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I doubt it's getting much play down south of the 49th, but Canada's in a wee bit of a constitutional crisis right now.
In mid-October, we went to the polls and thought we had re-elected incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative Party to a strengthened minority government. But after playing a bit of partisan politics with the government funding for political parties, the opposition parties - which outnumber the Conservatives in the House of Commons - have decided to bring the brand-new government down with a non-confidence vote, and to try to form a coalition government of their own. Now we get to have an unelected Governor General decide what happens next: prorogue parliament, hand power to the coalition, call an election, or perhaps something less straightforward; remember, the Westminster parliamentary system relies heavily upon precedent and, when called upon, the discretion of the unelected Head of State.
One of my colleagues at The Torch received a passionate expression of political opinion on the matter from a distinguished retired Vice-Admiral, and we've published it with his permission:
That's not all he has to say, either.
The next week should be interesting up here in the Great White North. - Damian
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I doubt it's getting much play down south of the 49th, but Canada's in a wee bit of a constitutional crisis right now.
In mid-October, we went to the polls and thought we had re-elected incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative Party to a strengthened minority government. But after playing a bit of partisan politics with the government funding for political parties, the opposition parties - which outnumber the Conservatives in the House of Commons - have decided to bring the brand-new government down with a non-confidence vote, and to try to form a coalition government of their own. Now we get to have an unelected Governor General decide what happens next: prorogue parliament, hand power to the coalition, call an election, or perhaps something less straightforward; remember, the Westminster parliamentary system relies heavily upon precedent and, when called upon, the discretion of the unelected Head of State.
One of my colleagues at The Torch received a passionate expression of political opinion on the matter from a distinguished retired Vice-Admiral, and we've published it with his permission:
Regretfully, I am too old now to serve Canada in any political capacity. However, I did serve faithfully for 38 years in the RCN and the Canadian Armed Forces - including in NDHQ, as a Rear Admiral and Vice Admiral, where I had the honour to serve both under Liberal and Conservative Ministers of National Defence. In every instance they received my complete respect and loyalty regardless of Party.
My father also served in Canada's Navy for 37 years from 1909 to 1946. He commanded several RCN ships and both coasts, and was ultimately the Commanding Officer Pacific Coast during the last three years of World War II.
His father was Speaker of the House of Commons, during the Laurier Government, then was Minister of Inland Revenue, then Minister of Marine and Fisheries (in which capacity he became the founding Minister of the Royal Canadian Navy), then served as Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, and ultimately died in office as Lieutenant Governor of Quebec. He devoted his entire life to Canada.
On behalf of three generations who have devoted their lives to Canada, I unequivocally condemn the power grabbing political charade now taking place in Parliament.
We are witnessing a deplorable and juvenile scene which demeans its participants, and also further erodes the residual prestige of a Canada which in both World Wars achieved greatness and international respect. Politicians and their sycophants delude themselves into believing that Canada has influence and prestige in the modern world. Compared to the Canadian international influence and prestige I witnessed in the 1950's we have become moralizing nonentities who are recognizably no longer even capable of constructing our own warships, submarines and military aircraft; and will soon become totally dependent on other nations for even our means of defence....
That's not all he has to say, either.
The next week should be interesting up here in the Great White North. - Damian
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*A term of art from the artillery. Harassment and Interdiction Fires. Back in the day, when you could just kill people and break things without a note from a lawyer, they were pre-planned, but to the enemy, random, fires at known gathering points, road junctions, Main Supply Routes, assembly areas, etc - to keep the bad guy nervous that the world around him might start exploding at any minute. Not really relevant to today's operating environment, right? But, it *is. The UAVs we fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for targets of opportunity are a form of H&I fires, if you really want to parse it finely. We just have better sensors and fire control now. Of course, now I have to call them UAS's, because someone got a Legion of Merit for the name change.Anyway, I call the post H&I Fires because it's random things posted by me and people I've given posting privileges to that particular topic. Another term of art that might be appropriate is Free Fire Zone.
The United States doesn't have that option.
Barry has recently been demonstrating more common sense than I expected from him, so I wouldn't worry about what Barney Frank wants, yet.