In Search of Unwelcome Facts

The news that Canadian National Defence Minister Peter McKay does not intend to resign over mounting allegations that he either did know or should have known that Afghan detainees transferred by Canadian forces were likely being subject to torture, in spite of top Canadian commander Walter Natynczyk’s blockbuster confirmation that a detainee who was transferred by Canadian forces was tortured, should surprise no one.

Despite their many foibles, about which I have spent many hundreds words on this blog describing, Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are not pushovers. As one commentator put it, the harder the Opposition pushes, the less likely Harper is to throw McKay under the bus — if only to prove he won’t be pushed around by the Opposition.

I know that I’ve been pretty tough on Harper et al. and, honestly, I think rightly so. But let me say that I don’t think that McKay should resign. I mean, I understand why the Opposition is pushing for McKay’s resignation, as Parliament just hit a six-week break and six-weeks can be make or break on an issue like this — the difference between a live issue they can keep at past the New Year or a topic that disappears into the ether. The Opposition needs to keep the pressure up as much as they can for as long as they can and so as partisan as the move might be, it’s where they need to go. But the partisanship of the move is precisely, in my mind, why we need to see a public inquiry — because this issue is far too important to leave up to partisan wrangling. A public inquiry, as time and resource-intensive as it might be, would be an independent accounting of what happened and why.

At the end of the day, Peter McKay needs to stand up and take responsibility for his actions, be they right or wrong. No amount of political point scoring will ensure that the right thing happens, in fact, it often ensures the exact opposite. As Orwell once said,

All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.

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Tags | Afghan, Afghan Detainee scandal, Peter McKay, resigning, torture, Walter Nantynczyk