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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-01-20, Page 44 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, January 20, 2016 rikl- _.a www.lucknowsentinel.com The Lucknow Sentinel PUBLISHED WEEKLY P.O. Box 400, 619 Campbell Street Lucknow Ontario NOG 2H0 phone: 519-528-2822 fax: 519-528-3529 www.lucknowsentinel.com POSTMEDIA JOHN BAUMAN Group Manager, Media Sales john.bauman@sunmedia.ca JOYJURJENS Office Administrator lucknow.sentinel@sunmedia.ca LINDSAY THEODULE Media Sales Consultant lindsay.theodule@sunmedia.ca MARIE DAVID Group Advertising Director 519 376-2250 ext. 514301 or 510 364-2001 ext. 531024 Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO SENTINEL CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT P.O. Box 400 Lucknow ON NOG 2H0 For any non -deliveries or delivery concerns: 519-528-2822 • lucknow.sentinel@sunmedia.ca SUBSCRIPTIONS Regular one year $40.00 + $2.00 =$42.00 Senior one year $35.00 +$1.75 = $36.75 Two year regular $70.00 + 3.50 = $73.50 Senior two year $60.00 + $3.00 = $63.00 Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. At advertising and editorial deadlines: Friday 2 p.m. Changes of address, orders for subscriptions, and undeliverable copies (return postage guaranteed) are to be sent to The Lucknow Sentinel at the address indicated here. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, the portion of the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid at the applicable rates. The Sentinel is available on microfilm at: GODERICH LIBRARY, (from 1875) 52 Montreal Street Goderich ON N7A 1 M3 Goderich li brary@huroncounty.ca KINCARDINE LIBRARY, (from 1875 to 1900 & 1935 to 1959) 727 Queen Street Kincardine ON N2Z 1Z9 The Lucknow Sentinel is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns. For more information or to file a complaint go to www.mediacouncil.ca or call toll free 1-844-877-1163. We acknowledge the financial support of the Govemment of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. Canada .10cna Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and the Ontario Community Newspapers Association Prime Minister Trudeau's silence on terrorism is deafening It's early still in the life of this government. Yet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Grits closing in on 100 days since their Oct. 19 electoral triumph, a pattern begins to emerge. It's one that does the new regime and its leader little credit. It smacks of an inability or unwillingness to perceive sentiment beyond the urban Liberal echo cham- ber. It bespeaks a lack of imag- ination — including an inabil- ity to imagine threats to the government's capacity to endure and succeed long- term. Tunnel vision and obduracy are not supposed to set in quite so soon. Let's begin with this: Trudeau's Achilles heel. Every politician seems to have one. For this PM, for the longest time, it was his tendency to blurt silly things about serious geopolitical issues at inoppor- tune times. There was his tone-deaf statement in an interview with the CBC that the Boston Marathon bomb- ers must have felt excluded; his offhand praise of China's system of government; his curious joke about the Rus- sians invading Ukraine over hockey. Most memorably, there was the juvenile quip about former prime minister Stephen Harper whipping out Canada's CF -18s to "show them how big they are:' That series of gaffes, com- bined with Trudeau's decision in the fall of 2014 to vote against Canadian participa- tion in the U.S.-led air war against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, was a Column Michael Den Tandt factor in the collapse in public support that led to the Liber- als entering last year's election campaign an underdog. That they recovered and won resoundingly is a testament to Trudeau's political skills and the quality of the campaign he ran. None of that mitigates that his perceived instincts and judgment about foreign policy — especially as con- cerns the war against Islamist, jihadist terrorism — are his greatest weakness. Tonally this manifests as an inability, or unwillingness, to emit more than the minimum necessary wattage in public responses to terrorist atrocities perpetrated by ISIL and its fel- low travellers. That was on dis- play immediately after the massacre in Paris last Novem- ber. It was on display again this past weekend, in the aftermath of Islamist killing sprees in Jakarta, Indonesia and Ouaga- dougou, Burkina -Faso, that left seven Canadians dead. Has the government, and Trudeau personally, con- demned these atrocities? Cer- tainly they have. Canada "strongly condemns the deadly terrorist attacks," the PM said in a prepared statement in response to the Burkina -Faso massacre. On his personal Twitter feed, he offered his condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of those murdered. In the statement, he proposed a "speedy recovery" to the injured. "We are deeply saddened by these senseless act of violence on innocent civilians," the release went on. My question: Where is the expression of fury at the sociopaths who chose to murder these good people in cold blood? Where is the resolve to fight back, the pas- sion for justice? It's not as though this gov- ernment is incapable of dis- playing revulsion. Two weeks ago, when a hooligan on a bike pepper -sprayed Syrian refugees newly arrived in Van- couver, Immigration John McCallum said he was "shocked and appalled" at the attack — and rightly so. It was a vile, cowardly assault. Trudeau's personal Twitter feed immediately lit up with a condemnation of the perpe- trator. Again, rightly so. But where are the passion- ate condemnations of terror- ists who murder innocent Canadians in the pursuit of their demented ends? Burkina -Faso was not a pep- per -spraying. Surely there should be horror and fury, in addition to the now custom- ary sadness? Former Liberal leader Bob Rae took to Twitter Sunday to call the attack "an appalling act of cruelty" Where is the corresponding vehemence on the part of his successor and his ministers? It looks as though two things are at work. First, the PM and his ministers are tak- ing pains to avoid the belli- cose vitriol that characterized the Harper government's communications about Jihadism, that being all -too American -Republican for their taste. Second, they are leery, with good reason, of being accused of hypocrisy due to the continuing void — intellectual, practical and moral — in their policy vis-a- vis combating ISIL. Where is that policy? It'll be three months this week since the federal election. The defence minister, Harjit Sajjan, has travelled to Iraq on a fact- finding mission. Trudeau and his foreign-policy team have had ample time to consult Canada's allies. They've had time to hear reports from Canadian Forces generals who understand military strategy and tactics. Canadian citizens are among the victims in the plague of Jihadist murder that seems to me to be having its intended effect — to terrorize. What is the government's response? A period of orientation is understandable. Three months in, the silence grows deafening. Leaving Canada's CF -18s in place, while claiming they're doing no good and should be pulled out? Claiming a robust ground mission is in the works, while also abjuring any sugges- tion that Canada will ever be involved in ground fighting? It's incoherent. As long as it remains so, it will weaken Trudeau, while shoring up the arguments of his critics and opponents. Lost keys can be brought to Lucknow Sentinel office Ruth Dobrensky Lucknow News The sudden snow storms last week brought us all back to the reality of a truly Canadian winter. My drive to church was good, just a bit of rain and a few snow flakes, but by the time church ended, my car and everything in sight was covered in snow. I stopped at the Wingham hospital to visit a sick neighbour and had to clean the car off again before I headed home. I knew we were in quite a storm when my cardiolo- gist's office in London called me last Monday and canceled my Tuesday appointment. That I was very glad of, especially when I couldn't see out my windows on Tuesday. I hope everyone was able to weather those days of horrible weather without any mishaps It seems that quite a few people around town have lost keys in the snow, if you find any, bring them to the Sentinel office so that when the losers make enquiries, the Sentinel office staff may be able to help them out. The Place Street Choir and wives took Annie Pritchard out for supper recently to help her celebrate her birthday. Happy belated birthday Annie. There's been a lot of activity in the field off Walter Street that was recently purchased for use as a camp ground for Music in the Fields. Several people with tractors, front end loaders, etc., have cleared the field of brush, trees, a barbed wire fence and the old barn that has stood there for who knows how many years. It will be interesting to see what they are planning for the spring. Sympathy of the community to the families of: Betty Hum- phrey, 85, Lucknow; and, Joan Dougherty, 83, Goderich.