The Liberals Were Right

Here's what I saw today:



Soldiers.

With guns.

In Canadian cities.

In Winnipeg.

At the corner of Marion & Archibald.

In broad daylight.

Well, ok, it was cloudy and raining.

I am not making this up.

Hey, I shoulda known: I didn't choose my Canada.

The "soldiers with guns" are here to participate in the weakly-protested Exercise Charging Bison 06, with the goal of training new troops on how to "develop independence of thought and action at the lowest group level, while reinforcing individual soldier skills within the context of a Full Spectrum Operations environment." This, according to a letter sent out to every residence in Winnipeg by the 38 Canadian Brigade Group Headquarters.

There are a couple dozen protesters who don't want our soldiers learning how to function in a bustling urban environment. Example: this fruitcake, who said, "It is abhorrent that they will be training to put down legitimate resistance movements - –and we need to ensure that they are not welcome." I suppose they'd rather have them wander into Kandahar totally clueless. Maybe then we could lose a bunch to more suicide bombers - sorry, make that "legitimate resistance movements" - and have another great debate about what proportion of the flagpole should be below the flag. That was fun, wasn't it?

Personally, I've got nothing but admiration, gratitude, and support for these troops. They've left their families behind (something I don't think I could ever do) and have stared the enemy in the eye. And that's just the nutbars sleeping on couches on the curbside.

But still, the Liberals predicted during the election campaign that this would happen if we elected a Conservative government.

Oh, wait a minute... what's this on the letter... "The planning for Exercise CHARGING BISON 2006 began last spring."

Under the Martin Liberals.

Hmm. Fancy that.