RE: Saluting Graduating S
Watching the News you could see Prime Minister Harper's visit meant alot to the Soldiers who were there. I'm not sure what percentage of the Military supports Harper, any ideas?
There has been no official census to my knowledge, however from personal experience the vast majority of serving men and women support him, if not the Conservative party. For example, my entire section at work (9 people including me) is pro-Harper. There are two Liberals in the section, but they admit that the Liberal Party has never done any good for the CF. Our best hope is Harper. Throughout the Forces the men and women (the majority that is) realize that a Harper-Hillier team means good things for the CF.
To state that the GG is the comd-in-chief is technically correct but practically crap. The PM runs the country, for good or bad. That little thing called democracy means we don't have to listen to a monarch or his/her representatives.
No shit, a Commander-in-Chief that has no knowledge of current military operations or troop capabilities. Yeah, that's a leader.
From what I have seen on CPAC and elsewhere, a majority of members of the Canadian Forces seem quite honoured when they are inspected by Her Excellency. I would think that this is not isolated to the events on television, and rather extends somewhat through the rest of the Forces, too — where a member of the Forces may be in favour of, or opposed to the party of the Prime Minister, if he does in fact inspect the troops, such is not often the case with the Commander-in-Chief in and over Canada.
Sorry Five, but the real truth is that most soldiers find the Governor General a joke. Yes she's technically our Commander-in-Chief yet she has no endearing qualities to us. She has no pull over the Forces, as the Governor Generals of old did, she is in essence, just like the Queen, a figure head. I'd take a review by Prime Minister Harper any day over a review by the GG, because Harper gets things done for me, Michaëlle Jean, doesn't, in the least.
