Merry Christmas, suckaz!
Ottawa to axe soldiers' bonus
Peter Harris, CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, November 23, 2007
The federal government is about to stop its practice of giving extra money to Canadian soldiers posted to some of the country's most expensive cities.
Since June 2000, almost half of Canada's soldiers have been receiving a bump in their monthly salary -- the posting's living differential -- for living and working in cities with a high cost of living.
However, the Tory government will put a halt to the payments for soldiers in places such as Toronto and Ottawa.
It's not the eye-rolling hypocrisy of this move that's so amusing. No, the real entertainment value will come when the red shirt-wearing, yellow ribbon-festooned, troop-supporting members of the Blogging Tories will weigh in, explaining that this is a perfectly reasonable thing to do because ... because ... oh, fuck it, I can't imagine the deluded spin that's going to be used to defend this. But, God knows, it's certainly going to be worth waiting for.
Blogging Tories ... take it away.
AND THEY'RE OFF ... as Blogging Tory Raphael Alexander once again demonstrates my thesis that the BTs seem singularly incapable of holding two disparate thoughts at a time:
Of course the opposition questioned the cuts, with the most noticeable being Liberal defense critic Denis Coderre.
"It might have an impact on their morale."
You know what else has an impact on their morale, Denis? Calling them complicit in torture.
Because if you're concerned about Canadian troops being involved in torture, it is clearly impossible to simultaneously want to protect them and their families financially.
The world must be a very simple place for people who really can't walk and chew gum at the same time.
P.S. I'm moderately amused by this bit by Raphael:
At any rate, it would be interesting to hear whether this story is true or not, ...
Right, Raph ... because you and your BT colleagues are all about the careful, meticulous corroboration before going to press.
I'm sorry ... was that just cruel?
UPPITY DATE: Blogging Tory Mike McGuire (whose pearl-clutching love affair with GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson has been replaced with a similarly pearl-clutching love affair with GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee) wants to tell you just how pissed he is by this latest development, if only he could figure out who to blame:
I sure hope the Tories aren't responsible for this
Quite right, Mike, because when the newspaper article opens with the sentence:
The federal government is about to stop its practice of giving extra money to Canadian soldiers posted to some of the country's most expensive cities.
the first thing we need to do is tease out what that ambiguous phrase "the federal government" means. Some first-class sleuthing is in order here, I reckon.
I'm betting Steve Janke's available.
12 comments:
The ability to live in places like Toronto or Ottawa is a form of compensation in itself. Why should the troops get even more money for living in such nice places?
seer, has someone changed the dosage on your meds? Seriously, you used to be moderately coherent at one time but, lately, ...
By The Seer, at 12:18 PM
So, troops returning from the battlefront should be forced to live in ghetto shitholes.
Yeah remind me not to enlist in the Canadian armed forces either.
Can you even imagine the BT uproar if the Liberals had put forth a suggestion to do this?
It hurts to even contemplate it.
All quiet on the BT Front. I just checked. Nothing, nadda, zip, zero, ziltch about this from the "put out more flags" crowd.
Almost as bad as the Yanks saying to wounded, maimed, disfigured soldiers--"Hey, can't fight any more? Pay back a chunk of your signing bonus."
Support teh troops!
Just not by, you know, supporting them.
Hey Corporal, thanks for everything, we Tories Whom Blog are behind yous. That is why I would be honoured to present you with this authentic magnetic ribbon for your SUV. Whatta you mean you don't own a SUV? Wha...you can't afford a SUV? Oh, c'mon. Um, look I'm wearing a red t-shirt...'kay bye.
Reminds me how the PGIB types on the city council here in Calgary led the charge for 'support the troops' stickers on cop cars - but the same bunch of far right council members led the charge after a minor vote fraud scandal caught before it affected the vote - to ban all mail in ballots.
In other words they supported the troops - aside from taking the vote away from the ones serving in Afghanistan that is...
"Why should the troops get even more money for living in such nice places?"
that's some swell supportin'!
the right wing, ladies and gentelmen. the right wing.
KEvron
CC, I think Mike needs reminding that the Tories -- same guys who have cut this support -- are sashaying around almost two years after their minority election, calling themselves "Canada's new [sic] government." So damn right -- the TORIES are responsible for this outrage.
Sorry, I used to represent public employee labor unions. I have heard "part of your compensation is living in such a nice community" as an excuse for not wanting to raise the pay of public employees. In the cities of Holland & Traverse City, Michigan, to be specific.
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