Our government has a plan to spend nearly 25 millions of tax dollars to tell us what a great job the Prime Minister is doing handling the economic recovery plan.The government has allocated four million to advertise the need of Canadians to prepare for the swine flue pandemic.The government is not supposed to use money from taxpayers to promote their own party but from my experience it has been the policy of every government to do the same. Shame.Our death count in the war stands at 131 in Afghanistan. We must know by now that this war cannot and will not be won. From the earliest memories I had of The Bengal Lancers fighting in the Khyber Pass the people there have remained fiercely independent. Neither Britain, Russia or our coalition will be able to crack that tribal stronghold. The Taliban bolstered by drug money will become stronger as we use our modern weapons to kill insurgents and collateral damages rise to huge numbers.
It would be great if we could made a difference and we are on some fronts but the pace of change is so slow and the price so high. We should as many of our coalition are doing and leave that country and return to become what we do best, be peacekeepers. Many areas of the world could use our help in keeping the peace and building social programs to help individuals have a life. The billions we spend could make a vast difference with our own indigenous people or the women of Africa.
We have a fine record as soldiers and our military has been recognized as the very best and we must and do support them wherever they are sent by our government. I wish that the pullout dates are firm and our young men are spared from being put in harms way in the future unless it is in defence of our country or vital interests.
On a happier note we as Canadians seem to be better of economically than other western friends but we are paying a high price with a huge deficit of possibly 55 billion dollars. From a surplus a year or so ago to this deceit which will tie the hands of government for many years and needed social programs will be put on the back burners as a result.
Wars, bailouts and unemployment have given our leaders some tough problems to solve. Maybe, just maybe the people elected, all of them will be able to work to solve these challenges and forget their partisan positions.
In spite of what I have said the country we live is a great place in which to live and bring up a family.I wish that all Canadians had as good a life as we do and shared the bounty of our land.
The war in Afganistan is a big quagmire for us all; we are stuck fighting it, and rebuilding the nation as well. It is a responsibility we can't shrink away from. In my opinion, we should never have gone out looking for terrorists; we should have shored our ports and entries, and worked with international forces to keep harm at bay. We went after a ghost; and he is still a ghost.
ReplyDelete