Yesterday a piece was circulated by The Canadian Press reporting Canadian journalists in Kandahar had restrictions placed on them which virtually made it impossible for them to move freely around either the base or the city in preparing their reports. The report claimed the restrictions mirrored the US approach to journalists in Iraq.

The report mentioned these restrictions didn’t apply to American journalists as that would violate the US Constitution. Hello? When did the Canadian constitution allow these restrictions on Canadian journalists?

Today The Canadian Press reports Defence Minister Peter McKay would be looking into the restrictions which have been temporarily suspended. The matter was raised in Parliament and the usual critics weighed in; Liberal Denis Coderre and Jack Layton who said, “This should be a no-brainer. The Canadian government should be saying it is important for the freedom of the press and for the truth to come to Canadians.” He should know being the Hill’s resident no-brainer. Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier this month, the Pakistani government inked a deal with the Taliban allowing them to impose their extreme form of Islam in the Swat valley. The Swat area is in the largely lawless Northwest regions along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. The Taliban being who they are barely allowed the ink to dry before moving their forces into the neighbouring Buner district.

They have since pulled some of their forces out but reportedly still have about 450 militants still in the area. That’s definitely enough to be terrorising the population. Control of Buner would place the Taliban within about 60km of Islamabad, the seat of government in Pakistan. 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:

Major Michelle Mendes – Afghanistan April 23, 2009

Always Caring — Always Canadian — Never Defeated

Support Our Troops — Wear Red on Fridays

Harper’s Conservatives have moved to attempt to put an end to the gun registry in Canada. The registry was created by the Liberals when in government to register long rifles, handguns having been subject to gun controls for years.

A private member’s bill was tabled in the House of Commons first. The bill submitted by Tory MP Garry Breitkreuz went too far in that it not only eliminted the long gun registry it loosed up controls on some other weapons like machine guns. The Tories then made the rather unusual move of tabling another bill in the Senate instead of the House first.

Since the Senate is Liberal dominated, and the Liberals have to this point vowed to defeat the bill, it appears the Conservatives are trying to appear to be getting rid of the registry while not really getting rid of it. They might make their western Conservative constituency happy by eliminating the registry, it will tick off voters they are trying to win over — like me. Read the rest of this entry »

As I understand it, George Galloway was denied permission to enter Canada as he provided material support to a terrorist organization. Specifically, he led an aid convoy into Gaza and handed over financial aid to the Hamas government which Canada has deemed to be a terrorist organization. I further understand it is illegal for any Canadian to provide support to a terrorist organization.

The Tamil Tigers were declared a terrorist organization by this current government. That would make it illegal to provide support to them. The Tigers have been known to carry out their terrorist behaviour here in this country through extracting ‘insurance’ from Tamil business owners. I don’t think it is a stretch to suggest that Tigers would be involved in our drug trade here in this country in their ongoing efforts to finance their war in Sri Lanka where they are known for pressing children into becoming soldiers for their cause. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m going to say at the outset, I’m a firm believer in a terminally ill person’s right to die with dignity. My personal standard is that the quality of life will have deteriorated to a point that the person is unlikely to enjoy any improvement in what will be an inevitable death. There is room to argue about what defines ‘quality of life’, that for the most part would have to be determined by the person suffering through the illness.

A Vancouver woman, who is otherwise in good health, wants to die alongside her husband. She says that her life would be unliveable without her husband. Her husband is dying from heart disease. I’ve been down that particular path, the spouse of a man dying of heart disease. Twenty years ago in August my husband succumbed. Read the rest of this entry »

The godfather of Canada’s latest fallen hero seems to feel that his goddaughter died for nothing. He believes that Canada’s military should return to its “peacekeeping roots”. Canada’s roots are not in peacekeeping any more than his roots are English instead of French.

In the next few days the remains of Trooper Blais will land at CFB Trenton and like all those who arrived before her, she and her family will travel the Highway of Heroes. On one of those bridges I’ll be standing in my place as a Legion officer to the left of the Canadian flag flying in her honour, saluting her service and sacrifice. I’m assuming her godfather, Mario Blais, will be in one of the vehicles passing under us.

I’d like opportunity to sit down with him and have a quiet talk about the legacy that his goddaughter signed up to. I’d like to talk to him about how his claim (and he’s not the only one to do this) that Canada’s roots are in peacekeeping diminishes the memory of those warriors Karine followed in the footsteps of. I’d like to talk to him about how even peacekeeping missions were not without danger and death, in fact at times the danger was even more while our soldiers were denied access to weaponry to protect themselves. Read the rest of this entry »

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has signed the regulation which gives the Taliban legal control over the Swat Valley near the Afghanistan border. The Taliban came into existence wtih the help of Pakistani security forces.  They were originally meant to operate in controlling Afghanistan after the Russians pulled out in the 1990s.

The Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies have terrorised that area of Pakistan since being pushed from power in Afghanistan. They have used the area to launch attacks against international forces, including Canadians, engaged in trying to bring stability to Afghanistan. They have also used it as a base to attack the Pakistani government. It also appears the attack in Mumbai earlier this year were planned and controlled from this area. Read the rest of this entry »