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Tuesday, February 4, 2014

February 3, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Tuesday, February 4, 2014Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Julian Fantino insults veterans so he blames union: Tim Harper

When my cell phone rang last week, the voice on the line was agitated and somewhat incoherent.

It took a couple of minutes, but it became clear that Daniel was a military veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, feeling frustrated and abandoned by a political and court system he has battled over the years.

He figuratively pointed his finger at me and the rest of the media for not helping our veterans.

A veteran’s war story

“Please exercise patience and tolerance with me,’’ he subsequently wrote in an email.

I didn’t snap back at him. I didn’t hang up the phone and I didn’t accuse him of being a pawn of a big union.

That’s the Julian Fantino playbook and Stephen Harper is again watching what happens when the messenger, not the message, becomes the story in the protracted slanging match between the veterans affairs minister and those who served our country.

Ottawa hasn’t seen a communications fiasco of this magnitude since then public safety minister Vic Toews accused his Liberal opponent of standing with the child pornographers by questioning his stillborn electronic surveillance bill.

Fantino appeared bereft of empathy and respect when he belatedly encountered the veterans who were in Ottawa last week to protest the closing of eight Veterans Affairs offices on Friday.

They did close Friday, as some demonstrators shed tears and others vented their anger at their government. (Continued: Toronto Star)

SOCIAL MEDIA

This cartoon appeared on a number of blogs and news sites. Among them, the Royal Canadian Legion and Yahoo Canada News.

Posted in: Canada Tagged: austerity, Canada, Harper Government, Julian Fantino, soldiers, tearsheet, veterans

Saturday November 10, 2012

November 10, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Saturday November 10, 2012 Santa Claus Before Remembrance On my drive to work on Monday I noticed signs posted in the downtown core regarding rode closures for the Santa Claus parade on NovÊ10. Nov 10? Really? Why would city officials allow this to occur right before Remembrance Day? We are truly a society in decline whenÊwe place the crass commercialism of Christmas (a religious holiday) above values like decency and respect for those who put their livesÊon the line for us, or made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Shame! - John Wiernikowski, Hamilton I believe that our municipal, provincial and federal governments should have more common sense than to have allowed the Santa ClausÊparade to convene on the Remembrance Day weekend. This is disrespectful and dishonouring to our veterans who have given service (andÊindeed their lives) on behalf of our country. I hope many individuals will express their dissent to the proper level of government, that this will never again be allowed in the future, asÊI realize it is too late to cancel the present schedule. Shame on the thoughtless individuals who perpetrated this insult; this is nothing moreÊthan crass retail commercialism. - Marilyn De Boer, Stoney Creek I am appalled to see that the Hamilton Santa Claus parade is before the Remembrance Day service on Sunday. We are trying to instil in the younger generation the importance of Remembrance Day, of honour and respect for those who died for us. ItÊwould not have been an inconvenience to delay the Santa Claus parade one more week to allow the veterans the honour they so richlyÊdeserve. I truly love the Christmas season and what it is all about, however I am truly disgusted that this takes precedence in November before ourÊfallen heroes. My family and I certainly will not be attending. Shame on you Hamilton! - Sarah Meadows-Cromwell, York (Source: Hamilton Spectator) http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/2261030-santa-cla

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Saturday November 10, 2012

Santa Claus Before Remembrance

On my drive to work on Monday I noticed signs posted in the downtown core regarding rode closures for the Santa Claus parade on Nov 10. Nov 10? Really? Why would city officials allow this to occur right before Remembrance Day? We are truly a society in decline when we place the crass commercialism of Christmas (a religious holiday) above values like decency and respect for those who put their lives on the line for us, or made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Shame! – John Wiernikowski, Hamilton

I believe that our municipal, provincial and federal governments should have more common sense than to have allowed the Santa Claus parade to convene on the Remembrance Day weekend. This is disrespectful and dishonouring to our veterans who have given service (and indeed their lives) on behalf of our country.

I hope many individuals will express their dissent to the proper level of government, that this will never again be allowed in the future, as I realize it is too late to cancel the present schedule. Shame on the thoughtless individuals who perpetrated this insult; this is nothing more than crass retail commercialism. – Marilyn De Boer, Stoney Creek

I am appalled to see that the Hamilton Santa Claus parade is before the Remembrance Day service on Sunday.

We are trying to instil in the younger generation the importance of Remembrance Day, of honour and respect for those who died for us. It would not have been an inconvenience to delay the Santa Claus parade one more week to allow the veterans the honour they so richly deserve.

I truly love the Christmas season and what it is all about, however I am truly disgusted that this takes precedence in November before our fallen heroes. My family and I certainly will not be attending. Shame on you Hamilton! – Sarah Meadows-Cromwell, York (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

 

Posted in: Canada, Hamilton Tagged: business, christmas, civility, day, Halloween, Hamilton, Ontario, parade, Remembrance, respect, retail, Santa Claus, shopping, sweeper, veterans

Thursday November 11, 2010

November 11, 2010 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday November 11, 2010

There is a bill we must pay

It has been often observed that old men start wars and young men are sent off to fight them. For all the truth in that, it lets countless others — us — off the hook. It is nations — the governors and the governed — who send their young men and women off to fight, to kill or be killed.

The reality is that most of us born after 1945 don’t have a clue what being in a war is like; even soldiers’ stories are often draped in the compassionate veil of time.

It is those at home who drape the war in glory, triumph and patriotism. We bask in the reflected glory of battling barbarism, genocidal ambitions, repression and cruelty. We feel we, thousands of kilometres from what may pass for a front line, are part of the grand fight for freedom, democracy, eventual world peace, or even the right of young girls to go to school without having acid splashed on their faces.

Part of the enormous debt we recognize in Remembrance Day observances and ceremonies today is that Canada’s warriors fought far away so we didn’t have to fight at home. Whether the fight is against fascism or dictatorship or terrorism, soldiers go to fight in our stead.

Soldiers give what we civilians could not imagine losing: a part of their young lives, innocence, comrades with whom they shared a bond forged in the military experience. They lose limbs. They lose peace of mind, even their sanity. They lose their lives.

In return, they ask us to remember. A soldier’s greatest fear is that he or she will be forgotten. In Canada in the past decade, coinciding with the passing of the last of the veterans of the First World War and the increasing thinning of the ranks of Second World War and Korean War vets, there has been a resurgence of respect for Remembrance Day, the veterans it honours and the fallen it remembers. This is a very good thing. (Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Posted in: Canada Tagged: Canada, children, Remembrance, soldiers, stories, Veteran's Affairs, veterans, war

August 30, 2007

August 30, 2007 by Graeme MacKay

Letter to the Editor:

Re: ‘A war of facts and feelings’ (editorial, Aug. 31)

I enjoyed the editorial about the Canadian War Museum controversy, and Graeme MacKay’s “museum bombing” editorial cartoon on Aug. 30.

I suspect, however, there are a lot of people who may have missed the point in this controversy.

It stems from a poorly written paragraph, on an air display at the museum, that begins with the statement, “The value and morality of the strategic bomber offensive against Germany remains bitterly contested.”

The use of the subjective word “morality” and the fact that the balance of the paragraph is one-sided in opinion is the basis of our airmen’s outrage, and justifiably so.

While pointing out that 600,000 Germans died in the five-year bomber campaign, implying that our men were accountable for this immoral bloodshed, nothing is said about how the Allies were desperately trying to stop the production of the German war machine that was indiscriminately firing V1 and V2 rockets at the British Isles.

Nor was any mention made of the importance of bombing Germany to keep its air force occupied in the defence of Germany instead of trying to crush the D-Day landings and liberation of Europe.

While the museum questions our nation’s morality and the value of the air campaign in this paragraph, one would never guess from their interpretation that we were at war with the most powerful and perverse military regime the modern world has known.

It seems the museum lapsed into misguided political correctness over this issue and needed a blast of common sense or unbiased writing skills.

Hence my appreciation of MacKay’s cartoon and your editorial’s attempt to clarify the situation.

— Robert Williamson, Hamilton

Robert Williamson is a retired Canadian naval officer and a military historian.

* * * * * * *

Here’s the editorial …

by Kevin Cavanagh
The Hamilton Spectator
(Aug 31, 2007)

A fierce controversy reignited by a display in the Canadian War Museum illustrates the danger of letting emotions influence how a society records and knows its own history.

It also reminds us that sensitive and/or politicized outbursts can confuse a debate to the point where it detracts from the key issue.

The storm centres on a sign dealing with the Allies’ Second World War bombing campaign. Some Bomber Command veterans and their supporters demanded the museum remove the text which told visitors, “the value and morality of the strategic bomber offensive against Germany remains bitterly contested.” It also pointed out that 600,000 German people died in a five-year bombing campaign which had limited impact on the Nazi war effort until the very late stages of the fight.

Outraged veterans say the sign demeans the valour of the airmen, somehow casting them as immoral and accountable for the bloodshed.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The heroism and character of Canadian flyers, sailors and soldiers is beyond debate. Perhaps more than any conflict in history, the Second World War was a struggle between good and evil, a fight to save freedom from tyranny.

In the skies, nearly 10,000 Canadians died fighting the bomber war. The crews, prosecuting orders forged by military and government leaders, had no input on Bomber Command’s much-criticized policy of “strategic” bombing, which Sir Arthur Harris himself acknowledged was aimed at “the destruction of German cities, the killing of German workers and the disruption of civilized community life throughout Germany.”

Our veterans should stand proud of what they did to stop a dictator, and Canadians must be eternally proud of our veterans.

But in the case of the museum sign, the vets are wrong. The wording is accurate and does not second-guess or impugn their integrity.

There is a cruel, surely unintended irony that the very people who risked their lives to defend freedom would lobby and pressure a museum to censor a historical statement that, however disturbing, is true.

Neither the war nor the bombing of civilians were brought on by the Allies. Hitler provoked the world into conflict in 1939 by invading countries across Europe and beyond. His bombers indiscriminately blitzed British cities with death and destruction. Because the Nazis had chased Allied ground forces off the continent and back to England, the only way to defend against Hitler was to bomb Germany from the air.

But by the late stages of the war, after Allied ground troops returned to Europe on D-Day, the bombing policy was under growing criticism by some politicians, military, clergy and others. Many saw it as a slaughter of children and the elderly, trapped in a crumbling regime led by a defiant madman.

Long after the war, the most famous symbol of that ethical debate remained Dresden. In February 1945, about 12 weeks before the war would end in Europe, Canadians were among waves of Allied bombers which destroyed the eastern German city with tons of explosives and firebombs. It is estimated the raid killed between 25,000 and 40,000 people. Such was the inferno that its glow was visible to aircrew 160 kilometres away.

A few weeks later, in a memo to his military chiefs of staff, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill wrote, “the destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of the Allied bombing.”

Our leaders admired the bravery of the aircrews, but archives show they debated the morality of this aspect of a war. Who was right?

That debate will and should continue. But the facts from Canada’s past should never be obscured or withheld from future generations. Our national museums must reflect the truth. This duty must be protected.

Posted in: Canada Tagged: commentary, history, Remembrance Day, soldiers, veterans

November 22, 2006

November 22, 2006 by Graeme MacKay

This cartoon regarding the passing of a NDP motion in Parliament to give the last surviving veteran of the First World War a state funeral caused a bit of a stir. Here’s some feedback:

First a letter from a local reader of the Spec:

A not so favourable response following its printing in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald:

And my defence to one of the emails sent by people conveying their discomfort:

I think the whole state funeral discussion took on a macabre tone, but I decided I wasn’t going to ignore it. I mean, here we are with the last 3 soldiers standing (actually 2 since one dropped out because he’s live in the U.S. since 1924) and it has taken on this contest feel as to who’s going to win the privilege of a state funeral. I’m just surprised that it’s been made into this big public news event. Surely, they (the Dominion Institute) or Veteran’s Affairs could’ve raised the issue once we were down to the last veteran. With Jack Layton and the NDP sponsoring this as a bill, I just saw it as blatant political opportunism. They know they need to patch up things with the military, keeping in mind their cut and run policies, but especially after some in the NDP accused our soldiers in Afghanistan as “terrorists”. Maybe I’m not giving the NDP credit when it’s due, but I don’t buy that this was just a motion to “collectively celebrate the sacrifice of all WWI veterans”. There was more to it in terms of scoring political points for the NDP. It was smart, because who’s going to argue in the House of Commons not to have a state funeral for the last veteran?

Posted in: Canada Tagged: Afghan Mission, commentary, Feedback, Jack Layton, NDP, Remembrance Day, veterans
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