# Honourary (or honorary if QR&O 3.06 & 3.07 are to be believed) colonels



## Edward Campbell (29 Jun 2013)

In this article, which is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the _National Post_, Christie Blatchford comments on a recent RCMI paper by John English on the topic (spelled honorary by English, too) but she uses it as a vehicle to comment on the tensions between the regular and reserve components:

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/06/28/christie-blatchford-spat-between-canadas-regular-and-reserve-armies-a-reminder-that-both-deserve-better-leadership/


> Spat between regular and reserve armies a reminder that both deserve better leadership
> 
> Christie Blatchford
> 
> ...




See also, this and this.


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## Pencil Tech (11 Jul 2013)

Hate to be a spelling snob but it's honorary because "honourary" doesn't exist as a word in Canadian/British usage. It's like honorarium or neighborhood.


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## Journeyman (11 Jul 2013)

Pencil Tech said:
			
		

> .....or neighborhood.



Really? It's in my dictionary.


> *neighbourhood*
> 
> World English Dictionary
> neighbourhood  or  ( US ) neighborhood  (ˈneɪbəˌhʊd)
> ...


 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/neighbourhood?s=t&path=/


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## Edward Campbell (11 Jul 2013)

Pencil Tech said:
			
		

> Hate to be a spelling snob but it's honorary because "honourary" doesn't exist as a word in Canadian/British usage. It's like honorarium or neighborhood.




I agree, and so does the OED, but the OED and other reputable English dictionaries allow the *u* as either or both of archaic or optional. I used that title because of a comment in an earlier thread. I've been waiting for someone to pick up on the variations of _honour_/_honor_.


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## trustnoone73 (11 Jul 2013)

The old Honorary Colonel shaking the bushes for more funding gambit.  If they didn't do it, the honoraries would have no function at all.

I fail to see how Pamela Wallin's appointment to the RCAF or Gen Leslie's now late ambitions to CDS impact the selection of regimental honorary Colonels.  How was Jack English appointed Honorary Colonel of the Brockville Rifles?  Was he recommended by some reg force staff Captain at LFCA?  I doubt it.



> The regular force sees the reserves’ primary role as augmenting them, which is indeed what reservists so ably have done in the former Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Afghanistan; the militia sees itself, and this is the role government policy confirms, as being the national base for mobilization in event of war and therefore needing reasonable numbers and stable financing, neither of which it often gets.



This is as old as time itself.  Maybe Jack would rather his mess dinners be populated by buttons and CDs as no Militia Regiment has been mobilized for war since the Second War.  The task you think you have on paper is not necessarily the one you do.  The now operationally experienced and often decorated reservist could have held out till his or her Regiment mobilized for war, and thereby missed it.  That likely would not have been a strong argument for more stable funding though.

I see this as picking a fight where there isn't one.  

I also do not see how drudging up this argument leads one to conclude that either the RegF or PRes are lacking in good leadership.  Not saying either could not be better, I just don't see an argument here.  Getting down on re-enactors?  WTF does that really have to do with Regimental appointments?  I appreciate her frustration with apparently able bodied men not serving.  So what?  Seems like a good time to spread the message about the type of people who do serve and hope a few make a life choice.  But then maybe they all have heart murmurs.    

Christie Blatchford, for all the good she does in spreading the message has been beating the leadership drum for a couple of years.  It's an old drum, that was well thrashed long before 2006.  Give it a rest or I may just go back to reading Scott Taylor


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## Pencil Tech (11 Jul 2013)

Journeyman said:
			
		

> Really? It's in my dictionary. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/neighbourhood?s=t&path=/



Doh!  :facepalm:


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## The Bread Guy (11 Jul 2013)

Pencil Tech said:
			
		

> Hate to be a spelling snob but it's honorary because "honourary" doesn't exist as a word in Canadian/British usage. It's like honorarium or neighborhood.


To further rub it in  >
http://oaadonline.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/honorary


> (*Canadian English* also honourary)


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## pbi (1 Aug 2013)

Two points:

I've seen Honoraries both as a force for good, acting as an important part of a healthy Army/community relationship, and as time-expired, willfully ignorant and obstructive relics. It depends a great deal on the people you choose. BTW, one thing we should note is that, at least since I was in 38 CBG (2002-2005), the Govt of the day vets any nomination of Honoraries, so it isn't really a purely Regimental decision, and hasn't been for some time;

Since I joined the Militia in 1974, we have come one hell of a long way in bridging the gap between the "Two Armies". There was a time when it was a relationship based on mutual disrespect and suspicion, if not outright hatred. I thought that with the war we had finally moved past that, but as the war draws to a close, and the money taps shut off, the Army may begin to do what it often does in times of adversity: start chewing its own entrails.

We are not alone in our misery. There is an underlying tension between part-time and full-time members of any organization that has a demanding task: i experienced it as a volunteer firefighter in a composite department that included both career and VFF in each station. The relationship was childishly bad: as bad as anything I have seen in the Army. The USARNG has also historically struggled in its relationship with the Active Army. If anything, that relationship is much more distant than that between our own RegF and Res Armies, due IMHO to an almost total absence of integration at unit/bde level.

Personally, I really hope that cool heads, both Reg and Res, can keep the relationship on track, and not let the ignorant pot-bangers on either side squander what we have achieved. Some of it was won in blood.

Cheers


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## McG (8 Feb 2014)

... and here is what The Honorary Colonel of the Army is doing for you:


> * Hire a veteran: Honorary colonel aims to convince companies Canadian soldiers make great employees*
> Joe O'Connor
> National Post
> 06 February 2014
> ...


 http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/02/06/hire-a-veteran-canadas-honorary-colonel-aims-to-convince-companies-that-soldiers-make-great-emplyees/


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