Sir Frederick Borden, Canada's minister of militia in the government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, learned while sitting in the House of Commons in 1900 that his only son, Harold -- a 23-year-old medical student -- had been shot and killed in South Africa during the Boer War.
A century later, with Canada fighting another foreign war, it seems difficult to imagine any politician in Ottawa grieving the loss of a son or daughter in Afghanistan, or worrying about the safety of a loved one there.
For most of Canada's history, members of Parliament understood in very personal terms the meaning of military sacrifice. Until quite recently, it was common for the country's political, corporate and intellectual elites to have spent time in the military, or to have family members who served, and even died, in uniform.
Quebec MP Harold Baker was killed in France during the First World War. His statue is in the foyer of the House of Commons.
Today, on the first anniversary of the decision to extend Canada's mission in Afghanistan to 2009, only a handful of the MPs who cast votes have personal ties to the Canadian Forces. None, as far as CanWest News Service can determine, is sharing directly in the burdens of Afghanistan...
The official parliamentary website shows that only 16 of the 399 MPs and senators -- four per cent -- have any military experience themselves...
Among Liberals who once sat in the cabinets of Paul Martin or Jean Chretien -- the cabinets that first sent Canadians to Afghanistan -- no one but Art Eggleton, now a senator, claims any military experience.
Consider how times have changed:
In 1957, more than a third of all sitting MPs and senators had spent time in uniform, many of them in the Second World War. As recently as 1979, 27 per cent of all members had served in the military, compared to only four per cent today. There was a time when military service was considered a civic duty for the political class, or for those aspiring to leadership in government or business...
