and parchment, which form the collection, are part of a permanent exhibit. Due to its historic significance and value, this exhibit is highly protected. Any relocation would place it at unacceptable level of risk of compromise.â€
As for the Liberal criticisms, he said, they are an indication of how far “foreign policy discourse has fallen since the ime of Mr. Pearson.â€