Someone attending doesn't make it nonpartisan.
If parties use Pride parades as a partisan bludgeon against each other, then they are by definition partisan events and therefore should be out of bounds for the miltiary.There's nothing you can say to change the fact that these are partisan events.
And besides that, see my edit to the above. It doesn't matter if 100% of Canadians agree on a political issue, the armed forces are still not entitled to an opinion on it.
Let's say O'Toole wins the next election (there is a chance, so it could happen). Do you really think that the military would stop attending pride parades and stop waving rainbow flags?
Now that they're doing it, it'll look "homophobic" on the part of any future government should they ever decide to bring the CAF back into line and stop them participating in political demonstrations in uniform. It'll be up to O'Toole (or whoever) to decide if it's worth the political capital.
That doesn't change the fact that the CAF should never have been participating in political demonstrations in uniform in the first place. Again, it's a long established principle that the military must stay well clear of politics in a free society. You don't march in political rallies in uniform, period.
I wouldn't blame the Liberals for it when the Conservative set the precedent. A 3 year old could have seen it that the Liberals would push it even farther once the first step was taken.
And now in 2021 banning military members to march in pride parades in uniform would be seen as politicizing it. Conservatives tried to play a game they couldn't win and we lost neutral military.
Except the fundamental principle remains: The military must stay out of politics. Every time a soldier participates in a pride parade in uniform, they're violating that principle. Someone ought to restore order to the CAF. They can do it in the first year of their term (to minimize impact on the next election), and provide ample explanation to the public why the military can't be getting involved in politics.
Edit: Oh and bring back the death penalty for mutiny. That'll solve the question of what to do with the members who decide to disobey in collective defiance of elected government in furtherance of their own radical political agendas.
Someone attending doesn't make it nonpartisan. If parties use Pride parades as a partisan bludgeon against each other, then they are by definition partisan events and therefore should be out of bounds for the miltiary.There's nothing you can say to change the fact that these are partisan events.
And besides that, see my edit to the above. It doesn't matter if 100% of Canadians agree on a political issue, the armed forces are still not entitled to an opinion on it.
Let's say O'Toole wins the next election (there is a chance, so it could happen). Do you really think that the military would stop attending pride parades and stop waving rainbow flags?
Would and should are two different things.
Now that they're doing it, it'll look "homophobic" on the part of any future government should they ever decide to bring the CAF back into line and stop them participating in political demonstrations in uniform. It'll be up to O'Toole (or whoever) to decide if it's worth the political capital.
That doesn't change the fact that the CAF should never have been participating in political demonstrations in uniform in the first place. Again, it's a long established principle that the military must stay well clear of politics in a free society. You don't march in political rallies in uniform, period.
I wouldn't blame the Liberals for it when the Conservative set the precedent. A 3 year old could have seen it that the Liberals would push it even farther once the first step was taken.
And now in 2021 banning military members to march in pride parades in uniform would be seen as politicizing it. Conservatives tried to play a game they couldn't win and we lost neutral military.
Except the fundamental principle remains: The military must stay out of politics. Every time a soldier participates in a pride parade in uniform, they're violating that principle. Someone ought to restore order to the CAF. They can do it in the first year of their term (to minimize impact on the next election), and provide ample explanation to the public why the military can't be getting involved in politics.
Edit: Oh and bring back the death penalty for mutiny. That'll solve the question of what to do with the members who decide to disobey in collective defiance of elected government in furtherance of their own radical political agendas.