KEEPING ME AWAKE TONITE

To Mr. Justin Trudeau,

Prime Minister

Canada

Mr. Trudeau, the events of the past few days and the hasty decisions of your government are keeping me awake tonight. You started your tenure as leader of this great country by honouring our armed forces on Remembrance Day and respecting the sacrifice of our citizens in the fight to keep the world safe. You are currently taking your place on the world stage in the G 20 conference in Turkey to represent Canada, a nation of respect and honour. You witnessed the senseless slaughter of innocent people in Paris as terrorism has yet again reared its ugly and cowardly head. And, I cannot believe this, you have ordered our troops out of the fight against ISIS. The connections among Remembrance Day, Paris and troop withdrawal are too powerful to ignore. This is a country of the brave and courageous who stand on guard for thee – thee meaning all people who need our help. You have committed to bringing 25,000 refugees from Syria to a better life in our land – we have welcomed refugees to Canada since our inception. Yet, we would abandon the fight to protect their homeland??? In our brief history as a free country, we have never run away from the battlefield but rather, as witnessed on Parliament Hill on November 11, we have run into the fight. Why are we now abandoning the greatest fight of this generation – the fight against terrorism? We do a great disservice to the brave young men and women who have sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom by leaving the fight to protect what is good, free and right in this world. Now is not the time to run away but rather the time to recommit more resources in the fight against terrorism, wherever it cowers. Perhaps your election promise to withdraw our troops was “politically correct” but it is time for leaders to be leaders and make the right decision not necessarily the popular one – this is what you were elected to do. Please admit the error of premature withdrawal and show the world and your country that we are the Canada of our forbearers and that we stand for the rights of the innocent against the tyranny of those who would kill and slaughter for their personal aggrandizement. Support our troops with better resources and commit them to doing the job they freely offered to do – make the world a better place and in so doing, make our country the proud land that it needs to be. This is when the going gets tough, when we do not abandon our allies, when we stand up for our values, when we protect the innocent, when we stay on the battlefield until the job is done.

Robert J Bannon

Proud Canadian