Disgraceful Canada Day Attempt to Get Canadians Onboard with War Preparations
On July 1, the 157th anniversary of Confederation by Royal Proclamation in 1867, also known as Canada Day, the government put on a despicable military flypast which it boasted was the largest in the last 20 years. The flypast featured more than 45 aircraft, including one from every Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) fleet, and several historic and "future" planes and helicopters.
The aircraft -- some of
which
are stationed at the Gatineau
airport -- flew over Parliament Hill at around 1:00 pm,
ahead of
the formal Canada Day ceremony at LeBreton Flats Park.
The
participating aircraft included the CT-156 Harvard II
trainer,
the
CC-177 Globemaster and CC-330
Husky cargo planes, and CF-188 Hornets jet fighters, as
well as
the
CH-148 Cyclone, CH-147 Chinook, CH-149 Cormorant, and
CH-146
Griffon
helicopters. CF-188 Hornets were used in Operation Echo,
the
code name
for Canadian Armed Forces air strikes in the NATO bombing
of
Yugoslavia
in 1999. Between
March 24 and June 10 that year, Canadian aircraft flew
684
sorties in
224 missions there, dropping nearly 500,000 pounds of
gravity-
and
precision-guided bombs on civilian infrastructure.
This "celebration" or "Parade in the sky" is part of the events underway since April 1 to mark the 100th anniversary of the RCAF, said to honour its "distinct heritage," with a focus on highlighting "contributions to national safety and security, international peace and global stability." Government websites state that since its inception in 1924, the RCAF "has served Canadians in peace and war," and played a vital role in the Second World War, reaching its "golden age" in the late 1950s, with dozens of combat squadrons "on the front lines of the Cold War."
This is a direct reference to Canada's participation in NATO Integrated Force Europe, immediately following Canada becoming a member of NATO in 1949. The RCAF is said to have been second only to the U.S. Air Force in the number of modern aircraft it contributed to NATO forces everywhere in Europe at the time. These commitments to NATO are what led to a gigantic leap in arms production, such that at its peak in the early 1950s, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) consumed more than 50 per cent of the total federal budget. From 1951 to 1959, Canada stood fourth among NATO members in per capita military expenditures.
While de facto it is the U.S. President who, as Commander in Chief of NATO and NORAD puts Canada's armed forces into action when an emergency is declared, in terms of Canada's Constitution, the CAF is part and parcel of the anachronistic political arrangements that are celebrated on Canada Day which disempower the people. A Wikipedia article entitled "Monarchy of Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces" points out:
"The king of Canada" is "the commander-in-chief of the Canadian Forces and he and other members of the Canadian royal family" hold "honorary positions in various branches and regiments, embodying the historical relationship of the Crown with its armed forces. This construct stems from Canada's system of constitutional monarchy and through its 500 years of monarchical history.... The role of the Canadian Crown in the Canadian Armed Forces is established through both constitutional and statutory law. The Constitution Act, 1867 declares that command-in-chief of those Forces is 'to continue and be vested in the Queen' and the National Defence Act states, 'the Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada.'...
"Formally, there is a direct chain of command from the monarch to the governor general, through the chief of the Defence Staff to all of the officers who hold the King's Commission, and, through them, to all members of the Canadian Forces. No other person, including the prime minister, other cabinet ministers, nor public servants is part of the chain of command; neither does any other person have any command authority in the Canadian Forces, an arrangement maintained to ensure that 'the military is an agent for, and not a master of, the state.'...
"The monarch issues letters patent, known as the King's Commission, to commissioned officers in the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy, and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Further, all regulations for the Canadian Forces are set out by the sovereign in the King's Regulations and Orders.... Declarations of war, the mobilization of troops, and the organization of the Forces all fall within the royal prerogative. Direct parliamentary approval is not necessary; though, the Cabinet may seek it, nonetheless, and the Crown-in-Parliament is responsible for allocating moneys necessary to fund the military."
At this time
Canada is part of prolonging the U.S./NATO proxy war in
Ukraine and is criminally complicit in the Israeli
genocide of
the
Palestinian people. To hold such a warmongering event to
mark
Canada
Day -- said to be dedicated to celebrating "the richness
and
diversity of Canadian culture" --
is a direct attack on people's consciousness and an open
and
unrepentant glorification of war crimes and genocide. In
today's
circumstances, it serves to amplify the trauma
experienced by
the
Palestinian community in the Ottawa-Gatineau region,
whose
members have
lost entire families at the hands of
these empire-builders and nation-wreckers.
In the past few years alone, important steps have been taken to question the very basis of the 1867 Confederation, such as in the wake of the discovery of mass graves of Indigenous children across Canada, and the refusal of members of the Quebec National Assembly to swear an oath of allegiance to King Charles III. There is an objective need to rid ourselves of these old arrangements and to abolish the Royal Prerogative on which the Constitution is based.
This Canada Day show of military prowess with the RCAF airshow cast a shadow over the Canadian polity. It underscored the burning need for a modern constitution which rids itself once and for all of the archaic structures based on those who rule and those who are ruled over, with the crucial matters related to war and peace placed in the hands of the people, not cartel parties in the service of narrow private interests of which war production and private contractors dominate the field. The underlying message of the airshow is that elites will protect their positions of power and privilege and make the people dispensable come what may. Canadians do not agree with that.
This article was published in
Volume 54
Number 7 - July 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/M540076.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca