By Arthur Weinreb
Thursday, March 8, 2007
The Victoria Cross was created in England in 1856 by Queen Victoria. The medal is awarded to soldiers as recognition of the highest acts of bravery during wartime. Since its inception in the mid 19th century, 94 of the medal's recipients have been Canadians.
In 1993, Queen Elizabeth II gave Canada permission to create and award the country's own Canadian Victoria Cross. Then the Liberals came into power and much like their much touted national childcare program and saving the planet from destruction due to global warming, they did nothing about it. The Conservative government is now set to award the first Canadian medal and is seriously considering awarding the Canadian Victoria Cross to the Unknown Soldier whose remains lie in Ottawa. The plan is to award the medal next month on the 90th anniversary of the battle at Vimy where the Unknown Solider made the ultimate sacrifice.
The proposed awarding of the medal to the Unknown Soldier has caused outrage with many veterans and other Canadians. The argument is that by awarding the medal to someone that we know nothing about, robs the Victoria Cross of its true meaning; a medal that is awarded for exceptional bravery on the battlefield. When this criticism surfaced, the usually decisive Stephen Harper wimped out, saying only that his government has not made any final decision about who will be given the first Canadian Victoria Cross medal.
In not listening to the criticism of the veterans and rejecting the award to the Unknown Solider outright, Harper has shown his progressive side. It should be disheartening to all Canadian conservatives to watch the guy who is constantly referred to as a neo-conservative with a right-wing Republican agenda take a stand on awarding a military medal that is somewhere to the left of Jack Layton.
Harper has been moving leftward since he first came to power a little over a year ago and the Conservative Party's new attitude towards the environment is perhaps the clearest illustration of this. The Harper government has now jumped on the global warming bandwagon and it's only a matter of time before the prime minister and his cat-loving wife welcome a little kitty named "Suzuki" to 24 Sussex Drive. At least there is a rational reason for this leftward shift. The environment will be a major issue in the next election and the government's policy could make a difference between winning and losing or winning a majority or returning with another minority. Harper's policy on the awarding of the Canadian Victoria Cross on the other hand will not have any long lasting political repercussions.
In even seriously considering awarding the Victoria Cross to the Unknown Soldier, Harper has stomped on basic small "c" conservative values. The Unknown Soldier represents the common soldier and awarding the Victoria Cross to him is the same as awarding the medal to all soldiers. Gone is any notion of excellence or exceptional bravery. Harper has adopted the left's notion of equality of outcome where all soldiers are now awarded the highest form of praise for bravery simply because some outstanding soldiers have shown exceptional bravery. The prime minister's thinking is the same that leads schools to award sporting medals to all participants, lest some of the children "feel bad" and develop "self esteem issues".
There is no doubt that Harper doesn't look at it this way, but his thinking is in line with the progressive notion that everyone must be treated equally. If Harper really was a true small "c" conservative, the decision not to give the medal to the Unknown Solider would be a no-brainer.
Harper should show some leadership and back away from awarding a Canadian Victoria Cross to the Unknown Soldier. If Harper and the Conservatives won't listen to this country's veterans, who will?
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