acton@mprvaxa.UUCP (Don Acton) (01/31/86)
So, our government has decided to make Dennis McDermitt (I hope I have all the right number of t's and m's etc) an ambassador. To me McDermitt has always seemed to lack tact, diplomacy and understanding for opposing viewpoints, qualities it would seem that are essential to an ambassador. Of course there is also this other matter of his political persuasion as it doesn't exactly agree with that of our current government's. If the liberals were in power I could understand the appointment. What is the purpose of the appointment? It certainly can't be viewed as an appointment for past services rendered and I am not naive enough to think that an appointment like this doesn't have some ulterior motive. Is Brian trying to win over the labour vote or is he just trying to get Dennis out of the country so that he can't cause any trouble. Maybe Brian is going to come down hard on labour in the alleged February budget and thinks he will have an easier time of it with Dennis gone. Unlike Stephen Lewis, another non-tory, I don't think McDermitt is qualified for the job. In Canada we like to think of ourselves as a tolerant understanding people and I would hope our ambassadors would reflect those qualities. Unfortunately I don't think Mr McDermitt meets those qualifications. If Dennis had been in Iran instead of Ken Taylor would he have helped the Americans get out or left them to fend for themselves? Given McDermitt's past statements I think he would have been inclined to let them struggle and that is not the type of person I want representing Canada. Donald Acton