Ex-boss shocked at Bartleman's knowledge

Ottawa: The man who was James Bartleman's boss when Air-India Flight 182 exploded in 1985 says he was shocked to learn that Mr. Bartleman had advance knowledge of the disaster.
Gordon Smith, who was then deputy minister of External Affairs, said his astonishment grew as he watched Mr. Bartleman's televised testimony yesterday at the inquiry into the tragedy that claimed 329 lives.
"I must say, in hearing what he had to say, I was very surprised that I wasn't made aware of this," Mr. Smith said in a telephone interview from Victoria where he is now a professor of politics and public administration.
"I mean, I had responsibilities to keep a minister, in this case [then-external-affairs minister Joe] Clark, informed. And I was astonished that I would not have been told that there was a specific threat of this nature."
Mr. Bartleman, who is now Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario but was then director of security and intelligence in the External Affairs Department, did not raise the matter even after the plane went down, Mr. Smith said.
"Once this affair actually happened, we didn't do much else for several days and I am amazed that this piece of information didn't come up even after the event. But it didn't," he said. "He never thought to bring it forward in all of the countless investigations that went on."
04/05/07 Gloria Galloway & Jane Taber/Globe and Mail, Canada

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Air India May 2007, Foreign May 2007, Safety May 2007