Horrah for Joe Clark!
As mentioned last week, as part of my research for the documentary on the Canadian military, I wrote some letters to some politicians so that I could get something to quote. Currently, the aim of the doc is to examin why the Canadian government is so reluctant to recognize Canadian soldiers for their war time contributions. The most recent example would have to be when the Americans awarded medals to Canadian snipers where the Canadian government delayed it because of "Canadian protocol".

I sent out three e-mails on Friday, looking for reasons as two why this has happened over and over during our history, one to Jean Chretien, the Canadian Prime Minister. One to Charlie Penson, the MP for the Grande Prairie area as well as being a memeber of the opposition, the Canadian Alliance. And one to Joe Clark, the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party (and my favorite Canadian politcian) .Imagine my surprise to find an e-mail from Mr. Clark in my inbox this morning. This is what he had to say.

"Dear Mr. Andrews,

Thank you for your e-mail. I appreciate your taking the time and the effort to write to me and share your thoughts.

I find the reports that the Canadian government has intervened to at least delay the awarding of Bronze Stars to three Canadian soldiers and two Bronze Stars with distinction to two other Canadian soldiers to be very troubling. There is a long history of American decorations being given to Canadian soldiers for distinguished service - such as at Kapyong during the Korean War and as recently as the Gulf War, when two Canadian CF-18 pilots were given the Bronze Star.

It is difficult to understand what objections that the government could have to our soldiers receiving these well-deserved honours. I hope that this matter can be sorted out quickly, so that these medals can be awarded. Now, more than ever, our soldiers in Afghanistan deserve to be recognized for their hard work and dedicated service.

Thank you again for your correspondence.
Best wishes,
Joe Clark"

Pretty cool, eh?