Michael Campbell is a conservative columnist for the otherwise liberal Vancouver Sun. Today, like many of us in sane-land, when thinking of those who, to quote Heather Robertson, sacrificed “for a collection of traditions they cherished”, Campbell ponders how he “can’t help reflect upon how much our national character has changed since their time”.
While, in my view, Remembrance Day is the most important day for Canadians to commemorate, I worry that it is fast becoming an embarrassment. I say “embarrassment” because it offers such a vivid comparison between the Canada of today and the Canada of yesteryear.
We’ve come from being one of the most respected nations in the world to today’s “soft power.” Words like honour, courage and bravery are so passe, so positively neanderthal in today’s Canada.
Modern Canada was beautifully summed up by Ipsos-Reid’s president, Darrell Bricker, in the aftermath of Sept. 11. In reviewing the polling results regarding a war on terror, Bricker stated that, “Canadians support a war on terrorism until they have to fight one.”
…
Politicians and other community leaders will line up today to participate in what can be accurately described as the great hypocrisy. On the one hand, they’ll applaud the veterans who sacrificed so much, while on the other, many will know they’ve been the architects of the systematic dismantling of the military. It’s so perfectly reflective of Canada today to feature a military that now has more bureaucrats than front-line soldiers.
We have between 8,000 and 11,000 people working at the National Defence Headquarters, directing about 9,100 service personnel. According to military analyst Colonel Howard Marsh (retired), since 1964 the military bureaucracy has grown by 300 per cent, while the number of those serving has dropped by half.
We’re now so “soft” that despite all the self-congratulatory rhetoric to the contrary, the UN ranks Canada 37th in terms of peacekeeping. We’re now the “Downy Soft” of the “soft power” set.
Would it be more apt to officially refer to the Canadian Forces, and remove the word “Armed” from the term?
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