Stephen Harper, Canada's Son, and the Forgotten Soldier

There couldn't have been a more impressive and moving tribute. 

Thousands of people lining the streets of downtown Hamilton, to pay their final respects to Cpl. Nathan Cirillo. 

There couldn't have been a more heartbreaking sight...



That little boy couldn't have been braver on such a sad day.

The media couldn't expend enough words praising "Canada's son." 

They were complete strangers and close friends. They were office workers and decorated generals. Some came from other countries, others needed only to stand up from their panhandling roosts to salute the casket.

And then there was this...



For which, as Dr Dawg says, words fail.

Stephen Harper taking full advantage of a nation's grief, to inflame it further.

“We’re better for his life, and we’re diminished by his loss,” he said. “And may his son, young Marcus Daniel Cirillo, some day find comfort in the fact that our entire country looks up to his dad with pride, with gratitude, with deep abiding respect.”

In shameless pursuit of his narrow political agenda.

For as we now know, there is nothing he won't do to fan the flames of war, even cancel his planned trip to China. And his agenda couldn't be clearer. 

And all I could think of was, how low will he go?

And why has he said so much about Cpl. Cirillo, and so little about that other murdered soldier Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent?

A Quebec soldier killed in a hit-and-run in Quebec one week ago “loved life” and his service was “his way of making a difference in our world,” his family said in a statement announcing funeral arrangements for the 53-year-old. Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent was killed one week ago when he was struck by a car while walking through a parking lot in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.

If one is "Canada's son" why isn't the other?



Could it be because Vincent wasn't as young or as photogenic as Cirillo? Or because he was attacked in a parking lot instead of at the National War Memorial.

As if that should make a difference.

Or could it be because of this? 

A member of the Canadian forces for 28 years, Vincent worked in the Joint Personnel Support Unit at the Integrated Personnel Support Centre. Part of Veterans Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence, the centres work to help veterans and current soldiers deal with injuries, return to the workforce and apply for benefits and services from the government.

Because Vincent worked to help injured soldiers and veterans, the ones Stephen Harper and his foul Cons have betrayed so MISERABLY?

And he would hate to remind people about that at a time like this one.

Or is it because at a time when the Cons are trying to make us believe that the men who murdered those two soldiers are REAL terrorists, the Vincent family committed the ultimate sin by reaching out to the family of their loved one's mentally disturbed killer.

Vincent’s family also reached out to Couture-Rouleau’s family, saying their thoughts are with them “as they go through these difficult moments.” 

In the most Canadian way possible.

And knowing Stephen Harper, you know what I believe. All of the above.

He is no Great Strong Leader. 

How could he be when he cowered in a closet during the attack?



Only to emerge as even more of a chicken hawk than he already was.

He is no Canadian leader.

He is manipulating the emotions of the population for crass political purposes, and so he can take away our freedoms that so many died to preserve.

He is leading us to a very bad place. 

And if we really wish to honour our soldier dead.

We can't get rid of him soon enough...

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