The Winter of Our Discontent?
Salim Mansur, writing in the Toronto Sun, waxes Shakespearean:
As the long federal campaign unfolds, it might well become Canada's political winter of discontent.It's a valuable reminder.
But at some point during this period it will be worthwhile if Canadians reflect on the price people have paid for democracy — and how it is not to be taken for granted.
... Securing freedom and imposing democracies on Germany and Japan after World War II ... required a coalition of willing allies united by their commitment to democracy, and Canadians of that generation carried their responsibility with pride and devotion of a free people.
Canadians, in their winter of discontent, will likely remain preoccupied with domestic quarrels and wishes, however insignificant these are in the larger context of a world where evil is perpetrated by men — as in Darfur — and peril looms as Iran seeks to acquire nuclear capability.
The story of Iraq is a reminder that some people somewhere paid the price for those in democracy to enjoy freedom to choose how they will live and who will govern them.
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