frank theriault wrote: > On 10/18/07, Adam Maas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Bob, >> >> It's an all too common opinion in post-Trudeau Canada. >> >> It's also not shared by all Canadians. > > The sad thing is that war ~isn't~ a "last resort" these days > (competent actors or no)... > > cheers, > frank > > ps: what's Trudeau got to do with it? > > -f > >
Trudeau's decade or so as Prime Minister presided over a fairly massive change in the Canadian Character. Prior to Trudeau, Canada's foreign policy was much more muscular and we were one of the major second-rank military powers (We finished WW2 as the third-largest navy and fourth largest airforce on the planet. And the latter only happened because the BCATP shut down in late '44 and 80,000+ RCAF personnel were already demobilized by VE Day). Trudeau defanged our military and greatly reduced the Canadian presence on the world stage, demoting Canada to a third-rate power and convincing many Canadians that this was a good thing. Canada provided much of the first line of defense in Europe in the 50's and 60's (In fact at one point in the 1950's, the only all-weather combat squadrons in Europe were Canadian CF-100's, and from 1962-1972, if the balloon had gone up, the tacnuke first strikes would have come from Canadian CF-104's and German F-104G's, not US or UK forces). Most Canadians today are unaware that Canada has a long and superb military tradition, and that we were damned near one of the great powers of the 20th Century. The Battle of Britain would have been lost without Canadian participation (a large part of the RAF was Canadian, as was the FAA, in both WW1 and 2. In fact in WW1, 40% of the RAF was Canadian by war's end). Most RAF aircrew were trained in Canada after 1940 or so and the RN had entirely Canadian carrier wings (the last FAA Victoria Cross was won by a Canadian in fact). Even Peacekeeping is a Canadian innovation, the brainchild of Lester B. Pearson. Frankly, Trudeau did Canada a lot of good, but he was no friend to the Canadian Forces, or to that aspect of the Canadian Character, and he did all he could to emasculate it, largely succeeding. Needless to say none of his successors except _maybe_ Harper and Martin were any better. -Adam -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
