Canada Free Press -- ARCHIVES

Because without America, there is no free world.

Return to Canada Free Press

Message in a bottle:

Paul Martin's ZENON purified water photo op

by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com

January 21, 2005

It was as bald as a message on the world's biggest billboard–Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin swigging from a bottle of purified water in Kalumai, Sri Lanka. The photo op of a lifetime, eclipsed by free advertising for ZENON Environmental Inc. The water quenching the thirst of a Prime Minister was produced by the DaRT (Disaster assistance Response Team) water purifier.

That's the same DaRT that Canadian Foreign affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said the government decided to send to the Sri Lankan region of ampara because it is one way to get aid to Tamils as well as the majority Sinhalese. Make that aid to the Tamil Tigers that the Canadian government has stubbornly refused to add to its list of banned terrorists for two years.

DaRT detail cannot be blamed for this PR stunt. DaRT's 200 Canadian military people are on the Sri Lankan scene not for photo ops or advertising water makers, but to aid the hapless tsunami victims.

On Tuesday alone, DaRT delivered some 35,000 litres of fresh water to people who survived the tsunamis.

Garth Pritchard, a Canadian documentary filmmaker covering the tsunami tragedy in Sri Lanka and reporting back to the Toronto Sun, called DaRT men and women heroes, and he's right.

Pritchard lamented in a Sun column how Martin's visit to the scene of the disaster was a "circus" and a weeklong "photo opportunity".

The picture that went over the photo wires of Martin swigging on a bottle of purified water was not done to promote DaRT. The water-swigging photo seems to be a plug for ZENON.

In 2004, ZENON Environmental was ranked as "Canada's top Corporate Citizen by Corporate Knights, a business publication addressing corporate responsibility".

ZENON, a world leader in providing advanced membrane products and services for water purification, wastewater treatment and water reuse to municipalities sand industries worldwide, has also been selected as Canada's Top 100 Employers for the fifth consecutive year.

Here's the kicker: Martin's mentor Maurice Strong has been a director on the ZENON board of directors since October, 2000.

Strong, special advisor to beleaguered UN Secretary General Kofi annan, among other things, is on the public record for predicting that water will have to be rationed by armed guards as soon as 2031.

Isn't it odd that the same sources voicing alarm about the imminent scarcity of H2O happen to be the same ones who own it, or at least are in a position to control its supply?

Strong claimed that he did not know one of the world's largest aquifers was sitting under the 100,000-acre Baca ranch he and his wife Hannah once owned. The ranch, sold by Strong to flamboyant businessman Gary Boyce and now owned by the Nature Conservancy includes the 154-foot Kit Carson peak in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

according to filmmaker Pritchard, Martin's whole visit to stricken Sri Lanka was a photo opportunity–"with photos set up for the PM in designated spots: Martin on the beach looking out to sea, Martin amid the wreckage, Martin with a homeless kid, Martin taking a token drink of water produced by DaRT."

Pictures of Martin with his wife Sheila walking along a desolate Sri Lankan beach, portraying the multi-millionaire couple, with the Missus bedecked in jewelry were bad enough. But swigging away at a bottle of purified water from a company for which his lifetime mentor Maurice Strong is a director--in the face of thirsty tsunami victims--is nothing less than callous.


Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


Pursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. 107, other copyrighted work is provided for educational purposes, research, critical comment, or debate without profit or payment. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Views are those of authors and not necessarily those of Canada Free Press. Content is Copyright 1997-2018 the individual authors. Site Copyright 1997-2018 Canada Free Press.Com Privacy Statement