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Politically Incorrect

Rally for America--Canadian style

by Arthur Weinreb

April 7, 2003

On April 4, a pro-U.S. rally was held at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto, organized by the Friends of America. Well over 1,000 people packed the Square, a large turnout considering the weather. While Canadians are used to snow storms and cold temperatures, we weren’t quite prepared for the freezing rain and ice pellets that hit Toronto for 35 hours, including the time that the rally was held. One can only wonder what the turnout would have been had the weather been something other than the constant bombardment of ice.

The rally was a typical Canadian event. What marks an event as "typically Canadian" is that the hand of the Liberal government was in there somewhere. The Liberals, for anyone who doesn’t know, form the Canadian government who voted not to support our traditional allies, the U.S., Britain, and Australia in the war with Iraq.

Prior to the rally, the Friends of America website (www.friendsofamerica.ca) made it quite clear that the rally would be a non-partisan event. Why non-partisan? The whole reason for the rally in the first place was, or should have been, to show the displeasure of the silent majority of Canadians who are ashamed by the anti-American rhetoric that poured out of Liberal stalwarts such as Carolyn (Damn Americans, I hate those bastards) Parrish and Herb (George Bush is a failed statesman) Dhaliwal; which statements were, by his silence, tacitly approved by Da Boss, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

And if anyone thinks that the rally had anything to do with the war in Iraq, think again. One of the Friends of America organizers was quoted as saying, " …the rally was not formed to champion the U.S.-led war in Iraq". Are you following this so far? The Liberals are proud of their anti-Americanism and refused to participate in the Iraqi war but the rally has nothing to do with partisanship and is not in support of the war. So why were we having a rally for the United States? Was it to support, George W. Bush’s tax cuts? Was it to show solidarity with McDonald’s employees in Mississippi? Or was it merely to show solidarity with the United States, simply because, like the peak of Mt. Everest, it’s there? What irrelevant mush!

It was interesting that the organizers, at the conclusion of the speeches, thanked Liberal Senator Jerry Grafstein for his help in organizing the rally. As well, there were Liberal speakers such as Toronto MP Dennis Mills, a little backbench toady who voted against going to war before coming to the Square and talking about whatever he was going to talk about before being booed off the stage. All that was missing in this non-partisan, non-war event was NDP MP Svend Robinson, singing Kumbaya with the Iraqi Ambassador. The mere mention of Graftstein hinted that the rally was nothing more than a typical Liberal attempt to have it both ways; praising the U.S. while not attempting to anger their Middle East allies or their masters at the U.N. There must have been a few chuckles on Sussex Drive when the rally concluded.

We don’t need pro-American rallies. What we do need are anti-government rallies to show the displeasure of the silent majority of this country’s refusal to join its former allies in taking down the Butcher of Baghdad.

The best thing about the rally was that a significant number of those that attended did not buy this "nothing to do with the war, non-partisan, all you need is love" crap that was the supposed purpose of the event. People came with placards saying, "Chrétien doesn’t speak for me", "Give war a chance", and my all time favourite, short and to the point, "Carolyn is a bitch".

What we really need is a rally that will be for those silent majority who are not ambiguous--who want to see Saddam Hussein deposed, who want to side with our traditional former allies in the war and who are truly embarrassed by our pro-Iraq, anti-American politicians. And one where Liberals don’t come to mouth pro-American platitudes and receive thanks from the organizers.