They Are All In … HIGH DUDGEON.

 

The Generals – both Active and Retired; The Politicians – of all stripes; The Mass Media; and of course - The Man / Woman on the Street.

And exactly what has gotten their collective knickers in a knot – why some poor dude dressed up in pseudo military attire and had the nerve to attend Remembrance Services here in the Nation’s Capital on November 11th. 

I take a different tack – I feel sorry for the poor sod – obviously he is not happy in his own skin and for a moment was trying to be ‘somebody’. 

And in that regard, he got his 15 minutes of fame when interviewed by CBC at the War Memorial.

But he got more than that – he was outed and shamed.  The Police are looking into the possibility of laying Criminal Code charges against him and there are reports he may lose his menial employment consisting of building wooden steps for a local contractor. His marriage could well be in jeopardy too.

But that is not enough for the easily offended – one caller suggested he be put in jail for at least 10 years, another called for him to be forced to undergo basic training to ‘see what the military is all about’. 

Where is their charity … where is their compassion?

I try to think what my late father and his father – my grandfather would have said – veterans of World War 2 and 1 respectively.

I believe they too would have shown sympathy for him – not that they would have approved of what he did, since they would not.  But in the scheme of things such as ISIS creeps cutting off heads and terrorists killing unarmed soldiers here in our own country – his offence is really very small potatoes.

Many have even argued that our safety was threatened by this chap’s mascaraed – but how so - unless he came armed - which he did not. 

And it would be entirely different situation if he impersonated a cop.  Now that would be going too far since the public look to the police for protection.

So let’s call it for what it was – a pathetic little guy who for a few minutes tried unsuccessfully to be someone important. 

It is to pity him not destroy him.

Postscript:  Is it not somewhat ironic that an event where the underlying fear was that a terrorist would be found among them – the only one found was a would be soldier.  And wouldn’t it have been even more ironic had the would be soldier been killed by a jihadist?

I wonder what the chattering classes would have said then?

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

Union Government In Canada

 

Over the years, there have been only a few Union Governments where two or more parties have come together to run the affairs of state.  The most famous was the Union Government headed by Robert Borden in 1917 during the latter days of World War One.

But do you happen to know the most recent example of this?

If you guessed this year’s Ontario Election … you’d be absolutely right.

The two parties which came together in victory were the Unions of Ontario’s Public Service and the Liberal Party of Ontario.

And is it not ironic that the term Union Government in our most recent example, contains just that – Unions.

If you are as old as me, you will recall a time when Unions really represented the over-worked and under appreciated – those who often worked under dangerous conditions and for the honour were paid a very modest wage.

Today though, Big Unions represent those who they would once have ridiculed – the overpaid and most privileged civil servant.

You might quibble with my contention that a Union can join forces with a political party and form Government but of course this is exactly what has happened.

Unions are not restrained by nuisance election laws that limit or cap spending and indeed spent multi millions in assisting the Grits to victory. Even the police union piled on against the hapless Tories.

And speaking of the Tories – do you really think anything will change with a new leader.  Look at the numbers: there are 1.5 million on Ontario’s payrolls.  Add spouses, adult children etc. and that number quickly turns into over 3 million all of whom have a vested interest in seeing the current arrangement prevail.

Juxtapose that to the number with the number who actually voted this past June – some 4.5 million or roughly half of the 9 million who were eligible to vote.

So if you start off with 3.5 million bureaucrats and their families in your pocket all anxious to preserve their entitlements -  it becomes virtually impossible to affect the status quo.

It reminds me of the days when the Liberals federally won election after election since they started off with virtually all 75 seats in Quebec along with those ridings in francophone eastern Ontario and northern New Brunswick.  

But the real issue here or should I say issues, is the fact that all of this support is most undemocratic:

• first, why should Unions be able to vote for one party when their membership is made up of voters who support numerous positions.
• but even more sinister, is the fact that when Public Service Unions support tax and spend they are thumbing their collective noses at the voters who are also the Province’s Taxpayers who end up paying the freight. 

So what to call this coalition Government?

What about the Liberal / Union Party of Ontario?

Or better yet, the Union / Liberal Party.

And even better, the Union Party of Ontario since that dear reader -  says it all.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’