I’m not much of a fan of Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada. I think he’s far too right wing for my tastes. I’m not exactly a raving liberal, but I do think that religious ideology has too much control over his thought processes.

That being said, I do have to give him credit for doing some things right. I received an email with a number of short bon mots which I suspect are not really true. Funny, witty, and interesting, but most likely apocryphal. I think this one is worth relating, because even if it is not true, I do think it is a powerful statement.

In France, at a fairly large conference, Steven Harper was asked by a French cabinet minister if Canadian involvement in Afghanistan was just an example of “empire building”.

He answered by saying, ‘Over the years, Canada has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.’

I suspect this is not true, since Canadian soldiers these days are brought home for burial, but hey, pretty cool anyway.

(Max is doing fine.)

EDITED OCTOBER 02

Ok, I’m going to take myself to task for furthering this incorrect email attribution to Stephen Harper.

I SHOULD HAVE LOOKED IT UP! Would it have been so tough?? I think not. I ALWAYS tell people to go to www.snopes.com before they forward these things. I didn’t. Mea Culpa.

I apologize to everyone.

The quote is NOT ACCURATE and demeans the real intent and spirit in which the answer is given.

The question was posed by the former Archbishop of Canterbury at a World Economic Forum held  in England, and does not contain any mention of empire building, but rather the use of hard and soft force. It was posed to Colin Powell. His answer is much more complex, and involves discussions on WWII too. There is a more complete response here.

His more meaningful answer:

We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years and we’ve done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in, and otherwise we have returned home to seek our own, you know, to seek our own lives in peace, to live our own lives in peace. But there comes a time when soft power or talking with evil will not work where, unfortunately, hard power is the only thing that works.

Frankly I’m surprised at the answer, since Powell knows that fallen soldiers are returned to America, and have since Vietnam. However, a little hyperbole is forgivable, since the sentiment is so heartfelt.

So don’t believe everything you read on the internet – that’s how the war in Iraq started!