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No CF-18s left Quebec before vote, officer says
But producer stands by his film's claim
ELIZABETH THOMPSON
The Gazette
Friday, September 09, 2005
The former wing commander of CFB Bagotville denies jet fighters were flown out of Quebec on the eve of the 1995 referendum and says he cancelled or postponed scheduled exercises to avoid lending credence to rumours the planes were being evacuated.
"There was supposed to have been another, larger exercise ... and the planes were supposed to leave Monday (the day of the vote)," retired maj.-gen. Richard Bastien said yesterday.
"At that moment, I asked for the departure to be delayed so that nobody got the wrong impression about it. It was either delayed or completely cancelled," said Bastien, wing commander at the time.
Bastien acknowledged that about five of the bases' 30 operational jets were flown to Beaufort, S.C., at the time of the referendum, but said it was for a joint exercise with the U.S. military that had been planned well in advance.
According to documents retrieved yesterday from CFB Bagotville's pile of paperwork to be shredded, the exercise was called Hornets Nest and was a Dissimilar Air Combat Training Exercise.
Bastien said he did not recall jets also being in Virginia at the time.
Bastien's comments come after a new documentary on the 1995 referendum, Breaking Point, which aired over the last two nights on CBC and Radio-Canada, said Ottawa flew many of the CF-18 fighter jets from the Bagotville base just before the referendum to U.S. air bases in Virginia and South Carolina. The documentary says the planes were flown out for fear they would become pawns in negotiations following a sovereignist victory.
Reached last night, producer Hubert Gendron stood by the documentary, saying the flight logs obtained under the Access to Information law and analyzed by a military expert show at least 16 planes left the base around Oct. 27 and returned Oct. 31, the day after the referendum. Moreover, researchers for the documentary spoke to witnesses who were at Bagotville during that period who told them that, exceptionally, no planes could be seen on the base that weekend.
Gendron said another National Defence source confirmed to researchers that the planes were removed to prevent them from becoming pawns.The Department of National Defence did not return calls from The Gazette Wednesday.
However, Bastien said in yesterday's interview that he had heard rumours a couple of weeks before the vote that his jets were to be flown out of Bagotville in the event of a Yes victory.
"I have to admit that at that time I had heard such a rumour, there was a rumour about two weeks before the event that such a plan existed. I was personally quite concerned because I was the wing commander and if there were any such plans, I should have been made aware so that we were ready to execute them," he recounted.
"I had never heard officially of such a plan, so I had a discussion with my boss to ask him if there was anything to that rumour."
Bastien said he discussed the rumour with both the head of fighter group and the head of air command, pointing out the need to stay non-political and to avoid any activity that could be misinterpreted.
"I was told that there was no such plan and that of course they would support me if we had to cancel activities in order to ensure that any military activity would not be misconstrued or misunderstood by the population."
Bastien said he was very concerned that military personnel on the base, located in the sovereignist heartland of Saguenay-Lac St. Jean, not do anything that could aggravate the situation.
Bastien said he was so concerned that he postponed or cancelled planned exercises to avoid any impression the planes were being removed from the base.
"We were looking at additional exercises and I was ready to cancel them if, for any reason, people could have construed them as being linked to the referendum whatsoever."
The documentary also says that plans were drafted to provide for additional security for military installations across Quebec in the event of a Yes vote.
Bastien, however, said he knows of no plan to increase security at CFB Bagotville in the wake of the referendum, nor would it have been needed because the base already had a high level of security.
"As a matter of fact, I would have found it a little silly to have a plan like that because we were quite capable of responding to any threat that would have come."
The Breaking Point documentary is not the first time there have been reports concerning the referendum and the CF-18 fighters stationed at Bagotville. In 1996, for example, there was a news report that the planes had been fitted with drop tanks just before the referendum to allow them to be flown out in the event of a Yes vote.
However, Bastien said the planes have long had drop tanks - a legacy of the Cold War and the need to fly in the high Arctic. Nor would it have been necessary to install drop tanks to get the planes out of Quebec, he added, pointing out that CF-18 fighters can travel from Bagotville to Toronto on a single tank of gas.
[email protected]
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2005
Ends.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is the reason why journalists are less and less able to take cover under Freedom of the Press provision of the Charter. Who are the so called experts- what documents exactly are they referring to- who is the inside source? I think there ought to be an Somalia like inquiry into the journalistic practices of the CBC, the National Film Board, RDI and the whole rotten ship.
But producer stands by his film's claim
ELIZABETH THOMPSON
The Gazette
Friday, September 09, 2005
The former wing commander of CFB Bagotville denies jet fighters were flown out of Quebec on the eve of the 1995 referendum and says he cancelled or postponed scheduled exercises to avoid lending credence to rumours the planes were being evacuated.
"There was supposed to have been another, larger exercise ... and the planes were supposed to leave Monday (the day of the vote)," retired maj.-gen. Richard Bastien said yesterday.
"At that moment, I asked for the departure to be delayed so that nobody got the wrong impression about it. It was either delayed or completely cancelled," said Bastien, wing commander at the time.
Bastien acknowledged that about five of the bases' 30 operational jets were flown to Beaufort, S.C., at the time of the referendum, but said it was for a joint exercise with the U.S. military that had been planned well in advance.
According to documents retrieved yesterday from CFB Bagotville's pile of paperwork to be shredded, the exercise was called Hornets Nest and was a Dissimilar Air Combat Training Exercise.
Bastien said he did not recall jets also being in Virginia at the time.
Bastien's comments come after a new documentary on the 1995 referendum, Breaking Point, which aired over the last two nights on CBC and Radio-Canada, said Ottawa flew many of the CF-18 fighter jets from the Bagotville base just before the referendum to U.S. air bases in Virginia and South Carolina. The documentary says the planes were flown out for fear they would become pawns in negotiations following a sovereignist victory.
Reached last night, producer Hubert Gendron stood by the documentary, saying the flight logs obtained under the Access to Information law and analyzed by a military expert show at least 16 planes left the base around Oct. 27 and returned Oct. 31, the day after the referendum. Moreover, researchers for the documentary spoke to witnesses who were at Bagotville during that period who told them that, exceptionally, no planes could be seen on the base that weekend.
Gendron said another National Defence source confirmed to researchers that the planes were removed to prevent them from becoming pawns.The Department of National Defence did not return calls from The Gazette Wednesday.
However, Bastien said in yesterday's interview that he had heard rumours a couple of weeks before the vote that his jets were to be flown out of Bagotville in the event of a Yes victory.
"I have to admit that at that time I had heard such a rumour, there was a rumour about two weeks before the event that such a plan existed. I was personally quite concerned because I was the wing commander and if there were any such plans, I should have been made aware so that we were ready to execute them," he recounted.
"I had never heard officially of such a plan, so I had a discussion with my boss to ask him if there was anything to that rumour."
Bastien said he discussed the rumour with both the head of fighter group and the head of air command, pointing out the need to stay non-political and to avoid any activity that could be misinterpreted.
"I was told that there was no such plan and that of course they would support me if we had to cancel activities in order to ensure that any military activity would not be misconstrued or misunderstood by the population."
Bastien said he was very concerned that military personnel on the base, located in the sovereignist heartland of Saguenay-Lac St. Jean, not do anything that could aggravate the situation.
Bastien said he was so concerned that he postponed or cancelled planned exercises to avoid any impression the planes were being removed from the base.
"We were looking at additional exercises and I was ready to cancel them if, for any reason, people could have construed them as being linked to the referendum whatsoever."
The documentary also says that plans were drafted to provide for additional security for military installations across Quebec in the event of a Yes vote.
Bastien, however, said he knows of no plan to increase security at CFB Bagotville in the wake of the referendum, nor would it have been needed because the base already had a high level of security.
"As a matter of fact, I would have found it a little silly to have a plan like that because we were quite capable of responding to any threat that would have come."
The Breaking Point documentary is not the first time there have been reports concerning the referendum and the CF-18 fighters stationed at Bagotville. In 1996, for example, there was a news report that the planes had been fitted with drop tanks just before the referendum to allow them to be flown out in the event of a Yes vote.
However, Bastien said the planes have long had drop tanks - a legacy of the Cold War and the need to fly in the high Arctic. Nor would it have been necessary to install drop tanks to get the planes out of Quebec, he added, pointing out that CF-18 fighters can travel from Bagotville to Toronto on a single tank of gas.
[email protected]
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2005
Ends.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is the reason why journalists are less and less able to take cover under Freedom of the Press provision of the Charter. Who are the so called experts- what documents exactly are they referring to- who is the inside source? I think there ought to be an Somalia like inquiry into the journalistic practices of the CBC, the National Film Board, RDI and the whole rotten ship.
) can seperate peacefully and take any Federal toys they want too - Provided they pay off their share of the debt...
