I didn't see anyone post anything on this, so I figured it's worth mentioning.
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Eighty-nine years ago yesterday, thousands of Canadian soldiers stormed Vimy Ridge in northeastern France, paying with their limbs and their lives for the freedom we now take for granted.
Many historians believe it was during that long and terrible battle that Canada was truly forged as a nation. Almost 3,600 of our soldiers died, and thousands more were wounded. But within five days, they did what no other Allied force had been able to do. They took Vimy from the Germans.
Today, in the shadow of what was perhaps Canada's greatest military victory, Parliament will debate our ongoing military mission in Afghanistan, in which 11 Canadians soldiers and one diplomat have already given their lives, defending our freedoms today.
We must always remember their sacrifices on our behalf, just as we do the 60,000 Canadians who died fighting in the First World War, the 42,000 in the Second World War, the 500 killed in the Korean War and the more than 100 soldiers who have died on UN peacekeeping missions over the past 50 years. That is the price that freedom demands and there is no polite way to say it. The price that freedom demands is blood.
No doubt when Parliament debates our Afghan mission today, some in the opposition parties will refer to Canada's proud tradition of UN peacekeeping and will question whether the Kandahar mission fits within that mandate. But we'll be watching to see if they also put this dangerous task in the context of our equally important history as a warrior nation - a nation whose sons and daughters have always been ready to make the ultimate sacrifice to defend freedom. That is what our troops are now doing in Afghanistan. They are there to prevent it from slipping back into the tyranny of an Islamo-fascist state - the swamp from which al-Qaida, the Taliban and 9-11 emerged.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose first foreign trip was to support our troops in Kandahar, reluctantly agreed to this debate because the opposition holds a majority of seats. Harper was concerned our soldiers would see this debate as Canada having second thoughts about the mission, although he's now satisfied it won't happen. But Harper also agreed to this debate in part because, lacking a majority, he must compromise with the Opposition. This is how democracy works. And since there will be a debate in Parliament today, we think it should be focused on whether our soldiers in Afghanistan have the best equipment and weaponry available, and whether, when there are the inevitable casualties, their families are properly compensated and supported.
Like Harper, we do not see the need for a debate on the mission itself, because Parliament held exactly the same debate barely five months ago, when the previous Liberal government first deployed our soldiers to Kandahar. We supported that mission then and we support it now.
Because some things are above politics. Or ought to be.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Commentary/2006/04/10/1527774.html
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Eighty-nine years ago yesterday, thousands of Canadian soldiers stormed Vimy Ridge in northeastern France, paying with their limbs and their lives for the freedom we now take for granted.
Many historians believe it was during that long and terrible battle that Canada was truly forged as a nation. Almost 3,600 of our soldiers died, and thousands more were wounded. But within five days, they did what no other Allied force had been able to do. They took Vimy from the Germans.
Today, in the shadow of what was perhaps Canada's greatest military victory, Parliament will debate our ongoing military mission in Afghanistan, in which 11 Canadians soldiers and one diplomat have already given their lives, defending our freedoms today.
We must always remember their sacrifices on our behalf, just as we do the 60,000 Canadians who died fighting in the First World War, the 42,000 in the Second World War, the 500 killed in the Korean War and the more than 100 soldiers who have died on UN peacekeeping missions over the past 50 years. That is the price that freedom demands and there is no polite way to say it. The price that freedom demands is blood.
No doubt when Parliament debates our Afghan mission today, some in the opposition parties will refer to Canada's proud tradition of UN peacekeeping and will question whether the Kandahar mission fits within that mandate. But we'll be watching to see if they also put this dangerous task in the context of our equally important history as a warrior nation - a nation whose sons and daughters have always been ready to make the ultimate sacrifice to defend freedom. That is what our troops are now doing in Afghanistan. They are there to prevent it from slipping back into the tyranny of an Islamo-fascist state - the swamp from which al-Qaida, the Taliban and 9-11 emerged.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose first foreign trip was to support our troops in Kandahar, reluctantly agreed to this debate because the opposition holds a majority of seats. Harper was concerned our soldiers would see this debate as Canada having second thoughts about the mission, although he's now satisfied it won't happen. But Harper also agreed to this debate in part because, lacking a majority, he must compromise with the Opposition. This is how democracy works. And since there will be a debate in Parliament today, we think it should be focused on whether our soldiers in Afghanistan have the best equipment and weaponry available, and whether, when there are the inevitable casualties, their families are properly compensated and supported.
Like Harper, we do not see the need for a debate on the mission itself, because Parliament held exactly the same debate barely five months ago, when the previous Liberal government first deployed our soldiers to Kandahar. We supported that mission then and we support it now.
Because some things are above politics. Or ought to be.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Commentary/2006/04/10/1527774.html
