Don Cherry’s passionate remarks that all Canadians should were a poppy out of respect for their sacrifice at the ‘Alter of Freedom’.
That these remarks generated a contemporary politically correct storm is nuts. I’d wager that poppies are absent on Omar Khadr and several returning ISIS fighters who fought for a totalitarian terror. Don didn’t just happen to drive through one neighbourhood absent of poppies and he knows well that the Canadian soldiers came from the four corners of the earth as all Canadians do. The self-righteous politically correct outrage by Bob Rae, Bonnie Crombie and John Tory and others, who were for years in leadership positions to champion this reverent day to all Canadians as Don has always done, is perplexing. Canada’s ‘Honourable’ Minister of National Defense Harjit Sajjan lied about his role in Afghanistan and still has the top job. Justin Trudeau lied several time to Canadians followed with a dishonourable cover up to escape from the Jody Wilson-Raybould affair. Ron MacLean will have to age with the question, would his RCAF mother and father, both solid old Nova Scotians with strong values, have stuck beside their friends and comrades?
It’s therefore very easy to stand up for honourable Canadian Don Cherry who’s unrighteous downfall should lead to an explosion of poppy sales and respect in 2020. Nobody appeared to stand up publicly for our soldiers, police, firemen, the fallen and the underdog more than Cherry did. They could have eased him out with fanfare and thanks in the postseason if his entertainment had become unpopular.
Barry Robinson
Napanee