HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2015-02-25, Page 5Wednesday, February 25, 2015 • Huron Expositor 5
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letters to the editor
Boost infrastructure for our
economy and quality of life
To the editor,
Canadians are paying a hefty price for
poor infrastructure.
Homeowners face expensive repairs
when sewer systems backup
under the pressure of extreme weather.
Manufacturing workers lose wages
when their assembly line shuts down
because parts can't get to the factory.
Commuters spend hours in stop -and -go
traffic, away from their job and their
families.
All of that takes a hit on the economy.
Our public infrastructure is approaching a
breaking point. Half of it is
expected to reach the end of its useful life by
2027. Just maintaining what we have will
take slightly more than what all levels of gov-
ernment—federal, provincial and munici-
pal—are investing combined.
Instead of helping addressing these
needs, the federal government has cut fund-
ing for its flagship Building Canada Fund by
nearly 90% this year and next.
Pathetically, the new federal
infrastructure plan will invest less per
Canadian at its peak than the one it
replaced.
This is irresponsible public administration
and it couldn't happen at a worse time.
With today's economic conditions, a soft
jobs market and low interest rates, there is a
historic opportunity to increase infrastruc-
ture investments, improve our productivity
and grow our economy.
Because infrastructure matters—a lot.
According to Statistics Canada, a whopping
half of Canada's private sector productivity
growth between 1962 and 2006 came from
public infrastructure investments.
Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party are
building a team and plan that will provide a
renewed national focus on infrastructure.
That will create the right conditions for sus-
tainable economic growth to finally help our
struggling middle-class and all those aspir-
ing to join it.
By rising to the challenge and revitalizing
our public infrastructure, we will build a
strong, more prosperous Canada and
improve our quality of life.
Yours sincerely,
Scott Brison, MP
Liberal Party of Canada Finance Critic
column
`Edgar Roy McQuarrie: `Foreign Fighter' in the Spanish Civil War
For Canadians, the term
'Foreign Fighter' conjures
up images of masked
jihadists committing dreadful
atrocities in the deserts of the
Middle East. Yet, there was a
time when a foreign fighter's
cause was perceived as noble,
indeed, many thought was
'heroic: During the Spanish
Civil War (1936-39), thousands
of foreign fighters from around
the world converged on Spain
to fight in the crusade against
fascist tyranny. One of these
foreign fighters was Edgar Roy
McQuarrie, an idealistic young
man with Huron County roots.
Edgar Roy McQuarrie was
born on June 2, 1915 in Detroit,
Michigan. Shortly after he was
born, his parents moved back
to the McQuarrie family farm in
Grey Township. According to
'The Brussels Post', young Roy
McQuarrie lived with his
grandparents, Donald and
Janet McQuarrie, attended the
Cranbrook schoolhouse where
'he was well-known' by all.
McQuarrie attended Detroit's
Wayne State University in the
mid -1930's. According to an
article in the 'Detroit News,'
McQuarrie joined the American
Communist Party. He also
became involved in the radical
left-wing American Student
Union which was an amalgama-
tion of young Communists and
Socialists. Initially, the Ameri-
can Student Union was dedi-
cated to unconditional pacifism,
and McQuarrie signed an oath
'never to bear arms in any inter -
Huron History
David Yates
national conflict.'
Politically, McQuarrie could
not have been further from his
Huron County roots, but for a
sensitive and idealistic young
man growing up in the Great
Depression, the communism
offered concrete solutions to
the vast inequalities of wealth
that he saw around him.
The rise of aggressive fascist
regimes in Germany and Italy
in the 1930's threatened to send
Europe into yet another global
war. The liberal democracies of
western Europe were weak and
impotent in dealing with the
threat. Only the communists
understood the fascist menace
and were prepared to act. In
1936, when a fascist coup in
Spain overthrew the democrat-
ically elected government,
international communist
organizations in every western
country actively recruited
'international brigades' to fight
Spanish fascism.
As a loyal Communist Party
member, McQuarrie
renounced his earlier stance on
pacifism and, in 1937, joined
the XV International Brigade,
better known as the Abraham
Lincoln International Brigade.
Unique amongst American
fighting formations, the Abra-
ham Lincoln Brigade was a
desegregated unit which
counted African and Latin
Americans amongst its ranks.
Thousands of socialists, com-
munists, anti -fascists and adven-
turers flocked to Spain to fight
against General Francisco Fran-
co's fascist backed Falangists. A
1947 FBI report on the Abraham
Lincoln Brigade estimated that
three-quarters of Americans sup-
ported the republican forces in
their fight against Franco. The
republican cause was also helped
bywriters like Ernest Hemingway
and George Orwell who wrote
about their experience with the
International Brigades.
McQuarrie was one of hun-
dreds of American volunteers
who illegally headed to Spain to
join the fight in January
1937. Although the FBI estimated
that fewer than 60% of the bri-
gade's personnel were Commu-
nist Party members, and many of
these were only nominal mem-
bers, McQuarrie was undoubt-
edly one of the true believers.
In Spain, McQuarrie was
selected for officer training school
at Albecete, Spain. In the interna-
tional brigades, only ideologically
reliable party members were cho-
sen for leadership train-
ing. McQuarrie became a non-
commissioned section leader in
the machine gun company.
The Spanish Civil War was a
vicious struggle which deeply
divided European and North
American public opin-
ion. Atrocities were committed
by both sides. However, fascist
forces were far more likely to
brutalize the civilian popula-
tion. Pablo Picasso's 'Guernica'
depicting the German aerial
bombardment of the town is
arguably the twentieth centu-
ry's most disturbing painting.
With only rudimentary train-
ing, McQuarrie's Abraham Lin-
coln Brigade was thrown into
battle immediately. It lost two-
thirds of its strength, according
to the ALBA! Archives, at the
Battle of Jarama on February 27,
1937 when it assaulted heavily
fortified fascist positions.
After resting and refitting,
McQuarrie's brigade took part in
the Brunete Offensive on July 6,
1937. The following day,
McQuarrie's machine gun sec-
tion went into action near the
ironically named town of Vil-
lanueva Canada. One surviving
veteran, Albin Ragner, in a mem-
oir published in 'The Volunteer'
(February 2013) recalled that 'we
met enemy forces on hills
beyond the river, overrunning
their slit trenches. We forced
them to retreat with six Russian
tanks blasting away at them:
However, a German air assault
stopped the brigade's advance
ldlling several men. Amongst the
dead was Roy McQuarrie whom
Ragner described as 'a nice
guy' McQuarrie's 'badly man-
gled' remains were buried in
Spanish sand. It would not be
until November 1937 that his par-
ents learned of their son's death.
The republican cause was
doomed by late 1938 and the
International Brigades were dis-
banded and sent back to their
home countries. In Apri11939,
the Spanish Civil War ended with
Franco's triumph. Of the 2 800
men who served in the Abraham
Lincoln Brigade approximately
800 were killed. Although their
cause was lost, for the American
left, the foreign fighters of the
Abraham Lincoln Brigade were
heroes and martyrs in a holy cru-
sade against fascist evil.
Yet, many Americans viewed
them with suspicion. Despite
the FBI's fears that the survi-
vors were a potential force for
subversive activities, it is esti-
mated that about 1 000 loyally
served in the American forces
during World War II.
In August 1939, Hitler and
Stalin, the Communist leader of
the Soviet Union, signed a non-
aggression pact, making them
allies. The cynical affiance
which allowed the two totalitar-
ian forces to carve up Poland
the next month was a betrayal of
communist principals which, in
effect, destroyed the American
Communist Party. Had
McQuarrie lived another couple
of years, one wonders if his
communist ideals would have
remained intact. Communism
may not have been the solution
to the world's woes, but Roy
McQuarrie's death in the Span-
ish Civil War makes him Huron
County's first casualty in the war
against fascism.