It is not very often that calls for newer and tougher laws are made by a Liberal. almost unheard of is a new law being proposed by a Liberal named McGuinty. Nonetheless it has happened. But the McGuinty in question is not Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, the guy who recoils at the very thought of the Criminal Code being enforced in the native land dispute in Caledonia.
David McGuinty, the Liberal MP for Ottawa South is asking the Harper government to pass a law to make damage done to war memorials a specific offence. This comes in the wake of the incident on Canada Day when a man and two youths were observed and filmed urinating on Canada's National War Memorial. The 23-year-old adult has been charged with mischief while the youths will be entering a diversion program.
Since McGuinty made his proposal, there has been another incident. Vandals tore a cross from a cenotaph at a Royal Canadian Legion branch in Belle Ewart, a small Lake Simcoe hamlet. It was the third such desecration of that particular memorial since 2003. Urinating on the National War Memorial while happily posing for pictures may be unusual, but the desecration of war memorials that are dedicated to those who fought and sacrificed for this country appear to be more than just isolated occurrences.
Drinking and partying by young people in the Ottawa park that houses the National War Memorial is quite common. Veterans' organizations have been calling for years to have the monument guarded in order to retain its dignity but to no avail. Whether the occurrence on July 1 will change anything in this regard is far from certain. For now, some veterans are volunteering by standing guard over the memorial.
It would be one thing if the urination was intentionally done by some anti-war activist who is making a statement. But according to Stephen Fernandes, the 23-year-old Montreal man who has been charged with mischief, he was drinking and did not specifically intend to urinate on a war memorial. We have no reason to doubt him; it is a perfect illustration of the indifference that many Canadians have towards the military and the country's veterans. To many Canadians, our soldiers and veterans are not worthy of thought. Remembrance Day is a day much like Halloween; something to be all consuming on the day that it is held, only to be forgotten the next until a further year rolls around.
It is more than a little ironic that the suggestion to make mischief to a war memorial a specific offence came from a Liberal. It was during the 12 years that the Liberals were last in power that saw a decline in the military. It began when some troops killed a Somali teenager and then-Defense Minister David Collenette, never known as a great thinker, remedied the situation by disbanding the airborne. Then Finance Minister Paul Martin made the military part of his general cuts in spending. after all, the cold war was over (Osama who?). Of course when George W. Bush became president, anti-americanism became rampant within the Liberal Party and ignoring our own military became something to be proud of; after all, it helped to distinguish us from those evil bastards south of the border. It's really no wonder that drinking and partying routinely take place beside monuments that are totally devoid of any meaning to those who are partying.
The Prime Minister used the words "thoughtless" and "terrible" to describe the urination of the war memorial. "Thoughtless" was not the correct word; being drunk, walking down a residential street and taking a leak on Mrs. Peabody's prize rose garden is "thoughtless"; urinating on a war memorial is disgusting.
Introducing new laws is not always a good thing. Sometimes it makes those who introduce them feel good about themselves when all that is really needed is to enforce an old law when there is really no will to do so. But in this case, David McGuinty is right. We need a law that is specific to war memorials, not so that those who are convicted will face greater penalties but to express the condemnation of society on those who deface monuments and memorials that are dedicated to our veterans and soldiers.
It's the least we can do for the men and women who served and are serving their country.
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