October 4, 2013
By Ray Rivers
BURLINGTON, ON. Memorable leaders leave noteworthy accomplishments behind them. In the US ObamaCare will be that president’s legacy, even though it represents a glass half-full to us in Canada. Tommy Douglas is remembered for introducing universal health care, while Premier of Saskatchewan in 1962; and Pierre Trudeau and Lester Pearson credited for implementing it nation-wide.
Avro Arrow – fighter plane that was to make us the envy of the western world.
Pearson also gave us our flag and won the Nobel prize while positioning Canada as a global peacemaker. John Diefenbaker’s biggest accomplishment was drafting our first Bill of Rights but he will only ever be remembered for killing the best fighter jet in its time, the Avro Arrow. Brian Mulroney led an effective anti-apartheid lobby, but his name brings up the US free-trade deal, the dreaded GST and that nasty Karl-Heinz affair.
Trudeau eliminated the terrorist FLQ, introduced bilingualism and multiculturalism, made Canada a global entertainment force, implemented a half-hearted metric system, and really got Albertans ticked with his energy program. And Jean Chretien gave us the long-gun registry – a bill which had the early support of a newly minted Calgary MP named Stephen Harper, voting against his own colleagues with the Reform Party caucus.
One of Harper’s first actions, as PM, in 2006 was to arm our border guards – who had never needed nor wanted the guns. He is a tough cop as PM, introducing mandatory prison sentences here, extending Canada’s role in Afghanistan, and sending war planes into Libya. And this summer Harper got to actually fire a rifle while reaffirming his determination to maintain sovereignty in the arctic.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper – showing the troops how its done as he fires a service long gun while in the Arctic
Few people have difficulty supporting a tough-minded PM, trying to keep us safe from threats of internal or external violence. So his change-of-mind on the long gun registry and his cancellation of the program, a much celebrated event by his party, was bizarre. I thought banning guns was ‘de rigueur’ for a sheriff taming the Wild West. Perhaps he has bought the US Tea Party line that private guns are the only defence against an oppressive government.
The long gun registry had given Harper a wedge issue to solidify his right-wing base and adjust his moral compass to accompany his change-of-heart. His next step was to deconstruct his firearms advisory committee, and pack it with members of Canada’s National Firearms Association, Canada’s NRA. https://nfa.ca/news/nfa-supports-sensible-government-approach-att One of the new committee’s early recommendations was to legalize the sale of assault weapons, which the government fortunately ignored.
Weren’t we all stunned when the PM rebuked the RCMP in High River? He ordered them to return the weapons they had found, stored illegally, in the flooded homes in that Alberta town. The Mounties were only enforcing the law, so does this now mean that we can ignore the rest of Canada’s gun laws with impunity? What is this pre-occupation with guns anyway? I know a six-year-old boy who is also fascinated with guns – but aren’t we supposed to grow up?
Last week Canada announced that we would not be joining over 90 other nations, including gun-loving USA, to sign the UN Arms Trade treaty, which is intended to keep weapons out of the hands of terrorist nations and terrorists. At first this was puzzling, then the penny dropped. The Harper government has a strategy to transition Canada into a future as a significant arms manufacturing country. It all makes sense now.
Stephen Harper, already the nation’s historic gunslinger, wants to be its gunsmith as well. Is this the industrial strategy Ontario and Quebec have been looking for? We’ll build weapons systems for rogue states and fuel them with oil from the tar sands. Harper’s quest is to create gold out of that dark place called war, thereby bringing jobs back to the voters in Canada’s industrial heartland and reversing the folly of Diefenbaker denying the Avro Arrow.
Canada will be completely transformed from historic peacemaker to ‘nouvelle’ arms-maker. That will be Harper’s mark, his legacy, and how he will be remembered after losing the next federal election.
A knight, without a horse, walks off into the darkest night…
On a quest for a treasure, that shines so bright.
A six-shooter on his left, his right he cannot use…
In search of a dark tower, others can only muse.
(The Gunslinger’s Tale – Ellen Walmsley, 1999)
Mr. Rivers states: “We’ll build weapons systems for rogue states and fuel them with oil from the tar sands. Harper’s quest is to create gold out of that dark place called war, thereby bringing jobs back to the voters in Canada’s industrial heartland and reversing the folly of Diefenbaker denying the Avro Arrow.”
Are you sure? You must really have the inside scoop to make that assertion. Is it possible that you are still getting your information from the Liberal insiders that promised us “soldiers in the streets with guns – this is no joke” a couple of elections ago.
Does one’s political persuasion cloud reality just a bit perhaps?
Over the last decade Canada has been ranked 13th in the world in terms of arm’s exports, so this is not new. In 2001, the tade amount to approximately $129 million, and in 2012 it had climbed to $276 million. If the writer’s musing are correct, it is refreshing to see the PM finally pay attention to the manufacturing sector instead of spending all his political capital on Albert oil.
Where did the idea that the border guards were forced into being armed come from? The union for the guards lobbied long and hard to get them.
It would be helpful if the writer had seen fit to include the official government statement regarding the reason for not signing on.
Your column is the first place that I have heard about the federal government having a strategy to manufacture arms and weapons systems. Could you please elaborate on the strategy and give us more detail.
Editors note:
Columnists are given pretty free rein to express opinions and put forward ideas. They have been known to do so in the past with their tongue in their cheek.
Thanks for your comment Bill – I don’t usually reply to comments but a point of information is in order. If you would please click the red text where this issue is located, that will take you to the original source of the information. It is true we columnists have a pretty free rein, but I try very hard to ensure that the all facts are accurate – or at least well sourced. This story was in the Globe and Mail where I read it first.
It is very puzzling that he won’t sign that UN trade treaty. I hope he doesn’t want to start manufacturing guns=–that would go against everything Canadians believe in and end up making the world an even scarier place!