The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
There are many different events popping up to make the job of running a country, province or municipality interesting, frustrating and sometimes dreadful. The current state of the economy is more dreadful in the United States than in Canada because the economy and financial system is so much larger and in worse shape, especially the banking system. Economists are divided as to whether the revival will be sooner or later, so the observer can just take his/her choice. Meanwhile, stemming from everything that has happened in the auto sector, an Ontario rally of retired auto workers took place. Worried about their security, they demanded that the Ontario government guarantee their pensions, mentioning the teachers' pensions as an example. A bad example! The auto workers' pensions were negotiated between the companies and the union, and a lot is paid by the employer. Teachers pay for their own pensions and they are invested and administered by the province. In Manitoba's public school system, school boards pay zero for teachers' pensions. The province sets up a board to invest the money and guarantees the pensions, part of an old agreement in which the teachers' union agreed not to strike. It has served teachers well and salary arbitration has meant that teachers receive very livable salaries. In Ontario, Premier Dalton McGuinty, to his credit, said the province cannot use taxpayers' money to guarantee auto workers' pensions, as many people have no or very little pension and the province cannot afford it. This does not mean that the heat cannot be kept on the auto companies, if it comes to that, to pay for the pensions they negotiated. Khadr case The Omar Khadr affair keeps popping up in the news. Now his lawyers have convinced a federal judge to order Ottawa to request the Americans to send him back to Canada. Khadr has been held at Guantanamo Bay for the past six years after being captured in an Afghan firefight at age 15 while allegedly fighting for the Taliban. Khadr is accused of killing an American medic, but his trial was suspended when President Obama announced the detention centre would be closed. Khadr's father, who was killed, and his brother, who was wounded, were said to be followers of Osama bin Ladin. Apparently Khadr went to war quite willingly at 15, unlike child soldiers in African countries. If he is sent back to Canada, he would be subject to the weaker Canadian system and undoubtedly released. In the Khadr case, Prime Minister Harper has repeatedly said he has followed the policy of the previous Liberal government, but now the Liberals and the NDP want him back in Canada and are urging the PM to request this from Obama. Should this happen? Let us not forget that the Khadr family were followers of the terrorist bin Ladin and al Qaeda, and are not popular in Canada. Who, besides these lawyers, Jack Layton and Khadr's family, want him returned? Can we forget the Canadians killed in the Twin Towers on 9/11? What about the Canadian soldiers killed and wounded by the Taliban in Afghanistan? Should we forgive and forget the damage caused by terrorists and would-be terrorists? If Omar Khadr is returned to Canada simply because he is a Canadian, will there be an effect on our justice system? In any case, he is not back yet. As of this writing, Harper was hinting that the government may appeal the ruling, and there is no indication that Obama would send Khadr home unless the family of the killed medic, a much decorated hero, agrees to it, and reports are they want him prosecuted. If he was sent back to Canada, his life would certainly be in danger and he would need protection as well as rehabilitation. What about a real hero, Robert Shankland, a Victoria Cross winner from WWI and an amazing soldier from Winnipeg's Valour Road? His medals will be auctioned off at the end of the month for an expected $300,000, and many in the armed forces and politics want to see them remain in Canada. Shankland fought in both World Wars, retiring as an officer and living to the age of 80. Surely a Canadian or group of them will buy the medals and keep them in our country. Better this than Omar Khadr! Roger's Right Corner runs Wednesdays.
