I signed the petition as well.
I am away from home in the USA and I was here on Nov.11, so I missed going to my local cenotaph this year. In years past I would quickly return home afterwards, and due to time zone lag would be able to watch on TV the national broadcast from the War Memorial in Ottawa,then return to the local Legion branch, guitar in hand to join some friends entertaining the veterans. In recent years a sense shame overcame my sense of pride as I watched hypocritical members of our government stand at the Ottawa memorial beside our nation's heroes. All I could think of was Joyce Carter.
Now Joyce Carter is a lady from my home area who has led a struggle of veteran's widows for fair treatment by the Department Of Veterans Affairs. The senior ranks of Veterans Affairs is run by bean counters who don't give a shit for anyone but their political masters. Stevie Harper, in opposition, made a promise to Joyce Carter, in writing, that he would clean out this cesspool when elected. As PM Harper has turned his back on veterans and their widows to the extent that most requests for veteran's funeral expenses are now being denied.
Thanks to Rick Mercer for his rant and to gnu for posting it!
For more on the story I post these links and they barely scratch the surface:
Joyce
Joyce again
Caring For Veterans
Last Post Fund