A perfect example of a government in action

An interesting article appeared earlier this week in the National Post about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Dr. Michael Pilon, a retired army major, has been trying to get the federal government to do something to protect the integrity of the monument. Pilon was the man who filmed a young person urinating on the Tomb on Canada Day two years ago. That incident caused an uproar throughout the country. Pilon has noted that many people use the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as a bench and he’s found people fast asleep on the grave. One problem is that there is little signage and poor demarcation of what exactly the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is.

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What makes Pilon’s beef with the government different from many others that we hear about is that the feds agree with him. So far, all they have done is to have a guard around but only during the summer and only during the daytime. This, of course does nothing to prevent those who drink in the park during the evening from using the memorial as a urinal or a place to sleep. Pilon is not even asking the government to post guards 24/7 around the war memorial as the United States does in Arlington National Cemetery at their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; all he wants is something to be done to inform the public exactly what the monument is. The problem of people using the Tomb as a park bench or a bed is not a particularly difficult problem to solve. Nor would it be cost prohibitive to remedy the situation – it would probably cost less than one overseas flight for Maxie Bernier and a biker babe. But it’s been almost two years since the urination incident and the government still has not solved the problem. We live in an age where more and more Canadians are becoming more and more dependent upon all levels of government. Governments are the only ones who can be trusted to deliver health care. Governments at all levels are becoming increasingly more active in telling us we can eat, where we can eat it, where we can smoke or not smoke, how much we can drive, etc. And many Canadians look to the government as their parents and eagerly await its guidance. The problem is, as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier illustrates, governments are simply inept and should be restricted to doing things that only governments can and will do.  If the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was privately owned, the problem would have been fixed within days after the 2006 Canada Day incident. The monument would have been cordoned off and more signs would have been erected telling the public exactly what it is. The mind boggles at how many bureaucratic meetings must have been held, at taxpayer expense of course, to discuss this matter. How many meetings, memos and emails have been generated in a brave attempt to solve the problem? It was reported that the bureaucrats do not want the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to be cordoned off to allow people to be able to place poppies on it on November 11. It probably never occurred to anyone that if erected, cordons could be taken down for the time around Remembrance Day. The government is also hedging about adding signage for fear it will detract from the Tomb’s appearance. This is also a relatively minor concern; what is worse – a few more signs or having people mistaking a war memorial for just another park bench? There is no necessity to make the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier impenetrable. Measures need only be taken to tell law abiding, respectful people that this is in fact a war memorial and not a fancy bench to put their kids on while they take some pictures. This is a perfect example of why governments should be the last choice of people who want to get things done. Unfortunately, for many people governments are usually the first choice.

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