MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Canadian MPs blast Argentinean “stranglehold” on Falklands development.
“If any other country were subject to such economic warfare, the rest of the world would not stay silent. It is time to break that silence.”
The speaker was Canadian Member of Parliament, the Hon, Sarmite Bulte, leader of a Canadian Commonwealth Parliamentary Association delegation to the Falklands. She was speaking on Friday, on the penultimate day of a week-long visit and referring specifically to a number of actions taken by the present Argentine administration vis-à-vis the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), since it came to power; actions which appear to Falkland Islanders to be aimed at isolating them from the South American continent and the rest of the world
"Canada" , continued Ms. Bulte, "can be well-positioned to be a champion of the very important acknowledgement of the Falkland Islands right to self determination and to take that message across the world to all sorts of international forums." Ms.Bulte said that associations like the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPS) were invaluable for the Falklands in assisting to get their message heard in other international forums to which Canada belongs, such as the Organisation of American States (OAS).
Ms.Bulte's view was supported by colleagues: fellow Member of Parliament, the Hon. John Maloney and Senators, the Hon Elizabeth Hubley and the Hon.Consiglio DiNino, who during their visit have had the opportunity to see a lot of the Falklands, meeting a wide cross-section of private citizens as well as representatives of the government and private sector businesses. Actions taken by the Argentine government over the last two years, include the refusal to grant permission for charter flights from Chile to fly through Argentine air space, the refusal to allow extra frequency of scheduled commercial flights to and from Chile and suspected pressure and interference to prevent continental sea freight carriers from extending their global container service to the Falklands.
Mr. Maloney said that in his opinion the Argentinians had "a stranglehold"which was keeping the Falklands down and preventing them moving forward. Much of the diversification planned for the Falklands economy, such as meat and aquaculture exportation depended on ability to ship goods quickly and efficiently from the Islands to new markets. Argentina, said Mr.Maloney, was behaving like a bully and in North American communities bullies and terrorists were not looked on favourably by either governments or the general public, therefore the Falklands had a cause which many people in Canada would find appealing.
Senator Elizabeth Hubley said that the delegation had been impressed by the potential of the Falklands, where new developments like aquaculture were just "ready to bloom", but were also likely to run into transportation difficulties caused by the political situation. She said that during their visit the group had come to the conclusion that the relationship with Argentina and the resolution of this issue, "the best way" had to be "absolutely the top priority" and that though a way to do this had not been discovered yet, it was absolutely crucial to the development of the Falklands.
Falkland Islands Councillor, the Hon. Richard Cockwell, who has been acting as guide to the visitors during their visit said that it had been both a great pleasure and an honour to be associated with what was the first non-UK CPA visit to the Falklands, apart from the Regional Conference held in the Falklands in 2004. Earlier Cllr.Cockwell had explained to MercoPress that the Canadian branch of the CPA had requested the visit as a result of contacts made over time, but particularly during the Plenary Session and Small Country Group meetings of the CPA in Canada, which he and Cllr. Birmingham had attended last year, along with Clerk of Councils, Claudette Anderson.
John Fowler (MP) Stanley
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