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Former top general says reviewing medals for Afghan vets a ‘no-brainer' for Carney

Former top general says reviewing medals for Afghan vets a ‘no-brainer' for Carney

Toronto Star2 days ago
OTTAWA - A former top general who led the military during the Afghanistan conflict is urging Prime Minister Mark Carney's government to revisit the files of soldiers who served there to see if any of their awards should be upgraded to the Victoria Cross.
Rick Hillier said that despite the failure of recent attempts to trigger such an independent review, he thinks the odds are better now that Ottawa is bent on revitalizing the Canadian Armed Forces.
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Mark Carney has been Canada's Prime Minister for slightly over 100 days. Yet, he still hasn't done the one thing his predecessors did in short order: open a constituency office. Article content MPs of different parties often don't have constituency offices for short periods of time. The reasons are usually straightforward and completely understandable, including moving locations and hiring new staff members. The matter is typically resolved quickly. Article content Article content Article content This hasn't been the case with Carney in his riding of Nepean. Article content Article content An Aug. 12 column in the Ottawa Citizen focused on a local constituent, John Van de Brook, and his concerns about a rat infestation occurring in Barrhaven. He had apparently already reached out to his municipal councillor, and decided to contact Carney to ensure that all bases were covered. According to Bruce Deachman, 'it wasn't so many months ago that his then-MP, Chandra Arya, helped solve a problem that Van de Brook's wife was having with her permanent resident card. Who knows, he figured, maybe Carney could help with this?' Article content When Van de Brook tried to look up Carney's constituency office, he discovered that it didn't exist. 'I was disappointed,' he told Deachman, 'he should have one.' Two other local residents, Elaine and Lyndsay, also expressed their disappointment that Carney had no local presence in Nepean. 'You might see something on Facebook telling you to contact your MP,' the latter said in part. 'When I see that, my first thought is that, technically, we have an MP, but we have nowhere to contact an MP. And, because of the role of our MP, it doesn't feel like there's someone representing our riding.' Article content Article content Is this a party-based issue or delay? Doesn't seem like it. Two newly-elected Liberal MPs in the area, Giovanna Mingarelli and Bruce Fanjoy, reportedly have their constituency offices up and running. Article content Article content Deachman contacted the PMO about this matter. While he recognized that Carney is 'the prime minister and has more important things to worry about,' he also correctly pointed out 'constituency offices aren't simply a quaint tradition or something going out of style.' What did the PMO reportedly tell him? 'We'll have more to share on that shortly. Be in touch.' Article content While the history of constituency offices doesn't date back to the time of Confederation, the current configuration has existed since the 1960s and 1970s. Will Stos, the editor of Canadian Parliamentary Review, wrote in the Winter 2024 issue that they were established 'as a response to frustrations with bureaucracy and as necessary infrastructure for parliamentarians who did not have access to private office space.' 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