Thursday, November 10, 2011

How do you spend that moment of silence? Your answer is a gut check for our entire country.

Every year, as Remembrance Day approaches, we hear the unfortunate reports from across Canada. The boors who have no appreciation for our vets.

As a nation, we all feel outraged when we hear about memorials getting vandalized, or when some lowlife steals poppy collection boxes for a few toonies and loonies.

But when the true importance of Remembrance Day is forgotten in more subtle ways, it is far more disturbing. When a bar in Calgary, or a student group in New Brunswick, advertises Nov. 10 booze-it-up “forget-fests,” little cracks form in our national foundation.

Much bigger cracks form when school administrators in Ottawa, who are responsible for passing on the memory of our vets, decide to cancel a Remembrance Day symposium, hiding behind a flimsy “no tanks or guns” policy. We need to do our part before those cracks grow and multiply and become vast chasms.

History forgotten is bound to repeat itself, as the saying goes. We cannot allow the lives of so many to have been sacrificed in vain. It bears eternal repeating that our vets made possible the very freedoms we hold so dear today. Their commitment to Canada defined us as a nation.

Brave Canadian soldiers have proven themselves time and again that our men and women in uniform are among the best in the world, and always have been. We should all take great pride in what they accomplished and continue to achieve.

Since the Second World War, Canadians have served with distinction in countless international operations, including Korea, the Gulf War, Kosovo, Cyprus, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Libya. I could go on at length.

The world has been spared from so much tyranny because of our soldiers and their families, who have provided so much support from the home front. For most of us, a veteran has always been a parent or a grandparent. A 20-year-old soldier who enlisted in 1941 is now 90 years old. We cannot allow their memory to dwindle with their numbers.

A new, younger generation of vets has returned from the battlefields of Afghanistan. Fewer in number, but no less important. Our new vets deserve just as much praise as our older vets.

The torch of freedom is there for all of us to bear. Far too many Canadians stick a poppy over their heart and keep mum for that moment. The memory of our vets is then quickly forgotten for another year.

I challenge each and every one of you to do just a little more. To take an extra moment or two to learn something new about the vets that defined our nation.

Veterans Affairs Canada has recorded more than 1,500 hours of conversations with Canadian vets. Listening to just a few words will keep those memories alive. Go to: www.veterans.gc.ca/eng.

The Dominion Institute’s Memory Project holds an online database of veteran stories. Take the time to read them with your family. (www.thememoryproject.com).

When you see a veteran selling poppies at the local grocery store, strike up a conversation to hear their story. Take a moment to let them know your appreciation. Tell them that their sacrifice will never be forgotten. You’ll be doing your part to keep Canada’s foundation strong.

It’s Canadian common sense.

First posted: Thursday, November 03, 2011 08:00 PM EDT

There is a trend underway that is scarier than the worst Halloween slasher flick. Canadian traditions are being slowly and methodically exterminated by politically correct monsters.

There is a trend underway that is scarier than the worst Halloween slasher flick. Canadian traditions are being slowly and methodically exterminated by politically correct monsters.

I’m talking about calculating bureaucrats who hunt for anything that causes offence, real or imagined. You and I need to put a stop to this before our society, our way of life, becomes completely lobotomized.

Many Canadian traditions have already been scrubbed from society. Christmas has been crucified. Christmas trees? They are now “holiday trees.” Many avoid wishing someone “Merry Christmas” out of induced fear.

Easter? Don’t you dare utter those words around a zombie bureaucrat. Easter eggs have turned into “spring spheres.”

Halloween was also under attack this week. That special day on every kid’s calendar. A time to dress up in costumes that spark their imagination. For kids, the holiday spells freedom.

To feel the liberation of walking the streets after dark, staying up past their bedtimes and eating lots of candy. But it also teaches kids to face fears through laughter and collective fun. To learn right from wrong and earn some much-needed independence. Sadly, this rite of passage is being ripped out of their lives.

“Halloween” — many schools across Canada are uncomfortable with what has become a derogatory word. “Black and orange day” is now the preferred term for the high priests and priestesses of political correctness.

Why? Official guidebooks claim it’s offensive to “Wiccans.” Wiccans! Never mind that the Wiccan high priest I had on my Sun News program this week scoffed at the very idea of being offended.

Several schools in Calgary converted this hallowed scaring day into “caring day.”

Banning masks and any kind of violent imagery. The usual Halloween events were replaced by “community friendly” activities. The kids must have been so excited!

Multiple schools in Ottawa and Hamilton banned costumes completely.

Administrators were concerned about the marginalization of poor kids who can’t afford fancy costumes. Worried that costumes will be offensive to new Canadians. Give me a break!

In Ohio, a student group launched a campaign against what they call racist costumes. Geisha costumes? Offensive to the Japanese. Sombreros? Offensive to Mexicans. Pocahontas? Offensive to First Nations. Do you know any Norwegians who are offended by Viking costumes?

This hyper sensitivity will spread unless it’s held in check. For the lucky kids who were actually permitted to wear actual costumes, I ask you, what can kids actually wear that won’t offend somebody, somehow?

Occasions that once defined the Canadian experience have been watered down to the point of being sanitized, safe for all celebrations of not much at all. Kids need to be kids! This is directly contributing to the death of personal responsibility. Teaching our children that big government will take care of them and do all their thinking for them.

Our society is becoming a politically correct dystopia. When the fun is taken from Halloween I worry about what our future is becoming.

We need to stand together against this attack on our traditions. To declare that mindless zombie bureaucrats and their ridiculous policies won’t be tolerated. It’s Canadian common sense.