Right in the centre - Random observations
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- Published on Friday, April 1, 2022
By Ken Waddell
Neepawa Banner & Press
I find it interesting how various topics seem to compete for the public鈥檚 attention. For two years, the world was fixated on COVID-19. I guess that was appropriate, but C-19 would not have been nearly so serious if society and the governments that allegedly speak for society had been more prepared.
More prepared, and had taken action sooner. More prepared and not wasting their time on some actions, as well. In last week鈥檚 column, I called for an inquiry and it needs to happen.
When the top news story of the day is riding high, all other topics get shoved in the drawer. The past month鈥檚 news cycle has been rightly consumed by Russia鈥檚 highly illegal invasion of Ukraine. Again, it would not have been nearly so serious if society and the governments that allegedly speak for society had been more prepared. Everybody knew Russia was going to invade. If 200,000 troops and hundreds of tanks and trucks lined up on the border didn鈥檛 give away the 鈥渟ecret鈥�, then surely Russia鈥檚 own words would have done it. If the UN, Ukraine or NATO had blasted the first Russian tanks to enter Ukraine off the face of the earth, then the war would not have gotten a foothold. Every war starts by somebody not standing up to the bully, the aggressor.
The western world knew it was coming. Even Canada has been spending the past eight years training Ukrainian troops. The western training of the Ukrainian army is one of the reasons the war has lasted this long. The Russians didn鈥檛 believe the Ukrainian army would stand up as well as it has. The only mistake is that the Ukrainian army should have been even better prepared and acted sooner with western ally countries backing them up. Borders should be sacred and treated as such.
Early actions are needed in every war. Let鈥檚 take a closer to home example. In Winnipeg, in the early C-19 days, the infection showed up in a couple of care homes. Understaffed, under prepared and maybe scared to admit they had a problem, a couple of care homes didn鈥檛 take quick enough action and they lost a lot of residents, dozens in fact. They were blasted in the media for calling in paramedics and ambulances. The problem wasn鈥檛 that the care homes called in ambulances, the problem was they should have called them in days earlier. When someone gets sick beyond the ability of a family to care for them, they call an ambulance. It should be no different at a care home. When they see a resident needs more care than can be provided in the home, they should call an ambulance and sooner rather than later. It鈥檚 a lot easier to win a battle than it is to win a war. If the battles are handled, the war will not even start. Maybe just like facing Putin.
It is also interesting, dare I say amusing, that the federal government switched from talking about gun control to climate change to COVID to trucker protests to the Ukraine war. Now that C-19 has settled down some and Canada has delivered all its available ancient military resources into Ukraine, it鈥檚 time to get back to the old standby issues. More coming now on climate change, in spite of the fact that Canada does almost nothing to harm the climate compared to China, compared to all the tanks, fuel and buildings that have been exploded in Ukraine, along with the occasional volcano. Canada, and our current major party leadership, are all alike on this issue. We fret about what Canada does to global warming all the while Canada and the US sell off their mining interests (including a coal mine in the US) to Chinese-backed companies.
Isn鈥檛 it also interesting that, according the Canadian government, it鈥檚 a no-no to own guns but it鈥檚 okay to sell or give 鈥渓ethal weapons鈥� to Ukraine? Just wait, banning guns in Canada will be back soon enough.
Then finally, there is the now famous NDP-Liberal 鈥渃oalition鈥� government. Yeah, they don鈥檛 call it a coalition, but it is, in effect, a coalition. If it holds, the Trudeau Liberals will be in power until 2025. Please note that all new announcements, such as day care, are now being dubbed with a 2025 implementation date. That鈥檚 not a coincidence. The Liberals are lining up as many things as they can to come together in 2025 so they can boast about all they have done in time for the next election. It鈥檚 smart politics.
This week鈥檚 biggest irony is the fighter jet purchase announcement. Those same fighter jets that the Harper government wanted to buy and the Liberals cancelled in 2015. Now those jets are the best thing since sliced bread when it鈥檚 a Liberal idea. Probably twice as expensive now, but that doesn鈥檛 matter, as the Liberals can switch it from their 鈥渢o-do鈥� list to their 鈥渓ook what we did list鈥�.
Below are a couple of links to columns that readers might find informative. The first one is to retired 水果视频 judge Brian Giesbrecht鈥檚 columns and some from the Winnipeg Sun
https://fcpp.org/authors/brian-giesbrecht/
https://winnipegsun.com/author/brian-giesbrecht/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the writer鈥檚 personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the Banner & Press staff.
