April 10th, 2008 Andrew Cash
Getting past the petty
We can’t make peace our foreign policy till pols stop political blood sport
By Andrew Cash
Loath as I am to admit it, music alone won’t change our war-making ways.
That’s why the April 4 all-party (except the governing one) panel kicking off a conference the next day promoting the idea of a Canadian Department of Peace at Friends House on Lowther is such a tonic.
Not only do the 250 mostly veteran anti-war types in the pews at the Church of the Holy Trinity hear the Greens’ Elizabeth May, the NDP’s Olivia Chow and the Libs’ Borys Wrzesnewskyj sing from the same peace page, but the non-partisan collegiality of the event underscores the idea that, if peace-building is ever mainstreamed, humanity will make an evolutionary jump.
Speaking of neanderthals, politics is a blood sport. But when you see Wrzesnewskyj applauding Chow’s moving description of what NDPer Alexa McDonough could do if she were minister of peace, Chow praising May’s support for a federal conflict resolution department, and both May and Chow clearly sympathizing with Wrzesnewskyj as he guardedly describes tensions in the Liberal party over Afghanistan, it tends to stand out.
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July 5th, 2007 Andrew Cash
In knots over ribbons
Mayor’s decal flip-flop shows contempt for his backers
By Andrew Cash
Who knew the broom David Miller famously held aloft in 2003 as a symbol of his mayoral mission, would be made not of sturdy wood but of something much more pliable.
It’s an issue that urgently needs addressing, given the mayor’s shocking flip-flop June 20 in which he defended support-our-troops decals on emergency vehicles only 24 hours after urging their removal in September.
If Miller can crack so publicly on a symbolic issue like this, what kind of stuff does he bend to in the back rooms?
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May 3rd, 2007 Andrew Cash
Seeing red over ribbon
Should our public vehicles flaunt Support Our Troops stickers?
By Andrew Cash
The Harper government may be running for cover from the storm of controversy, but most of our troops in Afghanistan don’t have a duck-and-hide option.
The fact is, the Afghan mission is a mess, and Joe and Jane Soldier are bearing the brunt. Who among us isn’t deeply saddened by the news of ever increasing numbers of uniformed Canadians killed or seriously injured in the war.
But having said that, what does a Support Our Troops bumper sticker actually mean?
It’s a question that arises courtesy of Toronto’s fire and emergency services, which have decided to put yellow-ribbon Support Our Troops stickers on every ambulance, emergency service vehicle and fire truck in the city. On one level, there’s always been an affinity between between emergency workers and Canadian Forces.
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