Sean Speer: Funding for memorial to 100 million victims of communism one thing Liberal budget gets right
100 MILLION IS A MYTH OF THE RIGHT WING
THEY INCLUDE VICTIMS OF THE NAZI'S, UKRAINES SO CALLED FAMINE, CHINA'S FAMINE, ETC.
STILL HARD PRESSED TO COME UP WITH 100 MILLION
CAPITALISM ON THE OTHER HAND CAN DOUBLE, TRIPLE OR QUDRUPLE IT.
Sean Speer 4/24/2021
This week’s federal budget certainly wasn’t conceived with the goal of securing Conservative support. Its high spending and high deficits instead reflect the Trudeau government’s own progressive ambitions as well as the political exigencies of obtaining New Democratic and Bloc Québécois votes in a minority parliament.
© Provided by National Post Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland waits for the first question from reporters on the telephone during a news conference in Ottawa, Monday April 19, 2021.
But it would be wrong to say that there were no Conservative ideas or priorities in Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s budget. Buried deep in the 724-page document was a $4-million commitment to complete the construction of the Memorial to the Victims of Communism in Ottawa. It’s an important project that’s been more than a decade in the making. Minister Freeland and her government deserve credit for helping to see it through to completion.
The idea of a Memorial for the Victims of Communism started in earnest in 2008. Its genesis was a conversation between then-federal Cabinet minister Jason Kenney and the Czech ambassador about the horrors of twentieth-century communism and the need to permanently memorialize in our nation’s capital the more than 100 million people who were killed under its totalitarian reach. Soon thereafter a non-profit organization, Tribute to Liberty, was established with the goal of raising funds to construct such a monument near Ottawa’s parliamentary precinct.
Kenney wasn’t the only one to support these efforts. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper was also a major booster from the outset. His understanding of the interplay between history and ideas was the main reason. As he explained in a 2014 speech at a Tribute for Liberty fundraiser: “My fear is, as we move further into the 21st century, Canadians, especially new generations, will forget or will not be taught the lessons hard learned and the victories hard earned over the last 100 years.
Harper’s concern is well founded. More than 40 per cent of Canadians were barely born before the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989. Our collective memory and understanding of what the former prime minister described in his remarks as a “poisonous ideology” will fade away as older generations pass on. There’s no reason to think that provincial education curriculum, which these days seems more focused on faddish ideas than foundational facts, will be able to reverse the inexorable effects of an aging population.
But it would be wrong to say that there were no Conservative ideas or priorities in Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s budget. Buried deep in the 724-page document was a $4-million commitment to complete the construction of the Memorial to the Victims of Communism in Ottawa. It’s an important project that’s been more than a decade in the making. Minister Freeland and her government deserve credit for helping to see it through to completion.
The idea of a Memorial for the Victims of Communism started in earnest in 2008. Its genesis was a conversation between then-federal Cabinet minister Jason Kenney and the Czech ambassador about the horrors of twentieth-century communism and the need to permanently memorialize in our nation’s capital the more than 100 million people who were killed under its totalitarian reach. Soon thereafter a non-profit organization, Tribute to Liberty, was established with the goal of raising funds to construct such a monument near Ottawa’s parliamentary precinct.
Kenney wasn’t the only one to support these efforts. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper was also a major booster from the outset. His understanding of the interplay between history and ideas was the main reason. As he explained in a 2014 speech at a Tribute for Liberty fundraiser: “My fear is, as we move further into the 21st century, Canadians, especially new generations, will forget or will not be taught the lessons hard learned and the victories hard earned over the last 100 years.
Harper’s concern is well founded. More than 40 per cent of Canadians were barely born before the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989. Our collective memory and understanding of what the former prime minister described in his remarks as a “poisonous ideology” will fade away as older generations pass on. There’s no reason to think that provincial education curriculum, which these days seems more focused on faddish ideas than foundational facts, will be able to reverse the inexorable effects of an aging population.
© Wayne Cuddington The display board with an artist rendering of the Victims of Communism Memorial.
The consequence is that U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s famous call to leave communism on the “ash heap of history” instead risks becoming the “ash heap” of a fading culture and political inheritance. As a result, we may lose the previous generation’s essential insight about the incompatibility between communism’s mechanistic collectivism and the innate human need for freedom and transcendence.
For these reasons, the Harper government committed $3 million to support the eventual construction of the monument near the Supreme Court of Canada. The remaining funds were to come from private donations.
One of the Trudeau government’s first actions in 2015, however, was to revisit its predecessor’s plan. Then-Canadian Heritage Minister Melanie Joly called the project “too political and too divisive.” She ultimately cut federal funding for the monument in half and insisted on moving it to another location.
It was never entirely clear whether the Trudeau government’s resistance was due to ideology or partisanship — that is, if it was concerned about offending its most vociferous left-wing supporters or it was just instinctively opposed to the project because Conservatives supported it. But, in any case, the monument’s proponents were left with the distinct impression that Ottawa was at best ambivalent and at worst hostile to its construction ultimately proceeding.
There’s reason to believe that Minister Freeland may have been an outlier on this issue within her own government. Due to a combination of her Ukrainian roots and career as a journalist in Eastern Europe, Freeland came to political office with a strong track record of anti-communism and anti-Putinism. It’s notable, for instance, that when she was appointed Foreign Affairs Minister in 2017, she was already banned by the Russian government from entering the country due to her outspoken criticism.
It’s not surprising therefore that Freeland’s first budget provides additional funding to help ensure that the monument is completed in the coming months. What’s interesting though is that the budget’s description of the project — “The Memorial to the Victims of Communism will recognize Canada as a place of communist regimes refuge for people fleeing injustice and persecution and honour the millions who have suffered under ” — reflects the same ideas and themes as championed by the Harper government.
The consequence is that U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s famous call to leave communism on the “ash heap of history” instead risks becoming the “ash heap” of a fading culture and political inheritance. As a result, we may lose the previous generation’s essential insight about the incompatibility between communism’s mechanistic collectivism and the innate human need for freedom and transcendence.
For these reasons, the Harper government committed $3 million to support the eventual construction of the monument near the Supreme Court of Canada. The remaining funds were to come from private donations.
One of the Trudeau government’s first actions in 2015, however, was to revisit its predecessor’s plan. Then-Canadian Heritage Minister Melanie Joly called the project “too political and too divisive.” She ultimately cut federal funding for the monument in half and insisted on moving it to another location.
It was never entirely clear whether the Trudeau government’s resistance was due to ideology or partisanship — that is, if it was concerned about offending its most vociferous left-wing supporters or it was just instinctively opposed to the project because Conservatives supported it. But, in any case, the monument’s proponents were left with the distinct impression that Ottawa was at best ambivalent and at worst hostile to its construction ultimately proceeding.
There’s reason to believe that Minister Freeland may have been an outlier on this issue within her own government. Due to a combination of her Ukrainian roots and career as a journalist in Eastern Europe, Freeland came to political office with a strong track record of anti-communism and anti-Putinism. It’s notable, for instance, that when she was appointed Foreign Affairs Minister in 2017, she was already banned by the Russian government from entering the country due to her outspoken criticism.
It’s not surprising therefore that Freeland’s first budget provides additional funding to help ensure that the monument is completed in the coming months. What’s interesting though is that the budget’s description of the project — “The Memorial to the Victims of Communism will recognize Canada as a place of communist regimes refuge for people fleeing injustice and persecution and honour the millions who have suffered under ” — reflects the same ideas and themes as championed by the Harper government.
HER ANTI COMMUNISM AND HER FAMILIES LINKS TO THE FASCIST UKRAINIAN NATIONALISTS ARMYS OF WWII, WHO WERE COMPRADOURS WITH THE NAZI'S HAS BEEN WELL DOCUMENTED, SEE BELOW
It’s a positive sign that, notwithstanding our various partisan differences, we can still broadly agree on the inherent wickedness of communism and the need to memorialize those whose lives have been tragically taken by its brutal political manifestations across history and around the world. It seems especially timely in the current moment when China’s communist government is carrying out a genocide against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
While there are no doubt various aspects of the Trudeau government’s budget worthy of criticism, Minister Freeland’s decision to affirm the Harper government’s plans for a Memorial to the Victims of Communism is an important exception. She got this one right and Conservatives shouldn’t be reluctant to say so.
While there are no doubt various aspects of the Trudeau government’s budget worthy of criticism, Minister Freeland’s decision to affirm the Harper government’s plans for a Memorial to the Victims of Communism is an important exception. She got this one right and Conservatives shouldn’t be reluctant to say so.
Chrystia Freeland's granddad was indeed a Nazi collaborator ...
https://ottawacitizen.com › national › defence-watch › c...
Mar. 8, 2017 — Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland responds to a question during ... Ukrainian grandfather Michael Chomiak and his ties to the Nazis.
Freeland knew her grandfather was editor of Nazi newspaper ...
https://www.theglobeandmail.com › article34236881
Mar. 7, 2017 — Stories on pro-Russian websites have said minister's stand against Russian aggression in Ukraine is linked to her family's past.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland Is 'Proud' of Nazi ...
https://observer.com › 2017/03 › chrystia-freeland-fore...
Mar. 22, 2017 — Chrystia Freeland honors the memory of her grandfather, editor in chief of a Nazi newspaper that described Poland as 'infected by the Jews'
THEN THREE YEARS LATER SHE HAS AMNESIA
Blank spot: Why Chrystia Freeland's refusal to acknowledge ...
https://www.theprogressreport.ca › blank_spot_why_ch...
Aug. 31, 2020 — Is Chrystia Freeland a Nazi collaborator apologist? ... increasingly scandal-plagued Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has a familial connection.
Blank spot: Why Chrystia Freeland's refusal to acknowledge ...
https://www.theprogressreport.ca › blank_spot_why_ch...
Aug. 31, 2020 — Is Chrystia Freeland a Nazi collaborator apologist? ... increasingly scandal-plagued Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has a familial connection.
FUNNY THAT BECAUSE SHE WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO OUT HER GRANDFATHER AS A NAZI SYPATHIZER AND ANTI SEMITE.
Chrystia Freeland - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Chrystia_Freeland
However, Freeland has known of her grandfather's Nazi ties since at least 1996, when she helped edit a scholarly article by Himka for the Journal of Ukrainian Studies. Freeland is married to Graham Bowley, a British writer and The New York Times reporter. They have three children.
No comments:
Post a Comment