What is Harper thinking? Maybe he figured it was politically wise to have a photo opportunity of him “supporting the troops” while the other parties couldn’t produce similar photographic evidence of them honouring Canadian soldiers who fought at Vimy Ridge. That’s just my theory anyway. It seems like a calculating and cold move given that the VE 60th celebrations were attended by more than just the governing Martin Liberals.
Scotian has a roundup of other bloggers fed up with Harper’s exploitation of military imagery for his own benefit. For a person who wanted to put Canadian soldiers into the certified fiasco that is Iraq, Harper has significant shortcomings when it comes to his claims that he’s on the side of soldiers and veterans.
- WWI monument with captured German gun in Saltcoats, SK
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JSPS | 30-Mar-07 at 10:07 pm | Permalink
Canada.com is reporting that Harper has flip-flopped and is inviting party whips to compile guest lists for the ceremonies at Vimy Ridge.
Guess Harper’s handlers convinced him to keep his powder dry on this one…
Candace | 31-Mar-07 at 12:50 am | Permalink
Maybe he didn’t think they gave a damn?
Saskboy | 31-Mar-07 at 12:59 am | Permalink
It’s not like there aren’t Liberals, NDP and Bloc elected members who had relatives who fought in WWI? Sounds like lame excuse making for Harper’s arrogance. It’s more likely he just didn’t think… of the implications his lack of asking would have on his image.
Backseat Blogger ::: A blog by any other name | 31-Mar-07 at 9:52 am | Permalink
[...] morning Liblogs is full of the usual kant about the evils of Stephen Harper while the Blogging Tories are all upset over the censorship of free speech exercised by a [...]
Matt | 11-Apr-07 at 10:15 am | Permalink
“It’s not fair!”, Dion says, “do you think it’s easy to buy a plane ticket?”
Being a citizen of Franch and a very prominent French-Canadian citizen, if the Vimy Ridge celebration meant anything at all to Dion, he could have damn well used his leverage to get himself there.
Saskboy | 11-Apr-07 at 8:52 pm | Permalink
Is Franch the place where they mix Ranch and French dressings? :-)
It doesn’t matter so much if Dion could get there, it has to do with not being asked. If he isn’t asked by the government to go, it would be in poor taste to say, “well I’m going anyway and will cause a fuss about not being asked”. It was just calculating, or callous behaviour on the PM’s part that led to any fuss at all for an event that should have been a way to strengthen Canadian unity and national memory.