The story of the Newfoundland UFO sighting has swept across Canada in the past week. Newfoundlanders are increasingly uneasy with the reassurances coming from the federal government.
Harbour Mille, Newfoundland - Newfoundlanders on Burin Penninsula are shaking their heads over the pronouncement from the Prime Minister's OfficeThursday, asking why a hobbyist would go to sea to launch a model rocket. Defense Minister Peter MacKay waded into the mystery by
saying Friday
"We will provide money to build a landing strip for UFOs at Harbour Mille. No, I'm only kidding. I'm joking. That's a joke."
Eye witness Emmy Pardy spoke to
Canadian Press on Friday, panning the model rocket theory proffered by the Prime Minister's Press Secretary.
"Yeah right - I don't believe that for one minute. It was no model rocket.... You don't even have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out."
Pardy also told Canadian Press that she thought the federal government is covering up the truth.
"To me it sounds like they know what happened and somebody's trying to cover something up. Somebody made a blunder somewhere."
Mackay reassured Newfoundlanders that there was no threat to Canada posed by the unidentified objects seen Monday night. He also said the government was still following up with other nations on testing.
The reluctance of the RCMP to share what they uncovered during their investigation of the objects, combined with the continuing reassurances of the saftey of Canadians by the federal government has not put Newfoundlanders at ease over the sighting. Indeed, while many Canadians have had some fun with the story, others have left comments on news sites saying in effect that if the sighting had been anywhere else but Newfoundland, the government would be taking the matter very seriously.
Peter Mackay was not the only Conservative having a bit of fun with the UFO sighting. The Globe & Mail's
Jane Taber reported that the joke in Ottawa Friday morning was “No it wasn’t Danny going off." The joke refers to Newfoundland Premier, Danny Williams, as well as the UFOs. Taber did not name the jokster, only identifying him or her as a 'Tory strategist.'
Premiere Williams met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper in St. John's on Friday.
VOCM radio reported that Williams said
"... he is confident Canada was not aware of any missile testing that it was not telling the province about."
Contrary to Pardy's belief that a rocket scientist could determine what the object photographed is,
CTV found two rocket scientists with two different opinions about what they saw in the photograph.
