Paul Henderson quoted one of my favourite episodes of Fawlty Towers in his “…don’t mention the war” op-ed, Chilliwack Progress Oct. 15, 2021.
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He uses this quote to imply that Canadians routinely discuss our country’s military actions, when this is really not the case. Reasons for invading another sovereign nation are never part of any meaningful dialogue in Canadians’ daily lives.
I have often asked friends what they know of Canada’s missions in Libya, Afghanistan, Mali, or Iraq. Some “bad guys” names come up, Gaddafi, Saddam, The Taliban, but knowledge is always sketchy. What was the conflict about? What was the cost to Canadians for these missions? What was the outcome of these peace keeping forays? My friends have very few answers.
I have also asked friends if they approve of Canada going to war, or if they had a chance to voice their opinion on the topic. I couldn’t find 10 Canadians who say Canada should go to war. And even though we just went through a Federal election, I heard no candidates on mainstream media talking about our foreign policy or our proposed budget for upcoming wars. War is expensive. We can’t afford our own social programs, but we always have lots of money for war.
Paul Henderson’s Fawlty Towers quote is embarrassingly true for our federal government and Canadians in general. If we don’t mention the war, our elected public servants believe that we approve any and all military actions. November 11 approaches. We should mention the war(s) and our urgent need to stop them to Mark Strahl and all federal politicians.
Gary Raddysh
Chilliwack
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