CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY
Our brave are deployed, our rich are not
NEIL REYNOLDS
It's the classic argument for war abroad. U.S. President George W. Bush has used it often in defence of the occupation of Iraq: "There is only one course of action -- to defeat the terrorists abroad before they attack us at home." Our own Defence Minister, Gordon O'Connor, used it last week in the Commons debate on Canada's military assignment in Afghanistan: "Our security begins far from our borders -- must we wait for terrorists to appear in Vancouver, Montreal or here in Ottawa?" Demosthenes used it more than two thousand years ago in a famous appeal to the Athenians: "If we refuse to fight now in Thrace, we shall perhaps be forced to fight here at home." Frequent use has never eroded its force. When Frederic March, the American actor, delivered Demosthenes' speech in a Second World War radio broadcast, many listeners believed it had been written specifically to oppose Hitler in Europe in 1943, not King Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, in 350 BC.
Demosthenes said something else. How should this necessary foreign war be funded? "Let the rich pay," he advised, "and let the brave fight." Canada's brave are already deployed. Canada's rich are not. A century ago, great personal wealth carried with it certain patriotic obligations. It was widely understood that private philanthropy could do what government cannot do, which is to act immediately, urgently, decisively. It could fund the training of soldiers when the training was needed, not three or four years later. It could provide equipment and care for the wounded.
This is no longer true. In contemporary Canada, it has apparently taken all of the corporate resolve and all of the human resources of Tim Hortons to get some brand-name coffee and doughnuts to Kabul. Now that this country understands that we're in a real war, now that this country understands the urgent needs of our personnel, the time for military philanthropy has returned. The Defence Department should establish a special fund, perhaps known as the "Strathcona Trust II," to manage the substantial funds that the wealthiest Canadians will now rush to give. Which they will do promptly, won't they? Alas, corporations will almost certainly prefer exclusively to fund the arts, the fashionable thing. Except for paintings executed in poor taste, this requires no courage and little moral judgment.
It was Canada's own illustrious Donald Alexander Smith who, as Lord Strathcona, used his own money to raise and equip a regiment of light cavalry for deployment in the Boer War, the last such act of private generosity. It cost him $1-million in 1900, an amount equivalent to $20-million now. Known as Lord Strathcona's Horse, the regiment served with distinction in South Africa -- and rescued Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier from a difficult position at home. With Quebec resolutely opposed to participation in a British war, the government could not act on the national wish to assist the Imperial Army. Lord Strathcona did it himself. (Strathcona's Horse, commanded by the legendary "Sam" Steele of the North-West Mounted Police, recruited cowboys and mounted police, making training unnecessary.) The Boer War itself was a dubious enterprise, imperial in purpose and otherwise quite unnecessary. This does nothing to nullify Lord Strathcona's gift. The regiment survived as a regular armoured regiment, and a storied one, serving most recently in Afghanistan.
In an unusual public appeal last week, General Rick Hillier, the Chief of Defence Staff, said bluntly that Canadian soldiers need more equipment -- and they need it as soon as humanly possible. It was a remarkable statement. "I am not ashamed to say that we need money," he said. "We can do a lot of things on the backs and shoulders of men and women in the military but we can't do near enough without the money." Some of the equipment the soldiers need -- transport planes, ships -- require expenditures beyond the capacity of anyone except governments. But must our soldiers wait for trucks?
As Gen. Hillier said: "We need an acquisition process, outside of the Canadian Forces, that can deliver helicopters in time. If we need a helicopter, we don't need it 15 years from now. We need it in the very near future. Actually, by September would be quite good." Canadian municipalities and Canadian corporations can help. ("This vehicle provided by du Maurier.") But the richest Canadians can help the most. Only they can muster significant amounts of money and send them off to war as personal expressions of support and sacrifice for a cause larger than life.
There are other ways Canadians can help. California, home of the Marine Corps based at Camp Pendleton, is an example. A number of cities -- San Clemente, Huntington Beach, Laguna, Newport Beach -- have "adopted" different regiments, making commitments to assist military personnel in ways the military bureaucracy can't (job training, family support, financial help). Canadian municipalities could make similar commitments.
