While the rightwing Canadian media like the Ottawa Citizen tried to blame all the army flight mess on Sajjan, the Okanagan Conservatives even went a few notches lower on the low-life scale by spouting racist nonsense at Sajjan. The Conservative MP from the Okanagan finally apologized to Sajjan for a Facebook post linking a critical news report of Sajjan to affirmative action. Former NHL player Dave “Tiger” Williams, who was one of the drunk VIP guests on the “party flight”, was charged with sex assault and assault.
VANCOUVER – Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan was getting heat this week from many quarters for a defence department “party flight” that featured drunk and abusive participants on a public dime.
Meanwhile the rightwing Canadian media like the Ottawa Citizen tried to blame all the army flight mess on Sajjan and the Okanagan Conservatives even went a few notches lower on the low-life scale by spouting racist nonsense at Sajjan.
The Conservative MP from the Okanagan finally apologized to Sajjan for a Facebook post linking a critical news report of Sajjan to affirmative action.
The now-deleted post on the “Okanagan Conservatives” Facebook group read: “This is what happens when you have a cabinet based on affirmative action” with a link to a recent article about Sajjan’s role in a $337,000 morale-boosting trip overseas in which some passengers on a flight were reportedly intoxicated and abusive to staff.
Okanagan-area Conservative MP Dan Albas, who represents Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola, said the post originated from another electoral district association and he asked for it to be removed, reported Global TV.
“Although I did not authorize it, I would like to apologize to (Harjit Sajjan),” Albas wrote in a tweet.
“Minister Sajjan has served our country honourably in many capacities and was undeserving of the comments that were posted.Political debate and discussions should always be about policy and not personal attacks.”
In a tweet, Sajjan called the comments “completely unacceptable,” and said he was happy that “some members of the Conservatives” realized that.
Conservative MPs last week peppered Sajjan with questions about the now infamous December 2017 Canadian Forces “Team Canada” tour.
The tour, with VIPs who were supposed to boost the morale of military personnel deployed overseas, turned into a fiasco. Some VIPs on the RCAF flight to Greece and Latvia were drunk and abusive to the crew, in particular the military flight attendants.
The VIP civilian passengers, including former NHL player Dave “Tiger” Williams were exempt from security screening before the flight, and some — already drunk — walked on to the Canadian Forces aircraft with open alcoholic drinks in their hands.
Two individuals were so drunk they were reported to have urinated themselves. Video taken aboard the plane showed people — including a staff member from Chief of the Defence Staff Gen.
Jon Vance’s office — dancing in the aisles of the aircraft with their drinks as a rock band played at the back of the plane. Others chewed tobacco, in violation of Canadian Forces rules, spitting the slimy juice into cups for flight attendants to clean up, reported the Ottawa Citizen newspaper.
The crew felt they couldn’t do anything to put a halt to the antics as these very important people were Vance’s guests. Some military personnel have labelled the fiasco the “party flight” while some in the RCAF refer to the Dec. 2-3 2017 incident as the “Mardi Gras at 34,000 feet.”
Williams has been charged with sex assault and assault. He denies the charges. The alleged victim is a military flight attendant.
The $337,000 taxpayer-funded trip was planned by Vance’s office. Vance okayed the booze on the RCAF aircraft.
Conservative MPs James Bezan and Cheryl Gallant grilled Sajjan at the Commons defence committee last Thursday about what he knew about the flight and when. They questioned whether his department and the Canadian Forces tried to mislead the public and the news media, namely the Ottawa Citizen, about what happened on the flight.
Sajjan didn’t give a clear answer on when he found out about the problems on the aircraft but said his department and the Canadian Forces don’t mislead journalists. He noted that the priority for the DND and Canadian military is to ensure a harassment-free environment and helping victims of alleged sexual impropriety.
Jody Thomas, Deputy Minister at the Department of National Defence, told parliamentarians there was no attempt to mislead the Ottawa Citizen. “ Information was released as it became available,” Thomas said.
