It was like a proud father announcing triplets. It was the wife, who is nowhere to be seen who did the heavy lifting, but here is the Hair, chest busting the buttons on his perfect suit, making the announcement. Yes, Canadians have found one of the famed Franklin ships that disappeared in Canada’s frigid Arctic waters over 150 years ago. In failing to find the fabled North West Passage Franklin went down in British sea annals like Lord Nelson at Trafalgar. ‘Jolly good show old chap. Tough luck, it killed you.’
While we deride the Hair for his late summer sojourns in the Arctic, there really is more reality than three electoral seats to be won. Canada has a responsibility for the protection and preservation of that part of the world. The melting ice under global warming is changing the Arctic and there is far more than just polar bears that are endangered.
One of the picture opportunities for the photographers and camera crews of the Hair’s expedition this year was the pseudo launching of a small submersible used to explore the sea bed. It was one of those devices with its high resolution cameras that showed us the remains of what must be one of Franklin’s ships. The joke on the scientists was that the ship was found much further south than where the scientists thought they should search. In fact it was much closer to where the Hair held his photo op.
It is sad though that the Hair has enabled the continued search for the Franklin ships while tightening the purse strings on Parks Canada that has been the government’s agency for the search. It took the combination of a public-private funding to keep the search going. It is only by accident that the Hair was able to make the announcement of the find a year before what might be his last election as Prime Minister.
It really was important that the world news media could acknowledge that the find was a Canadian accomplishment. They have had very little positive to report from Canada in recent years. The Hair should have been passing out cigars.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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