Photo Op, Zenon

Caught on tape:

Paul Martin's photo-op from Human Tragedy

The picture that speaks 1,000 words: Jack Layton and Paul Martin in Sri Lanka. To download six-minute video right click and save as if you have problems viewing the clip please click http://www.divx.com/divx/download/

You'll never see this on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

That's because it's incredible, shot-on-site film footage that Prime Minister Paul Martin doesn't want you to see. Canadafreepress.com editors decided to post it here so that you can judge for yourself.

It's never-seen-before film footage taking you back to January 3, 2005 when Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and his entourage made an official visit to tsunami-ravaged Sir Lanka.

Included in the Jan. 3 entourage were Martin's wife, Sheila, PMO staff, Jack Layton, leader of Canada's fourth party, the New Democrat Party, RCMP, and a handful of Canadian journalists, including the CBC.

The film footage was shot by award-winning Canadian documentary journalist, Garth Pritchard, who was on the scene prior to Martin's visit at the invitation of Canada's mercy mission DART team.

You will hear how an RCMP officer tried to relieve Pritchard of his camera. Pritchard's voice can easily be picked up when he tells the officer that, "This is not Canada, this is Sri Lanka."

In order to make the film Internet friendly, Pritchard worked to edit it down from its original 58 minutes.

It starts with the moment the Prime Minister's helicopter lands in Kalumai, and coincides with the very moment that bereaved Sir Lankans are waiting for Padre Captain J.B. Hardwick to say a few words over their lost loved ones, laid out in 13,000 freshly-dug graves.

See for yourself how the film footage shows the padre being pushed aside and how overzealous members of the Martin entourage physically knock a Sri Lankan mourner to the ground–without apology.

Ostensibly, the Prime Minister's official visit to tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka was about Canadian compassion.

See and hear for yourself how he shills the purified water of Zenon Environmental Inc., an Oakville-based company of which his lifetime mentor Maurice Strong is a board member.

See and hear some of the film highlights, including Padre Hardwick trying to do the job he was asked to do: namely honouring the dead. Padre Hardwick calls for a Moment of Silence. Fifteen seconds into the Moment of Silence, Prime Minister Martin ends it, saying, "Let's go."

Swigging from a bottle of Zenon purified water, he says repeatedly, "C'est excellent!"

Martin passes the bottle to wife, Sheila, who swigs from it, pronouncing distinctly, "Better than at home!

NDP leader Jack Layton, who, when he's in Canada, promotes himself to the public as a strong Prime Minister opponent, beams at the PM as the proudest of close personal friends. If you listen, you can clearly hear Layton ask as photographers line up the Zenon photo-op: "Is that the water? Is that the water?"

Mainstream Canadian compassion is understood globally. Average Canadians sent some $40-million to Sri Lanka--that has yet to arrive!

Their prime minister disgraced the image of ‘The Compassionate Canadian' in a single photo op.

But even worse than that, Martin chose to shill for a Canadian-owned water company linked to his personal mentor in a Sri Lanka that was locked in heartbreaking grief.

Not only Canadians would agree that Sri Lankans deserve so much better than that.

Previous and related Stories

So, Canadian International Development Agency--Where's the money?

Last night Padre Captain J. B. Hardwick received a telephone call from Pastor Sunil Sagadavan of Smyrna Church Samagipura, of Hingurana — a small town in the Ampara district, where the Canadian DART (Disaster Assistance Relief Team) spent 40 days helping the victims of the tsunami.

Jack Layton — The Dance Has Begun

As Canadians, where have we seen this all before?

The last two elections come to mind. And the use of the Ottawa press corps to guarantee the Liberals run the country.

The media feeding frenzy has begun.

Now Paul Martin is ranting on television that Harper is in bed with the Separatists — what is he thinking?

What happened to our tsunami aid?

Given the lack of interest in a federal election over the revelations from Judge Gomery's inquiry, one wonders how Canadians will react when they learn that Ottawa is sitting on more than $400 million in tsunami relief.

The outpouring of compassion following the Dec. 26, 2004 disaster was unprecedented in Canadian history. This is a compassionate country, and Canadians gave from their pockets, piggy banks, and bank accounts. The Canadian media told them not to send blankets or food--send money. And they did.

Scandal looming in promised $425 million for Sir Lanka tsunami victims that never arrived?

Even as the association of Canadian Maurice Strong with "Koreagate Man" Tungsun Park was coming under world limelight, Sri Lankans were starting to demand answers about where the $425 million promised by Canada to tsunami victims is.

Four months after the tsunami hit, Sri Lankans still don't have their money. Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin rushed to the scene for a weeklong photo op. Generous Canadians donated record amounts of money on line.

Chairman of Paul Martin company that accepted Saddam's million worked for Power Corp.

The former chairman of the Prime Minister Paul Martin-owned company that accepted $1 million from Saddam Hussein, worked with Martin at the Paul Desmarais-owned Power Corporation.

William Turner was chairman of Cordex Petroleums Inc., an oil and gas exploration and production company based in Alberta with an American subsidiary in Denver, Colo.

Saddam invested one million dollars in Paul Martin-owned Cordex

The Canadian company that Saddam Hussein invested a million dollars in belonged to the Prime Minister of Canada, canadafreepress.com has discovered.

Cordex Petroleum Inc., launched with Saddam's million by Prime Minister Paul Martin's mentor Maurice Strong's son Fred Strong, is listed among Martin's assets to the Federal Ethics committee on November 4, 2003.

PATHETIC!

Last night Prime Minister Paul Martin gave up six minutes of his precious time to speak directly to the Canadian people.

Canadian prime ministers have requested air time to speak to the country about matters of national importance only on rare occasions. The last time this was done was 10 years ago when Jean Chrétien took to the airwaves to attempt to persuade Quebeckers to remain in Canada prior to the October 1995 referendum. Pierre Trudeau addressed Canadians back in 1970 when he implemented the War Measures Act to counter the FLQ crisis.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com