Canadian vets denied flags.

[greeneyez1029]

How appalling!!! Andre Bellevance has some set on him to deny our vets Canadian flags for this Remembrance day. Absolutely disgusting.. :fu2:

 

[Merlin1047]

Link to story please.

 

[Wolfe]

Its such bullshit that he refuses to give them flags. Stephen Harper reacted a lot quicker than Paul Martin to remedy the situation.

 

[Isaac Brock]

Full story

OTTAWA -- A separatist MP has caused a national flap by refusing to provide a Canadian flag to a Quebec veterans group for Remembrance Day ceremonies. John Hill, vice-president of the Royal Canadian Legion branch in Richmond, Que., was outraged when he was denied a flag by Bloc Quebecois MP Andre Bellavance. A constituency office staffer explained that handing out the Maple Leaf - even to war veterans - goes against the party's goal of Quebec sovereignty.

How rude to those veterans. I hope the Quebecois get the BQ out of Quebecc for good one of these days.

 

[Wolfe]

What pisses me off is the pettiness of this MP and the lack of condemnation by his party.

 

[Isaac Brock]

Well are you entirely surprised that an anti-federalist party is condoning his actions? It's towing the party line, but you don't want to make enemies of vets in any campaign. They sacrificed and thus I think they command a lot more respect and power than the Bloc realizes.

 

[Said1]

Well are you entirely surprised that an anti-federalist party is condoning his actions? It's towing the party line, but you don't want to make enemies of vets in any campaign. They sacrificed and thus I think they command a lot more respect and power than the Bloc realizes.

Well said, and exactly right.

 

[Wolfe]

I hope his "little" actions backfire.

 

[greeneyez1029]

Link to story please.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/11/05/Vetflags_041105.html

 

[Said1]

Another great column by my favorite local columnist, Earl McRae. He expresses my sentiments about this BS to a tee. Sorry if it's a little long, but it's worth it.

If not flag, why poppy?

Earl McRae talks to outraged vets after a Bloc MP refused to honour a Legion request to deliver flags
By EARL MCRAE -- For the Ottawa Sun


So Andre Bellavance, you ungrateful, shameless hypocrite, what about your poppy?

And you, Gilles Duceppe, you disrespectful phony, what about your poppy?

And the poppies a number of your compatriot separatists MPs are wearing?


There you all were, in the House Of Commons this week, with the precious symbol of Canada's sacrifice in war on your lapels, the poppy honouring Canada's soldiers who went to war, and Canada's soldiers who gave their lives, soldiers from every part of this nation including your own province of Quebec, soldiers who were Canadians, soldiers who fought for Canada, soldiers who fought so that people like you, Andre Bellavance and Gilles Duceppe and your separatist pals, could live under the flag of freedom that you do, and not one of tyranny.

Yes, the flag.

The flag of Canada, the glorious red and white and the Maple Leaf that they will have nothing to do with, representing as it does the country they want no part of, the flag treated as if it were used toilet paper when Andre Bellavance refused a request from a Royal Canadian Legion branch in his Quebec riding for three Canadian flags as part of its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Refused because Bellavance, with the backing of his leader Duceppe, regards the flag as a symbol of the Canada they want to wipe their hands of, and they couldn't care less that among the citizens in Bellavance's riding are French-Canadians who are proud Canadians and who went to war for a united Canada, not a separate Quebec, and some of them, and their descendants, are members of the legion branch given the separatist bum's rush.

Refused because Bellavance and Duceppe couldn't care less that the previous non-separatist MP for the riding was delighted with the branch's past requests for Canadian flags, and delivered them without a problem, because our veterans matter and should never be forgotten.

'What an insult'

The Maple Leaf flag was the emblem under which our soldiers served, Canadians, and the poppy is the sacred emblem through which we remember and honour them, Canadians, and Andre Bellavance, quisling, and Gilles Duceppe, quisling, were in the Parliament of the true north strong and free this week wearing the poppy.

"It should be ripped right off their jackets, they're disgracing it," snaps Gord Gaffney, 64, whose older brother served with the Royal Canadian Navy in the Korean war. "What an insult to the veterans and all Canadians. It's pathetic."

Gaffney and his wife Wanita, 53, are members of Legion Branch 593 in Bells Corners. They're sitting over beers with some other members: Claude Begin, 74, Roger Gauthier, 47, and Ken Vaughn, 67.

"If it wasn't for our veterans, the Bloc Quebecois wouldn't have its freedom," says Gord Gaffney. "Our soldiers were French, English, Indian, and politics had nothing in it, they were all Canadians no matter what province they came from. Boys as young as 16, 18 buried in the war cemeteries overseas -- they died for Canada and that flag."

Claude Begin, French-Canadian, who spent 33 years in the RCAF: "It's wrong. They're making a political statement. They shouldn't mix in politics. One of my uncles was killed in action three days after D-Day. He was only 18. Another lost an eye in battle. Here at home, a lot of the French ran and hid during the Second World War. They didn't want to fight. This kind of thing doesn't help."

Wanita Gaffney, whose army father (artillery), fought in Italy: "It's terrible. I am so mad. They (Bloc Quebecois) shouldn't even be allowed in the House Of Commons. They have no respect for our veterans or Canadians as human beings."

Ken Vaughn, who served in the militia: "It's an insult to our veterans and the flag. Can you imagine if somebody tried this in the States with the American flag? They'd be lynched."

Roger Gauthier, son of a World War II Navy veteran: "The Bloc Quebecois just confirmed again what the rest of Canada knows: That they're a bunch of traitorous arseholes."



http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Ottawa/Earl_McRae/2004/11/05/702375.html

 

[greeneyez1029]

This guy is always on the mark, it's long as well but it's a great read..People everywhere are outraged at the gall of this mealy little POS. :bat:


Sat, November 6, 2004


Rally 'round Maple Leaf

THANE BURNETT LAUNCHES OPERATION BIG FLAP AGAINST BLOC MP - BUT HE NEEDS LOTS OF FLAGS

By THANE BURNETT, TORONTO SUN




DUCK, MR. Bellavance! As we commence Operation Big Flap.

If a group of Quebec veterans can't get a Canadian flag from Bellavance, their separatist MP, then World War II flyer James McGuffin is willing to take down the one in front of his Willowdale home, and gladly hand it over.

"If they need it, they should have mine," said the 80-year-old decorated veteran, who spent the day handing out Remembrance Day poppies for his local Toronto Legion.

"To be denied one from your MP baffles me," he said.

Bloc Quebecois MP Bellavance has baffled a lot of people and earned the disrespect of veterans from coast to coast by stiffing a Richmond, Que., Legion hall of a flag for its upcoming Remembrance Day ceremony. Legion members were told by his office he simply doesn't hand out the Maple Leaf -- the same one that appears in the corner of his regular paycheque -- because his party wants to separate from us.

PM, HARPER ANGRY

Yesterday, Prime Minister Paul Martin, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper and even Transportation Minister Jean Lapierre -- a founding member of the Bloc -- were outraged at the politics of Bellavance's pettiness.

"Total lack of class. Total lack of class," is how Lapierre saw it.

The loud voices of the federal politicians -- except for the whines of Bloc officials who defended the slight against the nation's war dead; both French and English -- were joined by the outrage of honourable people like veteran McGuffin.

He was recently in France to mark D-Day celebrations.

"I saw the special attention French people there gave as soon as they saw the Canadian medals on your chest," said the grandfather and former bombardier.

'ALMOST EXPLODED'

It wasn't just men like McGuffin who had their sights on Bellavance, while offering up their own flags to any Quebec veteran who needs one. Jim Ritchie has a 6-foot Maple Leaf standard he desperately wants shipped east across the Ontario-Quebec border.

"How dare they be denied," said the 52-year-old engineer from Oakville. "I heard about it and almost exploded.

"I want the vets to have this flag. I'd be proud to give it to them."

For the past dozen years, his flag has flown from his deck on Canada Day. He was never in the military, but he can count war heroes, and war dead, among his relatives.

"Those poor old buggers in Quebec -- someone should tell (Bellavance) boys from Quebec died at Dieppe," Ritchie fumed last night.

"Where do I send the flag?"

You can send it to me.

In fact, anyone who has an extra Canadian flag -- big or small, old or new -- that they would like to see in the hands of Quebec vets, I'd be honoured to get it to them.

Until Bellavance raises a white flag on his personal war against the veterans in his province, it's the least, symbolically, we can do for them.

The Bloc MP doesn't want to see the Maple Leaf in his backyard. Let's -- not for politics but for remembrance -- make sure he sees red at every turn.

My father and his father before him sailed away from Canada's safe harbours, bound for war. My sister served with the Canadian military. Even my mother has a special service medal on her bookshelf.

People like Andre Bellavance have, for years now, tried to tear apart the fabric of Canada. They do it, safely, within the very walls of our nation's capital. And they are able to do it, not because they are so brave in fighting their cause.

But because Canadian soldiers, speaking both languages, went off to war to make that political freedom -- however bizarre -- possible for the Bloc.

FLAGS TO ME

Perhaps Bellavance should talk to veterans about what a real fight is like -- even ones who carry his family name.

There was a time he could have talked to Canadian World War II soldiers Conrad Bellavance or Sgt. Louis Bellavance, of Rimouski, Que. But they're both dead.

They will be long honoured by a country they protected.

Duck, Mr. Bellavance. You are about to learn something of pride and remembrance.

If you would like to send your flag to Quebec veterans, please send it to The Toronto Sun, City Desk, 333 King St. E. Toronto, Ont., M5A 3X5.