armed forces
Lest we forget our military

From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
By Lee Harding
An ocean of distance separates Flanders Fields from Ottawa. By now, we are separated just as much from the sentiments of the poem with the same name. In Flanders fields
An ocean of distance separates Flanders Fields from Ottawa. By now, we are separated just as much from the sentiments of the poem with the same name.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
………..If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
The author, John McCrae, was one of 61,000 Canadian soldiers killed in the Great War. Forty thousand Canadians followed them In the Second World War. Their sacrifice, competence, and accomplishments did much at home and abroad to make the world notice the once-colonial Canada had come of age.
Alas, the armed forces began to erode a generation later. In early 1968 we saw the integration of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) partially as an exercise to reduce military spending and its numbers from over 105,000 to 70,000. The military expanded to 88,000 in the 1989 under Brian Mulroney’s leadership, but eroded thereafter.
The military in recent years has been increasingly short changed especially during the most recent years a time when the federal government has massively ramped up spending most everywhere else. Whereas Pierre Trudeau wanted to pull Canada out of NATO decades ago, his son Justin simply balks at the organization’s target of two per cent of GDP-spending. Instead, the sparsely-populated, second-largest country in the world dedicates just 1.29% of its economy to defence with an effective force of only 38,000 troops. Our $36.7 billion annual expenditure is about $20 billion short.
Back to Trudeau Sr. who had some unconventional sympathies. In 1952, he joined five Canadian Communists at a Soviet-sponsored conference in Russia. In 1960, he sojourned through China for six weeks at the invitation of the Maoist state, the same year he naively attempted to canoe from Florida to Revolutionary Cuba. As prime minister, Trudeau Sr. cherished Soviet ambassador to Canada, Alexander Yakovlev as a dear friend. Visits to Chairman Mao in China in 1973 and Fidel Castro in Cuba in 1976 brought mutual praise from both.
It’s hard to rally the troops against your foes when you consider them friends, so it was perhaps for both father and son. At the beginning of his new mandate in 2015 the new PM stated his admiration for China the most of all countries for its ability to get things done quickly because of it “basic dictatorship.” Coincidentally it turned out that the Canadian military was hosting Chinese troops on Canadian soil to train them in winter warfare.
Military readiness was subverted to politics when showcasing diversity and recruiting sexual minorities became the CAF’s overwhelming obsession. Unfortunately, this was not the only political overlay to distract, if not undermine, the forces.
Lawyer Catherine Christensen, who represents 300 veterans, told the National Citizen’s Inquiry on COVID-19 that the vaccine mandate devastated the military–and for this she holds the PM primarily responsible. Divisions killed morale, objectors retired early or were dishonourably discharged, while some were vaccine-injured. She warned the already bare-bones military has been reduced to a disturbingly vulnerable state.
Recently, military chaplains were informed they could no longer pray at public ceremonies, especially to a God conceived as a “He.” One military chaplain lamented to the press that Canada had “violated” its “covenant with the dead” who fought “for God and country.”
Lest we forget? Too late, we already have. In September, all 338 MPs stood and applauded an alleged Nazi who fought against our Russian allies in WWII. If McCrae is right, Canada’s war dead are all astir while its living are fast asleep.
Author
Lee Harding is a Research Fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
armed forces
Mark Carney says Canada will give ‘military assistance’ to Ukraine at taxpayer expense

From LifeSiteNews
The prime minister’s office confirmed that Canada would commit to ‘direct and scalable military assistance’ in Ukraine when the war has calmed down.
The Canadian government under Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney has made a promise for “military assistance” to Ukraine once a ceasefire is in place.
Carney made the comments after attending a recent virtual meeting for the “Coalition of the Willing” pro-Ukraine nations.
Late last week, Carney’s office confirmed that Canada would commit to “direct and scalable military assistance” in Ukraine when the war has calmed down.
At the “Coalition of the Willing” meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron said 26 allies of Ukraine promised to deploy their armed forces via land, sea, or air to the nation as a “reassurance force,” but not until the war with Russia is officially over.
Placing Canadian troops in Ukraine would come at a huge cost to Canadian taxpayers, who are already dealing with high inflation and high taxes.
The reality of the Ukraine war is grim. To date, it is estimated to have cost the lives of more than 1.5 million people.
Retired Col. Douglas Macgregor accused Western powers of sustaining a war built on illusion, not diplomacy.
From black-market weapons ending up with cartels to unchecked government corruption, Macgregor warned that U.S. aid is fueling chaos and not peace.
Critics of Canada’s support for Ukraine, such as from People’s Party of Canada (PPC) leader Maxime Bernier, have said Canada should not be involved in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
He noted how politicians, including Carney and Canadian Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, “standing” with the nation in an escalating war realistically means they support Ukraine’s eventual “destruction.”
armed forces
Poilievre vows to rebuild Canada’s military, replace ‘woke culture’ with ‘warrior culture’

From LifeSiteNews
The Conservative Party leader has pledged to increase military spending and re-emphasize ‘bravery, honour, patriotism and strength.’
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has promised to rebuild Canada’s military after years of “ideological extremism” under the Liberals.
In an August 16 open letter to serving Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members at CFB Wainwright, Poilievre made 22 commitments to restore Canada’s military while ending the “woke culture” promoted by the Liberal government.
“After years of Liberal neglect, underfunding, and ideological extremism, our military is hollowed out. The world is becoming more dangerous, and our enemies are watching,” Poilievre declared. “It’s time we send them a message: Canada is back.”
“Conservatives believe now is the time to make the largest rebuild of our military in a generation, beginning in the North and extending across our land,” he continued.
Poilievre’s plan included increased military spending, replenishing Canada’s weapons which were donated to Ukraine, and boosting support for military members and their families. It also outlined support systems for veterans.
He further promised to “replace the woke culture with a warrior culture.”
“No more DEl. No more weird political agendas,” Poilievre declared. “The military is a fighting force, not an instrument of social engineering. Bravery, honour, patriotism and strength are its pillars.”
“To serve is to sacrifice,” he continued. “But service should not mean neglect. I will fight for you to once again be respected, equipped, and empowered. We will put our country first, and that begins with giving our Armed Forces the tools and culture of victory.”
The Canadian military is currently suffering from recruitment shortages, which many experts have revealed is a result of embracing and pushing the LGBT ideology within the CAF.
In 2023, officials admitted that the nation’s military is shrinking to dangerously low numbers as Liberals continue to push the LGBT agenda on Canadian soldiers. In addition to low recruitment, the military is struggling to retain soldiers.
As LifeSiteNews previously reported, the military spent Canadians’ tax dollars on polls, guest speakers, presentations, workshops, and LGBT flags. The workshops covered topics including “the gendered nature of security,” while one talk discussed “integrating gender and diversity perspectives.”
In 2021, the defense department revealed that they have two separate committees and eight programs which worked to appoint homosexual advisors to “innovate” religious instruction and gender-neutral uniforms.
In June 2023, Canadian troops in Latvia were forced to purchase their own helmets and food when the Liberal government failed to provide proper supplies. Weeks later, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lectured the same troops on “climate change” and disinformation.
A Canadian Armed Force member previously told LifeSiteNews that between the COVID vaccine mandates and pushing the LGBT agenda, Canadian soldiers have lost confidence in the military.
He explained that ideological agendas are driving away new recruits, as the primary source of recruitment for the military is “Saskatchewan farm boys” who want to serve Canada – not radical left-wing ideologues.
“That farm boy looks at the army and with the blue hair and the face, piercings and ideologies and all that stuff,” he said. “And it doesn’t have the same pull because it doesn’t represent the farm boy’s values.”
“This is not the Canada that we signed up to defend. It’s an alien ideology that people don’t resonate with,” he continued. “These are not Canadian values of freedom and democracy. These are cancel culture values of censorship, of authoritarianism, of radical ideologies that are alien to our culture.”
In one such example of how this ideological mandate has impacted soldiers, a commanding officer of the 4th Canadian Division Support Group (CDSG) of the Greater Toronto Area Detachment threatened personnel who dared to throw out tampon dispensers which had been placed in men’s bathrooms as part of the military’s new “inclusion” policy.
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