BEAUDRY: 'Canada bombs Tehran in response to Iran ignoring our demands for a cease-fire in the Middle East'

Ivan Beaudry is a veteran who served in the Canadian military for 15 years. He deployed on six overseas missions and received the Sacrifice Medal as a result for injuries sustained in Afghanistan. He lives in Pierrefonds-Roxboro.Imagine reading this headline in the morning while you enjoy your first cup of coffee or turn on your local radio station to hear the news, as you prepare to start your day.Ridiculous, you think… “What business does Canada have bombing another country” is usually the first thought that comes to mind when I have asked others what they would think if they read this headline. They they say, “Canadians are peacekeepers, we don’t go to war."Unfortunately, Canada has been riding on its past laurels for far too long and our current government and opposition members are completely out of touch with how the world views Canada on the world stage. When it comes to our military or international influence, we are now irrelevant and have been for some time now. Last week, Iran attacked Israel in what was a “show of force” from Tehran to support the Palestinian cause to establish its own state. From around the world, we all saw what approximately 200 rockets looked like in the sky when it was shown across Israeli television. This prompted the House of Commons to hold an emergency debate on the crisis in Lebanon and Israel. That's where Heather McPherson MP said to an empty house, “We have a history of being peacekeepers, of convening others, of diplomatic efforts, that not only kept peace, but built peace.” Similarly, our foreign affairs minister called on all parties to agree to a cease-fire, once again, for the umpteenth time — to an audience that doesn’t even recognize her or our country anymore, because Canada just spews nonsense through our media. .WATCH: Anti-Israel demonstrators burn Canadian flags in Vancouver.What it didn’t trigger in the minds of Canadians, or our government in addressing the public, is what would Canada do if this happened to us. Are we capable of defending our nation from such an attack or ANY attack for that matter? Do we possess the military capabilities necessary to defend ourselves. It’s bad enough that the military equipment we have been sending to Ukraine is largely antiquated. This should cause the public at large to ask what do we have that can protect us today? Never mind 2030, which is when we may start receiving new kit from the government contractors with whom we just announced contracts. Germany, Poland and other European nations are spending money and strengthening their defences now! Canada, still can’t get itself in order to do the same. So, when we think of our defence and assume the Americans will protect us, let us remember the following:The long-held notion that because Alaska is at the top of the continent; alongside Canadian territory — and the rest of the United States is in the middle — so they will always defend us will not always hold true. First, the United States protects its interests and its interests alone. They do not care about Canada or Canada's interests. They simply do not want any type of threat to remotely reach their coastline and will protect themselves at all costs. That includes flying through, driving through or sailing through Canadian sovereign territory, without our permission.And so, the US will continue to express their dissatisfaction with Canada until without no notice, they will announce that they are treating us like some other third world country that they no longer wish to deal with, until we get our affairs in order. Then they will proceed in doing what they want, without involving Canada at all. Our handful of fighter jets, scrambling to respond to our coastline because the Russians or Chinese decided to “fly in” will be met with the United States’ early warning system as they appear alongside the Canadian fighter jets, and they will tell us to go home. Simply put, “there is no longer a place for you here in North America, this is our territory, and we will defend it” and the reality is, no matter how proud we are as Canadians and how courageous we can be in war, Canada can’t do anything about how insignificant we can be if the United States says we are.There needs to be a complete overhaul of our military. That includes how we spend, how we allocate and how we plan on defending our country. In respect to diplomacy, we need to first rebuild our image abroad, by concentrating on the issues that the rest of the world sees that Canada choose to ignore. We need to stop touting to the world just how good Canadians are at being peacekeepers and shepherds of diplomacy, because a lot has changed. Our opinion on the matter was once sought by the international community. These days, they look elsewhere for “champions of peace.”Ivan Beaudry is a veteran who served in the Canadian military for 15 years. He deployed on six overseas missions and received the Sacrifice Medal as a result for injuries sustained in Afghanistan. He lives in Pierrefonds-Roxboro.

BEAUDRY: 'Canada bombs Tehran in response to Iran ignoring our demands for a cease-fire in the Middle East'

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