New Low for Warmongering Propaganda
As the bloodthirsty mania for war in the ruling circles of the West ever escalates, the servile role of the mainstream press has come into ever clearer view. This reality has been demonstrated by the media's duplicitous coverage of the genocide in Gaza, and with the overwhelming editorial support tossed behind Mark Carney's statements regarding the "necessity" for an expanded Canadian military presence in Eastern Europe.
A recent Maclean's article, "Canada Needs a Mandatory National Service," however, reaches a new low. The article argues that in order for Canada to "project strength" on the world stage and to counter Russia and China, a program of mandatory military service for young people should be introduced. What temerity!
The author is forced to admit that Canada's youth have lost confidence not only in the armed forces but in the Canadian state at large. Is this really so surprising? Perhaps this "crisis of confidence" can be traced to Canada's complicity in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people through its continued aid to Israel. Perhaps it can be traced back to Canada's direct participation in the "Global War on Terror," waged for more than a decade against the peoples of the Middle East, killing millions for blood-soaked profits. Perhaps it can also be traced to the Canadian government's slavish relationship to NATO, with Canada sending an ever-increasing amount of soldiers and materiel to NATO's frontiers, inflaming tensions in Europe.
Despite all of this, the author of the article argues that the only way to combat this "crisis" is to introduce peace-time conscription. Only then, with a uniform on their back, can young people learn to love "our" army and "our" state. How very convenient for the warmongers.
The author of the Maclean's article regales readers with fanciful fairy-tales about how the army "builds character" and imbues a "patriotic spirit." This is plainly absurd. The army is not the Boy Scouts, nor is it a daycare centre; all this posturing about "self-improvement" cannot hide the fact that enlistment in the army is a question of life and death if Canada is led into another war.
During the First World War, 66,000 Canadian service members died in the trenches of France and Belgium. If we adjusted that number to the current population, it is equivalent to roughly 350,000 young people dying. Of course, this number does not include the untold hundreds of thousands of veterans who came back injured, or with newly-acquired physical disabilities, or with mental ailments. Did this bode well for their "self-improvement?"
The youth of Canada cannot repeat this tragedy. Raising the spectre of conscription will not extricate this horror from the memory of the Canadian people.
For all the worn-down rhetoric about patriotism and love for Canada, there is nothing honourable about sending an entire generation of young people wrapped in Canadian flags to die in wars abroad to fight for some vaguely defined and self-serving notion of "national interest."
The history of Canada has
shown, time and time again, that Canadian youth have
categorically rejected, and will continue to reject, being led
like lambs to the slaughter before the terrible altar of
imperialist war. It would serve the warmongers well to remember
the response the people of Quebec gave to the Canadian
government when they introduced conscription in 1917 so
Quebeckers could die in that "great" inter-imperialist war. It
would also do them good to remember the many militant
demonstrations held across Canada against the wars in Korea,
Viet Nam, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, which brought
tens of thousands of working people and youth to the streets to
speak in their own name.
Today the youth of Canada have grasped the situation and realize that their interest lies not in fighting for "our" ruling class, but in fighting for an anti-war government. The ruling circles of Canada clearly want to forget these facts, but the fighting youth of Canada and Quebec won't let them!
This article was published in
Volume 55
Number 10 - October 2025
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/Articles/M550107.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca