What Harper Can Do
From Jim Bennett,
the Prime Minister’s office is a pretty good bully pulpit, and he would be smart to use it to start deconstructing the Trudeavean deconstruction of the old Canada. He should make sure the Canadian troops in Afghanistan are decorated in a visible and public ceremony, exactly what has been denied to them to date. He should make a show of honoring the Canadian WWII veterans conspicuously and repeatedly, and having a substantial ceremony on every one of the big Canadian military anniversaries: Vimy, Dieppe, D-Day, etc. He might bring back the Red Ensign in a historical context — ordering it flown as a “veteran’s memorial flag” on select days like D-Day, and for Canadian ships to fly the Blue Ensign on a suitable day as well, maybe November 11th. It would be very hard for people to criticize him for remembering the veterans more conspicuously. And perhaps he might even consider a surprise visit to the forces in Afghanistan.
albions’ seedlings
As Bennett points out, the opportunity to change the story, change the Canadian narrative, is the one thing which Harper has and will retain for the next year to year and a half without a great deal of opposition.
For all of the Liberals’ nation building rhetoric, the systematic destruction of the symbols of the creation of the Canadian identity, and in particular the depreciation of the valor of the fast disappearing WWII vets, is one of the many reasons why Canada grip on nationhood is so fragile. Bennett’s suggestions would cost nothing but would mean a lot to a vanishing generation and the children of that generation who parents’ memories Harper would be honouring.
Written by jay on January 26th, 2006 with
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