Monthly Archives: April 2007
Special Forces Member Killed
| 4/19/2007 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan, Brave Canadians |
Just as I released the post at the top of my blog for the six Canadians killed Easter Sunday word is released that another Canadian soldier has died in Afghanistan. This one wont be named as he was a member of our special forces. It is not being confirmed that he was a member of the JTF2 force that is operating somewhere in Afghanistan, but it is likely he was.
Ontario Electoral Reform?
| 4/16/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian News |
Well, as often happens things either change or potential for change happens. In Ontario for the last several months 103 Ontarians have been looking at ways of tinkering with how we elect our provincial parliament. Some call it electoral reform, I tend to look at it more as electoral tinkering and I can’t say I’m leaning towards supporting those changes which thankfully, I will have opportunity to vote on it in October.
In my view, our provincial parliament is about a group of locally chosen representatives forming a governing group for the province. That creates voices from all corners of the province. The majority vote of that riding rightly chooses the party that will represent that riding.
There are only two issues I’ve ever had with the way we elect politicians. They are that there is no mechanism for me to be able to signal my displeasure with the leader of a political party even while I support the local candidate and the second being that a population cap should exist for each riding. Every five years ridings should be reviewed to determine if ridings need to be reformed in order to comply with the cap.
That isn’t broke even though it appears the Citizen’s Assembly (as they are named) has lost sight of that simple concept. They have decided that their recommendation to the people of this province is that we should adopt a system they call Mixed Member Proportional to determine our provincial parliament.
Their proposal would take the total number of MPPs back up to 129 members which is about where it was before Harris became Premier. With our increased population that is a logical move. The drawback is that the people of this province will only be electing 90 (instead of the current 103) of those MPPs. That seems like a backward move to me.
Under this system, we’d have two votes, one for the party aka the leader and one for the local candidate. The vote for the leader would be considered to be the popular vote. Each party will have nominated a slate of list candidates before the election through a process they must disclose prior to the election. If a party elects fewer local members than their popular vote candidates from their list will be selected from their list to compensate for the difference.
While this system resolves my issue about the lack of a vote for the leader and the local representative it creates issues. Under the proposed system, 30% of the legislature would consist of those chosen not by the people but by political parties. There is already enough self serving politicians engaged in patronage without condoning it under the name of electoral reform.
This proposed system would mean that only 70% of those in the legislature would be answerable to the people while 30% would be answerable to their respective parties. I would rather stay with the warts of having only one choice to make and each member of the legislature being required to go before the people than what is being proposed.
Seems to me that ridings being strictly set by population distribution would balance the system quite enough. Who gets the popular vote is rather immaterial. If a candidate/leader combination can’t get the support at riding level then they don’t deserve to have a political hack appointed.
Liberal Turmoil?
| 4/13/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
In the last several weeks fifteen Liberal MPs have announced their intentions not to seek re-election, some of them high profile MPs like Paul Martin, Belinda Stronach, Jean Lapierre, Lucienne Robillard, Andy Scott and Jim Peterson. Their intended departure raises questions about what is going on within the party. Is there discontent with Liberal leader Stephanne Dion already? He says no.
As much as my political and social views tend to be liberal, I have difficulty with the Liberal party and their lack of cohesiveness. They don’t seem to be adult enough yet to be able to recognize that leadership is only as good as the willingness to follow. There appears to be within the party those who are not, nor ever could be leaders, who are looking for some magical God to appear to lead them while being all things to all people. Isn’t going to happen folks, so grow up!
Leaders are not always the obvious people and Stephane Dion is one that really wasn’t obvious. That can work both for and against him. He has the unenviable position of being the leader following the great feud (Chretien vs Martin), his every move will and likely has been measured in terms of which side he is perceived as leaning towards. While his strongest challenge seems outwardly to become a recognized entity on the political scene and an alternative to the likes of Harper, it really is to establish himself within the party as Stephane Dion, who is neither a Chretienite or Martinite.
The expected departures of those not standing for re-election could be a sign of trouble in the Liberal camp or they could be an indication that fundamental change is taking place and some aren’t willing to go along for the ride. After a decade of feuding it is not always easy to put down the knives and join forces.
The Liberal party had better get it done and soon. Is Dion the man to get the job done? I don’t really know, what I see of him publicly, I’m not sure he is. He had the ability to come up the middle and take out the two top contenders for the leadership (neither of which I would have voted for) the question is can he position himself in to the middle of the party enough to become a unifying leader?
If he has the intuitiveness and wisdom to quietly build consensus before bringing issues to the table, he might just pull it off. He does need to kill the public perception of him as a whiner which is how many of his responses to Harper’s bullying comes across. You can’t build consensus when you’re perceived as weak and whiny.
I like that he hasn’t yet lowered himself to personal attacks on Harper of the likes that have been launched at him. That takes some strength of character not to respond in kind to low life tactics. Could be hope for him yet. Harper’s attacks on Dion tells me there is more to Dion than meets the eye or Harper wouldn’t be so scared of him. Bullies do give themselves away.
Why Are Our Troops in Afghanistan?
| 4/12/2007 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan, War on Terror |
Anyone reading this blog would know pretty quickly, I’m not a fan of Stephen Harper as Prime Minister of this country. The ONE thing that I can give him his due for is that he inherited a war and has proceeded to do what is needed to make sure our troops can get the job done. Travers at the Toronto Star can’t seem to get the picture clearly, this war started when we signed on to take part in 2002.
What are our troops doing in Afghanistan? If Travers can’t find an answer to that in his role as a journalist, then he needs to get off his duff and find out. If he doesn’t want to leave the safe confines of his office in secure Canada, he could visit the forums at Army.ca and ask the guys who have been carrying out the mission they have been sent on, the guys who are losing friends and comrades, they seem to have a pretty clear picture.
There are few things that can move me to tears, but reading about, watching ramp or repatriation ceremonies or listening to the families of those who have lost our Canadian sons and daughters will do exactly that. It is not easy to write or read about the loss of young Canadians fighting in foreign lands. We can be thankful that historically, the only place young Canadians have died fighting to insure our continuing freedom and security has been in foreign lands.
Maybe the media needs to really listen to those who are doing the dying about what we’re doing in Afghanistan. I listened to one of our soldiers being interviewed just after the death of the six Canadians repatriated last night to Canada. He talked about how the media only talks about the fighting and the deaths, they don’t talk about the progress the troops are seeing. The reporter interviewing him never asked him about the progress he was referring to.
Maybe, while the country is reeling trying to understand what the people on the ground are doing there in the face of eight deaths just this week, the media could do something really responsible and helpful. It is in the media’s hands to be able to do that instead of playing silly bugger politics.
Let the troops talk about what they are seeing that is letting them maintain their commitment to the mission in the face of the deaths some of them are seeing happen first hand. Quit pressing the guys to talk about horrors they are still trying to come to terms with, let them talk about why being there matters to them. Maybe then Canadians could get some balance that will help us understand why those 53 Canadians have died fighting to secure a foreign country.
We Will Remember Them
| 4/12/2007 | Posted by Patti under Brave Canadians |
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:
Mst Cpl Allan Stewart –Afghanistan Apr 11, 2007
Tpr Patrick Pentland –Afghanistan Apr 11, 2007
Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated
Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays
Two More Dead in Afghanistan
| 4/11/2007 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan |
As the plane carrying the bodies of six Canadians killed just three days ago touches down in Trenton, Ontario (just east of me) details are just starting to come out of Afghanistan of two more Canadians have been killed. The soldier’s unit is based in Petewawa but no other details are yet available.
Canadians came under three separate attacks today. The first injured 10 Afghan civilians when a roadside bomb detonated. Later in the day a second bomb seriously injured a Canadian soldier about 38kms from the base. Shortly after, about a kilometer away, a third bomb killed the two Canadians.
As I look up from writing this I see a clip of 6 hearses sitting on the tarmac at Trenton. Later this evening, a convoy of those 6 hearses and 6 limos under police escort will be wisked along Highway 401 towards Toronto. On some overpasses Canadians will stand, paying silent tribute to the bravery of 6 young Canadians as they pass by.
Afghanistan and Vimy Overlap
| 4/10/2007 | Posted by Patti under Afghanistan, Canadian News, War on Terror |
This past weekend has been a bit of a rollercoaster. The commemorations of the Battle of Vimy Ridge took place in France on a piece of soil deeded to Canada in 1922 as Canadian soil in perpetuity. On it stands one of the largest, and in my opinion, powerful memorials in the world.
As Canada prepared for the main ceremonies which took place yesterday, I opened one of our news sites online on Sunday afternoon and was stunned to learn six Canadian soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan. In comparison to the 3600 killed at Vimy Ridge, six doesn’t seem to be a lot however when it is six in one day out of a force of 2500 deploying some of the strongest armaments possible it is every bit as big and real.
The Canadians who scrambled out of cold wet trenches on that bitterly cold morning ninety years ago yesterday were about as protected as I would be if I walked out my back door and someone stood there with a machine gun. The Canadians killed in Afghanistan were in the back of a heavily armoured vehicle, wearing body armour guarding convoys moving into an area of Afghanistan that needs to be cleared of Taliban so power can be restored to the area.
So what is the overlap? They were Canadians, they were serving their country in a far off land to ensure that the fight they had there didn’t reach our shores and most of all, they are dead brave Canadians. Somethings never change.
Our maritime provinces took a direct hit with these deaths. One of the six was from Ontario, the other five from the maritimes. Although I’ve never seen figures breaking down enlistment from the various parts of the country, I suspect that we’d find that the maritime provinces have always pulled above their weight on a per capita basis of those who join up to serve this country. God Bless Them!
The memorial at Vimy while a focal point for a pivotal battle in Canadian history is a monument to all those who gave their lives for King and country in the Great War, the one that was supposed to end all wars. The monument carries the names of 11,000 Canadians who have no known resting place. That means they were either so blown up they couldn’t be identified or are buried where they fell. The scale of human carnage was so great in that war that just getting the wounded off the battlefield was a monumental task.
Some say that the Battle of Vimy Ridge was the defining moment of our country, our coming of age as a nation. I’d say it was a defining moment, one of a series of Canadian achievements in all aspects of our lives. In an era where the power of a nation was still measured in its ability to fight, it was a defining moment placing Canada squarely onto the world stage. The Canadian Corps had fought as a unit and had done in a day what other supposedly more powerful nations hadn’t succeeded in doing in two years.
Our Canadian troops would continue to command respect for their courage and ability from then until today. Even during the worse of the government’s starving our military for funds to properly equip them, the courage and professionalism of our military has never been doubted. Young Canadians joining our military do so knowing they follow in the footsteps of a long line of volunteer citizen soldiers who have distinguished Canada among nations.
The presence of 5,000 teenagers of which 3,600 were representing not just in body but in name one of those who died on that day 90 years ago. As they entered the memorial area wearing their green shirts with the name of their soldier affixed, it makes one wonder if there were really 7,200 parading in, the flesh and blood student and the spirit of the soldier marching smartly beside them, assured that their sacrifice had not yet been forgotten.
We Will Remember Them
| 4/9/2007 | Posted by Patti under Brave Canadians |
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 Donald Lucas –Afghanistan Apr 8, 2007
Pvt Kevin Kennedy –Afghanistan Apr 8, 2007
Cpl Aaron E. Williams –Afghanistan Apr 8, 2007
Pvt David R. Geenslade –Afghanistan Apr 8, 2007
Cpl Christopher P Stannix –Afghanistan Apr 8, 2007
Cpl Brent Poland –Afghanistan Apr 8, 2007
Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated
Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays
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