Shifting the blame to cities, a distraction from the real issues of military poverty

The headline on today’s Calgary Herald reads: “Calgary lags behind in providing support for military reservists and their families”. My question is this: Why should cities be expected to pick up the slack when it is the federal government that is being viciously negligent in properly supporting the working people who make up the armed forces?

Why are we blaming the cities when it is the federal government which is not providing adequate benefits to soldiers and their families? Why should cities have to foot the bill when our federal government decides to send our soldiers overseas to kill and be killed?

I am extremely opposed to war, and generally pretty-darn anti-military. But, it is also my belief that if we are going to have a military, we had better pay them a living wage and give them decent benefits. It is a criminal choice on the part of our federal government to have soldiers and their families living in poverty.

Let’s put the blame squarely where it belongs: With the Conservative Party-led federal government that is happy to risk the lives of Canadians, but leaves those same Canadians in poverty.

Shame.

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