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Highway of heroes, W/O Hani Massouth, Cpl Eric Labbe

They made me proud



There’ve been times in the past when I was deeply ashamed of being a citizen of Canada; times like Sept. 13, 2001 when our creepy and opportunistic prime minister basically said that America got what it deserved on 9/11; or the time another creepy prime minister excoriated the US for failure to sign onto the Kyoto agreement on the very day that it was revealed the Americans had actually decreased their carbon emissions, while Canada’s increased by some 25%.

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But last night, while driving home from Toronto I was proud to be a Canadian and proud of my fellow citizens as they quietly stood on the bridges crossing “The Highway of Heroes”, that stretch of Highway 401 between Toronto and Trenton. The occasion was the repatriation of the remains of two Canadian soldiers, W/O Hani Massouth and Cpl Eric Labbe, who were killed in Afghanistan this week. On every bridge starting in Ajax and east from there, there was at least one fire truck with its lights flashing and a group of people waving Canadian flags in tribute to the dead heroes on their final journey home. As the Toronto-bound convoy bearing the hearses of the dead soldiers passed beneath each bridge, those above smartly came to attention, the firefighters and police officers silently saluting, while the civilians showed their support by waving the Maple Leaf. What was particularly notable was that the further east one went, the more people stood on the bridges until somewhere around Cobourg and Port Hope, there was standing room only. The experience renewed my confidence in Canada, the real Canada, the one populated by individuals who care about their country and its soldiers and aren’t afraid to shed public tears to demonstrate that support. I also realized there was a tremendous disconnect between the residents of Toronto and those stalwarts in all the smaller communities along The Highway of Heroes. The People of Ajax, Oshawa, Courtice, Bowmanville, Newcastle and points east all joined together without prompting to let our soldiers know they are foursquare behind them, no matter what. The people of Toronto, on the other hand apparently couldn’t be bothered.


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Klaus Rohrich -- Bio and Archives

Klaus Rohrich is senior columnist for Canada Free Press. Klaus also writes topical articles for numerous magazines. He has a regular column on RetirementHomes and is currently working on his first book dealing with the toxicity of liberalism.  His work has been featured on the Drudge Report, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, among others.  He lives and works in a small town outside of Toronto.

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