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The earthquake in Haiti took an especially devastating toll on the family of former Bloc Québécois MP for Papineau Vivian Barbot. According to Barbot, who was born in Saint-Marc in Haiti, nearly half a dozen members of her extended family perished in the quake that shook the Caribbean nation to its foundations on Jan. 12, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Working on relief
“We are trying to help those who are still there, but it is very difficult so far even to reach people,” she said, adding that phone communications to Haiti have been all but impossible. Barbot is currently participating in relief efforts being coordinated from here, but has no plans to go to Haiti to provide assistance there.
Barbot is not unhappy with the way the Conservative government has been responding to the calamity, although she admits some aspects could be placed in the fast lane. “So far the government seems to be doing what they have to do,” she said, “but there are a few things that have to be accelerated because of the conditions.”
Marshall Plan, says Bloc
With regards to Haiti, the position of the Bloc Québécois is that Canada should support a reconstruction agenda for the country similar to the Marshall Plan which was used by the United States to rehabilitate western Europe after World War II. Starting in early 1948, the Marshall Plan funneled about $13 billion in economic and technical aid to western European countries. Since the end of the war in 1945, the U.S. had already pumped $12 billion into Europe for its recovery.