I don't know why but...
500,000 people.
That can be organized into a Moscow meat wave. A. One. Singular.
That assumes that concentration is a thing. That it is desirable. That it is necessary.
It also seems to presuppose that the only valid reason for our Government to raise, condone and support such a group is to engage in slaughter.
That is not my Militia.
That is not my Homeguard.
That is not my National Guard.
That is not my Hjaemmevaernet.
Slaughter is only one facet of my Militia.
Like the National Guard, like the Hjaemmevaernet it is one thing they prepare for.
But most of their service has been on smaller taskings that don't involve killing people.
We assume that our government will always be there to bail us out.
We assume that our highly competent, and well-paid, insurance policy will always be there to save us when the universe gets frisky and does the other thing.
But if that is true why do we get advice to prepare to self-rescue, to prepare for 72 hours on our own, to prepare for two weeks in the dark in January because the ice dragged the lines down, or the Pineapple express washed out every bridge on every connection to salvation?
500,000 people
From 40,000,000.
1 in 80 people.
Ontario has a population of 16,000,000 - or 40% of the 40,000,000 -
So you get 200,000 people to help you out of your crisis.
Congratulations. I doubt you will ever need that many snow shovelers but hey! whatever.
In Alberta we are closer to 4,000,000 - so we get a force of 50,000
Saskatchewan has a million and gets 12,500
That would also be what Calgary gets.
PEI with a population of 182,000 would get a 2200.
Lethbridge gets 1000
Norwood, ont has a population of 1600 so it gets a government sponsored force of 20.
There are 5100 municipalities im Canada and over 600 first nations communities.
500,000 divided among those communities means an average response team of 88 people available to help handle a 72 hr disaster from local resources.
It could also be a source of smaller scale assistance.
There is a lot of moaning about how you never get everybody out when you call for them.
Suppose that went into the plan.
Suppose it was accepted that there are many minor tragedies that don't require everybody to break away frm their daily lives.
Suppose it was accepted that 100% turnout might be hard but 10% turnout might be easier.
Your organization of 500,000 becomes 50,000 available today. May be it is a different 50,000 tomorrow, or a week come Friday next.
You are looking at a labour pool on which to draw.
it also happens to be a labour pool of people that are willing to employ arms in defence of their families, their communities and His Majesty's Government.
It is not 500,000 riflemen lined up shoulder to shoulder recreating St Julien's Day.
It is a pool of individuals from which you can draw people that have time to give.
And I am willing to bet that if Enderby got cut off foe 72 hours then there would be a good chunk of the population with time on their hands wondering what they are going to do next.
My 500,000 is not a Group of Armies storming into North Dakota. It is 5000 separate Companies that most days can scare up a Section or a Platoon in support of a good cause, either at home or abroad.
There are 156,000 security guards in Ontario. What do you do with them all? Where do they all go?