The Monarchist 1.0
Defending the British Crown Commonwealth and the English-Speaking Peoples
[+] HONOURING OUR PATRON, SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, VICTOR OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES
[+] HONOURING OUR QUEEN, ELIZABETH THE SECOND, ON THE 80TH YEAR OF HER BIRTH (1926 - 2006)
[+] HONOURING OUR KING, SAINT EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, ON THE 1000TH YEAR OF HIS BIRTH (1005 - 2005)
[+] HONOURING OUR HERO, LORD NELSON, ON THE BICENTENNIAL OF THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR (1805 - 2005)
[+] HONOURING OUR SONS, THE QUEEN'S COMMONWEALTH SOLDIERS KILLED IN THE 'WAR ON TERROR'
Chief Warrant Officer Robert Girouard, 46, Royal Canadian Regiment, Nov 27, 2006 (Afstan)
Staff Sergeant Sharron Elliott, 34, Intelligence Corps, Nov 12, 2006 (Iraq)
Private Jacob B. Kovco, 25, Royal Australian Regiment, April 21, 2006
[+] HONOURING OUR VETS ON THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VICTORIA CROSS (1856 - 2006)
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Harper delivers Churchillian address
This speech by Prime Minister Harper yesterday in London following his meeting with the Queen is telling. It goes to show, I think, just how wrong Liberals were all along to characterize Harper as an American style neo-conservative out of touch with his own country. What this address amply illustrates is precisely the opposite. No prime minister in recent memory has been so eagerly inclined to understand and respect the history, traditions and institutions of Canada than this one. We learn the full measure of the man - who clearly is a conservative loyalist - in the abbreviated text below:
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is actually my first speech to a business audience outside Canada since becoming Prime Minister. And it is only fitting that it’s to your distinguished organization. Because the Canada-UK Chamber has been promoting commerce between our nations for almost 90 years. And because the business relationship between our countries dates back to the very founding of Canada. In fact, for two centuries prior to our confederation in 1867, much of Canada was effectively owned, operated and governed under the red ensign of a London-based corporation, the mighty Hudson’s Bay Company. Our co-sponsor tonight, the Canada Club, owes its founding in 1810 to the fur traders of the North-West Company, the main rival and eventual partner of the HBC. Still, business is but one aspect of our combined history. That history is built by layer upon layer of common experiences, shared values and ancient family ties. In my own case, the Harper family traces its known forefathers back to the northern England and southern Scotland of the 1600s.
But a far greater orator than I - or any Harper of the past 400 years - once described Canada-U.K. relations this way: The ties which join [Canada] to the mother country are more flexible than elastic, stronger than steel and tenser than any material known to science. Canada bridges the gap between the old world and the new, and reunites the world with a new bond of comradeship. The speaker, as you might have guessed, was the incomparable Winston Churchill.
The occasion was a speech in Ottawa in 1929, part of a cross-country tour of what he called “the Great Dominion.” He gave 16 speeches in 9 cities. Every one of them was delivered to sold-out rooms and repeated standing ovations. On that same tour, Mr. Churchill reminded Canadians of what they owed to Britain. At the heart of our relationship, he said: “is the golden circle of the Crown which links us all together with the majestic past that takes us back to the Tudors, the Plantagenets, the Magna Carta, habeas corpus, petition of rights, and English common law… all those massive stepping stones which the people of the British race shaped and forged to the joy, and peace, and glory of mankind.”
How right he was. Britain gave Canada all that – and much more. Including: Parliamentary democracy; a commitment to basic freedoms; the industrial revolution; and the entrepreneurial spirit and free market economy. Not to mention Shakespeare, Dickens, Kipling, Lewis, and Chesterton. Much of what Canada is today we can trace to our origins as a colony of the British Empire. Now I know it’s unfashionable to refer to colonialism in anything other than negative terms. And certainly, no part of the world is unscarred by the excesses of empires. But in the Canadian context, the actions of the British Empire were largely benign and occasionally brilliant. The magnanimous provisions of the Quebec Act of 1774 ensured the survival of the French language and culture in Canada - to the everlasting benefit of our country. And the treaties negotiated with the Aboriginal inhabitants of our country, while far from perfect, were some of the fairest and most generous of the period.
This genius for governance shown by the mother country at the time no doubt explains in part why Canada’s path to independence was so long, patient and peaceful. And it explains why your Queen is still our Queen, and why our “bond of comradeship” remains as sturdy today as it was in Mr. Churchill’s time.
That bond, ladies and gentlemen, was forged in bad times as well as good. Sometimes in the flames of war. When Britain has bled, Canada has bled. A generation of our young men share eternity with British Tommies in the fields of France. Another generation of Britons and Canadians fought side by side against Nazi fascism. Yet another helped our American cousins prevail over the menace of Soviet communism. And ever since that brief, illusory moment when we thought we were witness to “the end of history,” we have been allied in a new global conflict.
This is a conflict without borders. A conflict fought abroad and at home. A conflict in which the aggressor stands for nothing yet seeks to impose its will. Through the destruction of terrorism. Through the slaughter of the innocent. And through the perversion of a faith. So once more we face, as Churchill put it, “gangs of bandits who seek to darken the light of the world.” And once more we must appeal to our values, marshal our resources and steadfastly apply our will to defeat them.
This war on terror will not be easy. Nor will it be short. But it must be won. And Canada’s new national government is absolutely determined, once again, to stand shoulder to shoulder with our British allies, to stay the course and to win the fight.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by saying that I have no doubt that the “bonds of comradeship” Mr. Churchill talked about in the early 20th century will remain just as strong throughout the 21st. The “little island” and the “Great Dominion” are eternally bonded by language, culture, economics and values. That’s why our business relationships are so strong and successful and why they will only be growing stronger in the future. It’s why our troops are again serving side by side – this time in Afghanistan - defending freedom and building democracy. Why our intelligence services are working hand in glove to keep our homelands safe and secure. And why I am honoured to have had this opportunity to speak to your organizations today.
Thank you. God bless Canada and God save the Queen.
POSTED BY: The Monarchist AT 6:14 p.m. | LINKS |
This speech by Prime Minister Harper yesterday in London following his meeting with the Queen is telling. It goes to show, I think, just how wrong Liberals were all along to characterize Harper as an American style neo-conservative out of touch with his own country. What this address amply illustrates is precisely the opposite. No prime minister in recent memory has been so eagerly inclined to understand and respect the history, traditions and institutions of Canada than this one. We learn the full measure of the man - who clearly is a conservative loyalist - in the abbreviated text below:
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is actually my first speech to a business audience outside Canada since becoming Prime Minister. And it is only fitting that it’s to your distinguished organization. Because the Canada-UK Chamber has been promoting commerce between our nations for almost 90 years. And because the business relationship between our countries dates back to the very founding of Canada. In fact, for two centuries prior to our confederation in 1867, much of Canada was effectively owned, operated and governed under the red ensign of a London-based corporation, the mighty Hudson’s Bay Company. Our co-sponsor tonight, the Canada Club, owes its founding in 1810 to the fur traders of the North-West Company, the main rival and eventual partner of the HBC. Still, business is but one aspect of our combined history. That history is built by layer upon layer of common experiences, shared values and ancient family ties. In my own case, the Harper family traces its known forefathers back to the northern England and southern Scotland of the 1600s. But a far greater orator than I - or any Harper of the past 400 years - once described Canada-U.K. relations this way: The ties which join [Canada] to the mother country are more flexible than elastic, stronger than steel and tenser than any material known to science. Canada bridges the gap between the old world and the new, and reunites the world with a new bond of comradeship. The speaker, as you might have guessed, was the incomparable Winston Churchill.
The occasion was a speech in Ottawa in 1929, part of a cross-country tour of what he called “the Great Dominion.” He gave 16 speeches in 9 cities. Every one of them was delivered to sold-out rooms and repeated standing ovations. On that same tour, Mr. Churchill reminded Canadians of what they owed to Britain. At the heart of our relationship, he said: “is the golden circle of the Crown which links us all together with the majestic past that takes us back to the Tudors, the Plantagenets, the Magna Carta, habeas corpus, petition of rights, and English common law… all those massive stepping stones which the people of the British race shaped and forged to the joy, and peace, and glory of mankind.”
How right he was. Britain gave Canada all that – and much more. Including: Parliamentary democracy; a commitment to basic freedoms; the industrial revolution; and the entrepreneurial spirit and free market economy. Not to mention Shakespeare, Dickens, Kipling, Lewis, and Chesterton. Much of what Canada is today we can trace to our origins as a colony of the British Empire. Now I know it’s unfashionable to refer to colonialism in anything other than negative terms. And certainly, no part of the world is unscarred by the excesses of empires. But in the Canadian context, the actions of the British Empire were largely benign and occasionally brilliant. The magnanimous provisions of the Quebec Act of 1774 ensured the survival of the French language and culture in Canada - to the everlasting benefit of our country. And the treaties negotiated with the Aboriginal inhabitants of our country, while far from perfect, were some of the fairest and most generous of the period.
This genius for governance shown by the mother country at the time no doubt explains in part why Canada’s path to independence was so long, patient and peaceful. And it explains why your Queen is still our Queen, and why our “bond of comradeship” remains as sturdy today as it was in Mr. Churchill’s time.
That bond, ladies and gentlemen, was forged in bad times as well as good. Sometimes in the flames of war. When Britain has bled, Canada has bled. A generation of our young men share eternity with British Tommies in the fields of France. Another generation of Britons and Canadians fought side by side against Nazi fascism. Yet another helped our American cousins prevail over the menace of Soviet communism. And ever since that brief, illusory moment when we thought we were witness to “the end of history,” we have been allied in a new global conflict.
This is a conflict without borders. A conflict fought abroad and at home. A conflict in which the aggressor stands for nothing yet seeks to impose its will. Through the destruction of terrorism. Through the slaughter of the innocent. And through the perversion of a faith. So once more we face, as Churchill put it, “gangs of bandits who seek to darken the light of the world.” And once more we must appeal to our values, marshal our resources and steadfastly apply our will to defeat them.
This war on terror will not be easy. Nor will it be short. But it must be won. And Canada’s new national government is absolutely determined, once again, to stand shoulder to shoulder with our British allies, to stay the course and to win the fight.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by saying that I have no doubt that the “bonds of comradeship” Mr. Churchill talked about in the early 20th century will remain just as strong throughout the 21st. The “little island” and the “Great Dominion” are eternally bonded by language, culture, economics and values. That’s why our business relationships are so strong and successful and why they will only be growing stronger in the future. It’s why our troops are again serving side by side – this time in Afghanistan - defending freedom and building democracy. Why our intelligence services are working hand in glove to keep our homelands safe and secure. And why I am honoured to have had this opportunity to speak to your organizations today.
Thank you. God bless Canada and God save the Queen.
POSTED BY: The Monarchist AT 6:14 p.m. | LINKS |
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