MacKay Had Taken Search-and-Rescue Flight Before Fishing Trip

Well, at least we hope the minister truly understands what a search-and-rescue mission entails.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay's explanation for why he requested a military search-and-rescue helicopter to pick him up from a fishing trip in Newfoundland has taken another critical hit. MacKay had said that he called up the Canadian Forces while fishing in July 2010 to take them up on a longstanding offer to go on a search-and-rescue demonstration. As we found out last week, that wasn't really the case. And now, thanks to the dutiful efforts of The Globe and Mail's Steven Chase, we find out that MacKay had, in fact, gone on a search-and-rescue mission aboard a Comorant helicopter just one year before the fishing expedition. The original flight also flew over the exact same region of Newfoundland that MacKay would later visit to go fishing. The original flight, held in July 2009, was a "familiarization" flight to demonstrate to the minister how search-and-rescue operations work. Perhaps while aboard that flight he decided to return to the Gander River to go fishing the next year. We just don't know. The official opposition has been unusually charitable in calling for MacKay to merely apologize for his use of the chopper – one of only three on the East Coast – instead of their usual calls for resignation. How nice!