In the past 48 hours a number of media stories have popped up saying the Prime Minister Stephen Harper “hid” in a closet during the terror attack on Parliament Hill Wednesday. Twitter was alive with those affected with Harper Derangement Syndrome (HDS) tweeting and retweeting the stories gleefully. The suggestion obvious that the PM was scared and a coward.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Prime Minister was moved into the nearest place of sanctuary by aides once shots were being fired outside the caucus meeting room. Period. Any suggestion that this was anything else is pure nonsense.
As someone who has spent time on the Prime Minister’s security detail I do have some knowledge on the subject unlike some of the vitriolic tweeters gleefully pointing at these cheap journalistic shots.
The Prime Minister’s security detail has increased in the days since 9-11. But the one thing that didn’t change was that they left the PM at the House of Commons and he was free to move between the House, Caucus meetings and his office without the encumbrance of his security detail. So, on Wednesday when an Islamic nutter killed a soldier guarding the War Memorial and took a run at the centre of our democracy, the Prime Minister’s security detail was not in the building but waiting nearby outside Centre Block.
In the caucus room the Prime Minister is the chairman of the meeting, but there are more people in there than MPs. There are a number of staffers and aides who run errands getting information, provide advice and generally make themselves helpful. Security is provided primarily by the HOC security team headed by the Sgt. at Arms who distinguished himself heroically.
When the shots rang out some of those staffers grabbed the PM and bum-rushed him into a closet to keep him safe while while security forces dealt with whatever was going on outside the door of the room. It wasn’t the PM’s choice, it was the appropriate reaction to a fluid and violent attack on our seat of government.
The incident has caused the RCMP to change the protocols relative to protecting our head of government.
The PM’s security detail will now remain with the PM on a 24/7 basis much as the Secret Service does with the US President. Previously, the detail was only with the PM when he was outside the residence or Centre Block. That has now changed.
So, with due respect to those who are trying to gleefully suggest that Harper somehow was cowardly during the attack, please do yourselves a favour, and frankly the rest of us, and dummy up. You haven’t a clue what you are talking about.
-30-
Read Full Article
Well said, Leo. I was disgusted with those cheap headlines, knowing the facts were much different.
Correct on all counts. People don’t seem to get it, they were not protecting Harper, they were protecting the PM.
“…cheap journalistic shots.” Leo, there is nothing ‘journalistic’ about those idiotic tweets.
Great article! Thank you.
Thank you
I am sickened by the depths our media sinks to these days, followed quickly by the resident lefty trolls who can’t wait to stir up more trash on top of it.
Left wing CBC Liberal media who can hardly ever get their facts straight anyway.
Clearly there are many writers who are not sophisticated enough to realize that even private citizens should have security plans which they and their families are to follow in a crisis, these may include communication devices, routes of escape, self-defense and “safe rooms”. It is not just the PM’s security which should be heightened at this point.
There are many insidious ways to attack a country, a fifth-column fourth-estate is but one.
Reblogged this on the Original "Mothers Against Wind Turbines" TM and commented:
We are extremely lucky to have Prime Minister Harper. Some people just don’t realize it. Time will tell!
I am sure that most of those silly childish comments about Harper’s “hiding place” were in fact written, twitted
from many media’s janitor’s supplies rooms
I agree there is a lot of crap being said but I wonder how Harper likes this taste of his own medicine, The Conservatives are constantly putting stuff out there about other politicians that is not true so he needs to be able to suck it up as well. The Trudeau kissing the bride story comes to mind. Harper’s a big boy, I don’t think he needs you to fight his battles for him.
It is important that the media reflect the truth of a situation and not imply nefarious motives through its headlines or story texts. Much of Canada’s news media personnel hate Harper, so to imply he behaved in a cowardly manner during the attack in the Parliament Building is understandable.
Thank God I didn’t hear the news those few days… I’ve had enough of the hate propaganda by main medias against PM Harper. They continually invent their own vitriolic slant on events – to slander and try to tear down our awesome Prime Minister. Thank God the shooter didn’t arrive a few minutes earlier: it could’ve been a massive slaughter! Our Prime Minister is anything but cowardly!!! He goes to some pretty hot spots in the world….to meet with or defend those needing support!! He has taken some pretty brave stands, despite intimidation and global pressure!!! Many of us pray daily for him and his family and all those in authority over us. And for Canada.. We are so blessed to live in peace!
Great post! I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in the NDP and Liberal caucus rooms.
Thank you for writing this, disgusted by some Canadians comments, I will forward this as well
Very well put, and another example of how the rabid hate of the anti-Harper Twidiots often leads to self-parody…