The Pitbull Bites Back

Back on February 17 I blogged about how Liberal MP and defence critic Denis Coderre made an ass of himself by referring to General Rick Hillier as nothing more than a Tory prop. (see They Just Don't Learn) A brief recap: Speaking at the Conference of Defence Associations Gen. Hillier, describing the state of the Canadian Forces during 10+ years of Liberal reign which included stinging military budget cuts said,
"Those actions, dollar deprived, have now led to some deep wounds in the department in the Canadian Forces over this past, what I would call, a decade of darkness."
Over the past ten years he has also referred to the Canadian Forces as being on 'life support'. This didn't sit well with Coderre who snorted,
"...I think it's highly political and I am very disappointed at it. To get involved in politics, there is one way. You should run."
Well the General, who in Canada is affectionately known as the pitbull for his straight shooting finally bit back as I knew he would.
"I've been shot at. People have attempted to blow me up. I had a suicide bomber targeted against me when I was the commander in Afghanistan. And I've been called every name in the book, I'm certain," Hillier said. "I don't think I've ever been so insulted as to be called a prop for a political party."
Bravo General Hillier! Bravo for putting that toe rag in his place! As I said in my original post "As this nation's top soldier it is the duty of Gen. Hillier to want and try to provide the absolute best to his troops and he wasn't getting it from the Liberals. If the situation was reversed and it was the Tories who slashed and hacked the military budget you don't think Gen. Hillier would be criticizing them? It has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with the government of the day." In his interview with CPAC Hillier pretty much said the same thing,
When asked by reporters about Coderre's comments, Hillier only said that he stood by his remarks, that he is not a politician and it's his job to paint a picture about the state of the armed forces, "like it or not."
Meanwhile, as the Liberals continue to flounder under the leadership of Stephane "Mr. Magoo" Dion a new poll suggest the Tories have a whopping lead as rumours of an election call continue to circulate.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The Conservative party holds a 14-point lead in Canada, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. 40 per cent of decided voters would support the Tories in the next election to the House of Commons.
While polls can be notoriously misleading it's encouraging to see that Canadians are generally pleased with the job the Conservative government has done so far. It's quite possible the Tories could form a majority government. Wouldn't that be nice?

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