Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was holding a town hall that day. Out of the assembly, a retired corporal in the Canadian Armed Forces arose, a veteran of the conflict in Afghanistan. His name was Brock Blaszczyk. In Afghanistan, Blaszczyk was wounded in an explosion. Very seriously wounded: the explosion took one of the young soldier’s legs.
Cpl. Blaszczyk rose in that town hall to ask the prime minister a question. John Ivison’s column from that time sets the stage : “He asked Trudeau why his government is fighting a legal battle with veterans (the Equitas class-action lawsuit), even though the Liberal election platform said ‘no veteran will be forced to fight their own government for the support and compensation they have earned.’
“Further, he complained he was not eligible for the new lifetime pension option, yet the Liberals have found money to pay for the re-integration of ISIL fighters and the $10.5-million compensation payment for Omar Khadr.
“ ‘What veterans are you talking about — those fighting for the freedoms and values you so proudly boast about, or those fighting against?” he said. “I was prepared to be killed in action. What I wasn’t prepared for, Mr. Prime Minister, was Canada turning its back on me.’ ”
In this country, we treasure our soldiers, and especially our veterans. So Cpl. Blaszczyk’s question, grounded in his individual experience, also went to the core of Canada’s national understanding of itself. The reply from a leader who could give lessons to Bill Clinton on the “I feel your pain” barometer was uninspiring.
On that cold winter night in that northern city, Trudeau told Blaszczyk that veterans were asking “more than we are able to give right now” — implying that they were exploiting their suffering.
To recap, the leader of our country replied to an amputee soldier: “Why are we still fighting against certain veterans’ groups in court? Because they are asking for more than we are able to give right now.”
Let us now jump forward to December 2021, in the midst of the COVID pandemic. Over $500 billion have gushed with cataract force and Niagara volume from this same government. Flights to the sand and surf of Tofino, B.C., have been booked for the prime minister. Hundreds of flights, hotels and expenses have been paid for to attend climate conferences. And, just as a side note, a needless election, birthed in sheer political opportunism, wasted $600 million, a sum that could have purchased a lot of supports for wounded soldiers.
The cash has poured out of the Liberal treasury during COVID in sublime aggregates that only a prime minister who has no idea about “monetary policy” would ever authorize.
It's not simply because Justin is stupid that he wasted money that might have been spent on veterans.
He is also heartless, callous, unthinking and irrational.
But we all know this.
What does it make the people who voted for him?
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