They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them

In memory of our fallen Canadians:

Sgt John Faught — Afghanistan January 16, 2010

Sgt Mark Gallagher — RCMP — Haiti January 12, 2010
Supt Douglas Coates — RCMP — Haiti January 12, 2010

Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated

Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays

Having spent some time exploring through the discussions at the Facebook page Canadians Against Proroguing Government I have noticed many of the discussions have centered around the participants view on democratic reform. In view of Harper’s rather disturbing abuse of our parliamentary system, this is pretty understandable.

In the other Westminster style parliamentary systems throughout the world, no evidence has been found of abuse equalling what Harper has carried out with impunity. It appears for many Canadians that has been a wake up call to them to pay attention to what our governments are doing and excess liberties a Prime Minister takes.

It has been interesting reading some of the opinions and ideas expressed on the CAPP page about democratic reform. It has sparked me to think through my own opinions on the subject.

Education

Yes, education is top on my list. The majority of people I’ve spoken to tell me they didn’t receive any education in how our government runs when they were in school unless they chose to take a course in high school. My American friends tell me a half year Civics course is mandatory in the first year of high school. That’s an idea which I believe has merit.

One element which has allowed Harper to abuse our democratic process is his ability to distort perceptions with the public. Let’s use last year’s prorogation as an example. Read the rest of this entry �

Well here we go again, the start of a new year and Harper has once again shuttered Parliament for his own partisan, butt protecting purposes. He’s trying, well actually his spokespeople since he’s too arrogant to bother addressing the people he never listens to anyways, to present this closure of parliament as ‘routine’.

One of his mouthpieces used the example of Chretien proroguing Parliament four times. He failed to note that was four times in TEN years in power. Harper has been in power FOUR years and has prorogued Parliament THREE times, twice in the last year. There is nothing routine about this flip of the bird towards the seat of our democracy.

Just what was Governor General Jean thinking when she allowed this arrogant pup to not only shut down this session but to do so over the phone? The message he sent her was clear, you are my puppet and I don’t even care enough about Canada’s democratic processes to even appear to go through the motions.

As GG, Madame Jean is also Commander in Chief of our Canadian Armed Forces, a role she appears to take rather seriously. She needs to realize that responsibility is more than inspecting or visiting troops or wearing the uniform on Remembrance Day. She has a responsibility to uphold the values of the country those men and women fight to defend.

GG Jean had the power to say ‘no’ to his ‘request’ and certainly had lots of reasons not to grant it.

Read the rest of this entry �

They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them

In memory of our fallen Canadians:

Sgt George Miok — Afghanistan December 30, 2009
Sgt Kirk Taylor — Afghanistan December 30, 2009
Cpl Zachary McCormack — Afghanistan December 30, 2009
Pvt Garrett William Chidley — Afghanistan December 30, 2009

Michelle Lang — embedded journalist — Afghanistan December 30, 2009

Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated

Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays

On Wednesday, just two days before the world celebrated Christmas, I expect the family of Lt. Andrew Nuttall was doing what most Canadians were doing, preparing for Christmas. I expect they were thinking about their loved one serving in Afghanistan. Thinking about how they would celebrate when his deployment was over and he returned home.

I can’t begin to imagine the gut wrenching body slam the Canadian Forces members served them as they arrived at the door to inform them of the death of Lt Nuttall. The news would have been delivered with compassion and as gently as possible but how do you tell anyone news like that gently? Especially just two days before Christmas.

My heart breaks for every Canadian soldier who dies in this war. Lt. Nuttall served with the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI), my late husband also served with the PPCLI in the Korea War. His birthday would have been on Wednesday, he would have been 79 years old. Frank, my late husband, came home safely although having suffered wounds. His best friend who he had grown up with and joined up with died the day after Frank was shipped out. Read the rest of this entry �

They shall grow not old, as we who are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them

In memory of our fallen Canadian:

Lt Andrew R. Nuttall — Afghanistan December 23, 2009

Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated

Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays