Basic HTML Version
PAGE 12
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, FEBRUARY 1, 1985
hand side, with its value in European Currency Units (ECU's) on the left,
complete with the conversion rate in local currencies.
Many admit the project may have to await greater monetary harmonization and
a firmer value for the ECU. Nevertheless, the reaction from Britain has
been strong. Stamps in Britain have never failed to portray the head of the
reigning sovereign.
A British member of the European Parliament, Mr. Leslie Huckfield, said of
the plan: "I'm going to tell them where they can stick their stamps. Get
ting rid of the Queen from British postage stamps will reinforce the strong
feeling of the vast majority of the people of Britain who are totally op
posed to our membership of the Common Market." Mr. Alf Jones, deputy Labour
leader in the Parliament, added: "This is another example of Euro-fanatics
dreaming up crackpot schemes."
Canada's "Swiss Cheese" Defense
It is not only the United States and Britain that are on that slippery slope
of national decline. The same is true of Canada. America's northern neigh
bor is not often in the big news of the day, but that doesn't mean it has
not undergone tremendous changes in recent years. Specifically, Canada's
once-proud military forces are in a virtual state of despair and disrepair,
the victims of welfarism and a changed view of what Canada's role in the
Western world should be.
While the new conservative government of Brian Mulroney has pledged to bol
ster its armed forces, the following report, entitled "Canada's Beleaguered
Military Struggles to Stay Alive," which appeared in the October 19, 1984
WALL STREET JOURNAL, shows how difficult it will be to make the required
changes. The article was written by Eric s. Margolis, the defense and
foreign affairs columnist of the TORONTO SUN.
While Washington has been rebuking its European North Atlantic
Treaty Organization allies for failing to boost their conven
tional forces, Canada has almost completely disarmed with hardly
a murmur of U.S. protest.
� the end of World War
JJ_,
Canada had the world's third-largest
navy and almost one million men under arms. In 1962, a still
powerful Canadian navy assumed defense of the North Atlantic,
temporarily substituting for U.S. warships blockading Cuba.
Today, Cal"lada's military power is only a distant memory. Its
once-proud armed forces� rank on� par with those of Ecuador
..52!. the Philippines. This process began 16 years ago when the new
Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau set out to reduce U.S. own
ership of a major portion of Canada's industry, heighten nation
alism and create a Scandinavian-style welfare state. To finance
such sweeping programs, Ottawa embarked on massive deficit spend
ing and the relentless diversion of funds away from the mili
tary••••
Canadian territory is vital to the defense of U.S. airspace and
its maritime approaches. And Canadian leaders have long been un
comfortably aware that the U.S. might act to defend Canada if