Calgary city council has reversed its 2007 refusal to put yellow “support our troops” decals on city cars now that Canada’s combat role in Afghanistan is over, but will allow city employees to opt out.“There have been some political debates in the past about whether it was worth it, and now that the mission is over, it’s just as important to say thank you for what they’ve done; whether it’s in Afghanistan or going all the way back to World War Two,” said Alderman Shane Keating, who brought forward the proposal and reportedly lost a nephew during Canada’s war in Afghanistan.
Council voted 12 to 3 on Monday to paste yellow ribbons on the city’s fleet, following the lead of other municipalities across the country. In every city that has discussed the issue, the debate follows a pattern — the pro camp sees support for the troops as a matter of patriotism, while opponents see the ribbons as endorsement of a controversial war — and Calgary was no different.
The Council of Canadians, which in 2007 urged residents of cities considering the decal campaign to lobby their councillors against the move, remains opposed to what it sees as municipalities expressing political opinions in the public realm.
“We oppose the decals because oppose using public resources for a political message,” said Dylan Penner, spokesperson for the COC. “This is not about support for our troops, it is about explicit endorsement of the war. In our view, it is impossible to separate the message of support for war from support for troops, despite the fact the Canadian troops are coming home now.”
Mayor Naheed Nenshi has said the yellow ribbons will be afixed to city vehicles “voluntarily,” which he said is important for drivers. Every vehicle will get a “support our troops” decal, and each individual driver will have the discretion to remove it if he or she is not comfortable with it being there.
“We have to find the right balance between making sure we are supporting people, but we’re also supporting the rights of our employees to have their own opinions,” Mr. Nenshi told reporters.
But Mr. Penner said it is inappropriate to ask a public employee such as a bus driver to be in the position of having to remove the ribbon.
“That’s putting the driver in an unfair position, where essentially he can be singled out if he does want to make that call,” Mr. Penner said. “For us, it’s a question of priorities and whether something like this is what the city should be focusing on at all. And we don’t think it should be. Canadians care about peace, and many of us recognize this as promoting war.”
Canada’s combat mission officially drew to a close on July 7 when authority for Panjwaii, Daman and Dand districts in Kandahar was transferred to American forces, marking the end of more than five years of heavy fighting in Afghanistan’s restive south.
About 950 troops will remain in the Kabul area as part of a training mission set to last until 2014.
“You can philosophize all you want about ideas of war and conflict and you can have difficulty with some parts of Canadian military engagement, but you can never have that difficulty with the Canadian military,” Mr. Keating said.
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Source: National Post
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