[Newsbot]

<strong>Title: </strong> <a href="/link.php?id=21744" target="_blank">Stephen Harper is a toy soldier</a> (click to view)

<strong>Category:</strong> <a href="/news/topic/13-military" target="_blank">Military</a>
<strong>Posted By: </strong> <a href="/modules.php?name=Your_Account&op=userinfo&username=Streaker" target="_blank">Streaker</a>
<strong>Date: </strong> 2007-05-27 18:32:13
<strong>Canadian</strong>

[Arctic_Menace]

Interesting article. Good Read.

[bootlegga]

I really like Colin Kenny. Personally, I'm surprised he is a Liberal and not a Conservative, simply because he calls it the way he sees it and isn't afraid to tell the truth.

The sad thing here is that he is totally right about Harper. He used his big announcement last summer to dodge the AIDs conference, promising big things for the Arctic, yet here it is almost a year later and we've haven't heard so much as a peep from him. His little trips to Afghanistan make him look good to the soldiers, but he didn't add to the defence budget with this year's budget, he hasn't added troops, nothing but rumours we MIGHT get some corvettes for the Arctic, no port for Iqaluit, and so on. For a pro-defence PM, he's been a disappointment this past year.

[EyeBrock]

Colin Kenny is a Liberal shit stirrer. He is no friend of the military.
Where was he when the Liberals were decimating the Canadian Forces? He was appointed by Trudeau in 1984. Plenty of time to voice his opinion about the state of the Forces. 23 years to be exact, but now he spouts off at any and every occasion how bad the Tories are to the military.
Why don't you ask serving soldiers who they prefer? I think we know the answer to that.

He's the guy who wasted $150,000 staying in luxury hotel in Dubai 'trying' to get into Afghanistan, even though he had been told that the CF were too stretched to accommodate him prior to leaving Canada.
Great guy. Another Liberal hypocrite.

[bootlegga]

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

Colin Kenny is a Liberal shit stirrer. He is no friend of the military.
Where was he when the Liberals were decimating the Canadian Forces? He was appointed by Trudeau in 1984. Plenty of time to voice his opinion about the state of the Forces. 23 years to be exact, but now he spouts off at any and every occasion how bad the Tories are to the military.
Why don't you ask serving soldiers who they prefer? I think we know the answer to that.

He's the guy who wasted $150,000 staying in luxury hotel in Dubai 'trying' to get into Afghanistan, even though he had been told that the CF were too stretched to accommodate him prior to leaving Canada.
Great guy. Another Liberal hypocrite.

He's been the chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence since 2001, and since then he's been hammering the government in power to do something. Check the senate archives if you doubt me. Yes, he was silent for the first 15 years in office, but since he became chairman he's been calling for more defence spending. His committee lambasted the Libs for not spending enough, and now that the Cons are running the show, he's trying to keep them honest too.

Here's just a few links (from both sides of the political fence);

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news ... 815f25a67a

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... e=&no_ads=

http://forums.army.ca/forums/index.php/ ... 999.0.html

http://www.calgarysun.com/cgi-bin/publi ... &s=comment

http://www.macleans.ca/canada/national/ ... 706_101706

Sorry, EB, but you're letting your partisanship blind you to the fact that he is one of the few Libs who actually cares about the defence of this nation. Is he perfect? no, but then again, neither is anyone, least of all me or you. He wasted a boatload of money on his trip, and I don't excuse it, but all of our politicians spend money like water, whether it's on fancy hotels, private jets, whatever. That culutre of entitlement is another discussion altogether...

[EyeBrock]

bootlegga bootlegga:

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

Colin Kenny is a Liberal shit stirrer. He is no friend of the military.
Where was he when the Liberals were decimating the Canadian Forces? He was appointed by Trudeau in 1984. Plenty of time to voice his opinion about the state of the Forces. 23 years to be exact, but now he spouts off at any and every occasion how bad the Tories are to the military.
Why don't you ask serving soldiers who they prefer? I think we know the answer to that.

He's the guy who wasted $150,000 staying in luxury hotel in Dubai 'trying' to get into Afghanistan, even though he had been told that the CF were too stretched to accommodate him prior to leaving Canada.
Great guy. Another Liberal hypocrite.

He's been the chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defence since 2001, and since then he's been hammering the government in power to do something. Check the senate archives if you doubt me. Yes, he was silent for the first 15 years in office, but since he became chairman he's been calling for more defence spending. His committee lambasted the Libs for not spending enough, and now that the Cons are running the show, he's trying to keep them honest too.

Here's just a few links (from both sides of the political fence);

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news ... 815f25a67a

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... e=&no_ads=

http://forums.army.ca/forums/index.php/ ... 999.0.html

http://www.calgarysun.com/cgi-bin/publi ... &s=comment

http://www.macleans.ca/canada/national/ ... 706_101706

Sorry, EB, but you're letting your partisanship blind you to the fact that he is one of the few Libs who actually cares about the defence of this nation. Is he perfect? no, but then again, neither is anyone, least of all me or you. He wasted a boatload of money on his trip, and I don't excuse it, but all of our politicians spend money like water, whether it's on fancy hotels, private jets, whatever. That culutre of entitlement is another discussion altogether...

I disagree. He is also the architect of the infamous 1994 Defence White Paper which was so disasterous for the CF.

I mentioned his waste because his article alludes to funds being mis-spent by the Tories.
My partisanship pales in comparison to this PET appointed LIBERAL Senator.
He is a politician, and he is taking shots at the government as any good Liberal should. I take his viewpoint as it is given. It's a Liberal point of view designed to make the Tories look bad. To try and show him as a 'honest broker' is disingenuous.

[bootlegga]

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

I disagree. He is also the architect of the infamous 1994 Defence White Paper which was so disasterous for the CF.

I mentioned his waste because his article alludes to funds being mis-spent by the Tories.
My partisanship pales in comparison to this PET appointed LIBERAL Senator.
He is a politician, and he is taking shots at the government as any good Liberal should. I take his viewpoint as it is given. It's a Liberal point of view designed to make the Tories look bad. To try and show him as a 'honest broker' is disingenuous.

Did you even bother to read any of the links I posted? I find it odd that the very right wing Calgary sun, National Post both agree with my sentitments. Even the poster on Army.ca pointed to one of Kenny's statements. Even MacLean's (reviled by most Libs) printed his statement that the Libs weren't doing enough back in 2005...how was that being a good Lib by saying our military was incapable of defending Canada and taking the Martin's Libs to task?

Sorry, but your statement just smacks of partisanship. I've no love of the Libs and their dismantling of the military in mid-90s (preceded by Mulroney and his cuts), but they definitely turned the corner after 9/11. Defence spending went from $9.9 Billion in 1999 to over $14.5 billion in 2005. not enough, but a healthy increase. It would have gone to $18 by 2008.

Harper's last increase in spending in this year's budget was in line with the Libs, so he's not doing all that much better than the Libs after 9/11.

[Arctic_Menace]

[Clogeroo]

$1:

Did you even bother to read any of the links I posted? I find it odd that the very right wing Calgary sun, National Post both agree with my sentitments. Even the poster on Army.ca pointed to one of Kenny's statements. Even MacLean's (reviled by most Libs) printed his statement that the Libs weren't doing enough back in 2005...how was that being a good Lib by saying our military was incapable of defending Canada and taking the Martin's Libs to task?

Sorry, but your statement just smacks of partisanship. I've no love of the Libs and their dismantling of the military in mid-90s (preceded by Mulroney and his cuts), but they definitely turned the corner after 9/11. Defence spending went from $9.9 Billion in 1999 to over $14.5 billion in 2005. not enough, but a healthy increase. It would have gone to $18 by 2008.

Harper's last increase in spending in this year's budget was in line with the Libs, so he's not doing all that much better than the Libs after 9/11.

Mr.Kenny has a point but as Eyebrock is saying where was he before? When were the armed forces really ever a priority for him? But I guess he has talked about it for the last few years out of his 23 years as an appointed liberal senator so obviously he has been there for the armed forces all the way. He hasn't been and he is a bigger hypocrite than Stephen Harper for trying to convey that. We hardly heard a peep out of him before when the defence budget was being slashed greatly but now that it is being increased he seems to be more critical of that if anything. Even the budget figures and defence spending increasing you posted are really nothing to be proud of and barley even replace the cuts that were made before by the same government and party.

The Tories did at least try and step it up with 17 billion in defence spending as well as billions more for new equipment and the possibility of six arctic patrol corvettes. Sure this was mostly last year and this year’s budget was very liberal in its design complete with Quebec bribes and useless programme spending. But I cannot imagine any government under Dion being a friend of the Canadian Armed Forces or would really put much into them if anything or any more than the Tories. This is just the sad reality of Canada that no one really cares if we have a professional well equipped armed forces or not.

[stratos]

right with you there A.M. This looks like a good he's a Con. vs he's a Lib. brewing up here. It would be funny if the guy came out a couple months from now and said he's a NDPer at heart.

[Scape]

bootlegga bootlegga:

Sorry, EB, but you're letting your partisanship blind you to the fact that he is one of the few Libs who actually cares about the defence of this nation.

I'm glad that defense spending has become politically fashionable once again so I would be inclined to give EB's bent a pass. Of all the parties that use the military as a political token it's the grits. The Tories have not made a mess of the CF so far and saying the emperor has no cloths now rings hollow. Yes the grits paid the debt down at the expense of the CF but you have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to know by now that of course we are looking at billions in defense spending and that such a budget would easily topple a minority if it came up. So to say that they are being 'sly' and dressing up the holes so we can stagger though our Afghanistan deployment is a red herring. That argument has about the same about of credibility as Dion being pro-military.

[Christy]

Harper is a lot of talk and not much action. He made a lot of promises and isn't doing anything because they were bad ideas at the start. Now he needs to get the soldiers home and stop trying to being Bush's best friend.

[ridenrain]

Christy Christy:

Harper is a lot of talk and not much action. He made a lot of promises and isn't doing anything because they were bad ideas at the start. Now he needs to get the soldiers home and stop trying to being Bush's best friend.

Lol. Well thought out points there Are you sure you're not baylee?

I read an autobiography of a defence minister during the Trudeau years but I'm not sure if it was this guy. In any case, he was a total tosser and was as good a defence minister as a lump of jelllo.

One little point was that this last trip put Harper closest to a shooting war than any other PM in Canada's history. That fact has definately been noted by the forces, their families and their supporters.

[PluggyRug]

Christy Christy:

Harper is a lot of talk and not much action. He made a lot of promises and isn't doing anything because they were bad ideas at the start. Now he needs to get the soldiers home and stop trying to being Bush's best friend.

So which ideas are bad?

[Scrappy]

Ah Avro has spawed another tard has he, remember Christy wax on wax off and don't mix the bleach with the Mr. Clean. Never mind mix them together and enjoy. Yes let us bring the soldier home so we can stick Blue Berets on their heads like the NDPer's want and then we can send them to be slaughtered by Arab Islamist in Darfur. Bloody brilliant if you are on CRACK or a Arab Islamic apologist.