The minority Canadian government has passed a resolution to lower the flag on the Peace Tower whenever a Canadian soldier or government worker is killed in a foreign land. As this is a non-binding resolution the Harper government has decided to ignore this resolution and only lower the flag on Rememberance Day.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/04/02/flag-motion.html
Tell me your thoughts on this motion - do you think it is important to recognize individual deaths or rather, should they be recognized enmasse in a special day of rememberance. More importantly, do you feel the Harper government's unwillingness to recognize a passed parliamentary motion is indicative of their policies and view of democracy.
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11 comments:
Personally I think that anyone in the military that is killed overseas should be recognized. Most of those people have families, maybe even wives and children. Showing some respect for what they did is only right.
I guess I feel so strongly because my dad almost went out that way before he retired. And you never know what could happen.
I think that it is an excellent idea to lower the flag everytime someone dies in a war torn country. Perhaps then, Harper will realize how many lives are being taken for the most unjustifiable war in history. I think lower flags on Remembrance Day should be solely to recognize those who died in WWI, WWII and the like.
Stephen Harper should google democracy so he knows what it is. He clearly has no idea.
I personally think that each and everyone of them should be recognized but it would be easier to remember them all as a group.
I don't see the harm in lowering the flag to half mass whenever our soildier's is killed overseas. I also think they should countinue to lower the flag on Remembrance Day to honor our veterans. I think we should do all we can to suppost the soildiers who are out there for our country.
I believe they should lower it whenever a casualty occurs. It's all about respect. Just doing it once a year covering every one of the fallen seems like kind of a cop-out.
That's what the Conservative government is lacking though. A general respect for the rest of the country. Just as I've mentioned before on here, they feel they can do whatever they want because there's no chance of them being beaten by anyone right now. For shame, Harper.
I was outright angered when I read that veterans oppose the lowering of the Peace Tower flag when a Canadian soldier dies overseas. From what the article says, they oppose the idea because their friends and commrades we're not remembered in the same way. Okay well that was like 30 years ago you dinosaurs and things change, and if someone is brave enough to do what you did, you should have a mutual respect. They respect you for what you have done, they listen and they remember. Respect them by not being what I feel is some strange offshoot of greed and pride mixing together. Overly preedy, perhaps pridey, I'd say.
Anyways, on to the meat and potatoes of this post. The Harper government has decided to not honor parliament by not honoring their decision by not lowering the flag. Part of me says, 'HEY! That's not cool! Bad government! Sit! Stay! Be Democratic!' but part of me says 'what's all the hullaballo about?' (that part of me is very quaint, somewhat folksy). I mean, legally they don't have to, from what I gathered. If there is a law in place that says they don't have to do it then I'm sure there is a good reason for that. Maybe a government should be allowed to make up their own minds on smaller issues like this, i mean, although our apointed/elected (no idea lol, im but a child in the man's world of politics.), we elected the conservatives to be the top dogs and gave them the power to do things like this. No one got hurt. This is not an issue of significance to many. I'm letting them slide this time.
I can't believe Veterans actually oppose the idea of lowering the flag to half mast. They seem to be under the impression that war is a tradition or something! War is the ugliest side of human nature and the fact that these soldiers of the past are clearly indicating that they don't want things to change disgusts me even more than the Harper Government's decision to ignore the motion. Just because things were done wrong in their day doesn't mean this country shouldn't at least try to change for the better. But I guess that's why most of them are 'Conservatives.'
I hope they're at least proud of their grandchildren who are dying for something they believe in. They clearly don't think they're important enough to honour.
Is it alright if the idea of lowering flags for soldiers doesn't interest me? That either way, I would shrug my shoulders? I'm not apathetic about the deaths of men and women fighting in war-- in any war. On a base level, I can understand why the families of fallen soldiers would want the flag lowered; it's the same reason why I would want people to respect certain rituals of funerals. It helps, knowing that a loved one is treated with respect even after they have died. They may not care for it, as they are no longer alive-- but we do. Closure, with such a human gesture. Let them have their rituals, if it helps.
I kind of, agree with them not lowering the flag to half mast. I know it recognizes the individual. But, I would rather wait for the war to be over and be happy to honor a whole group with the half mast flag.
Instead of recognizing that they died.
to be honest, I feel that a single day for the masses is sufficient. My cousin is overseas right now and if her were to die as the result of that my family would mourne for him but I wouldn't expect you to. It's foolish that in a world where people die every minute that a select few should have national recognition. Would the flag be half-masted for a man who drowned trying to save a stranger? What about for someone who's stabbed after trying to stop their friend from doing heroine? Death is death, don't mourne it so much as celebrate their lives.
I would have to agree with the general feeling of my peers on this one. The flag need to be lowered each and every time someone dies. Hell, I would have no problems having some of my Canadian tax dollars going to someone whose specific job is to do this. We are at war right now. Believe or don’t, it matters not. People can be fickle. But lives are being lost and they need to be recognized. The troops are serving an important role and respect needs to shown no matter what Harper, the veterans, or any other fascist state has to say.
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