How grassroots created Veterans for MacKay
Brian Macdonald, who served his country for 15 years in the military, has an impressive resume. A Royal Military College graduate with a Masters degree from the London School of Economics, Macdonald was an MLA in Fredericton for two terms and got his feet wet in politics as policy advisor to Peter MacKay when the latter was Canada’s Minister of National Defence.
Macdonald’s latest project is co-founding Veterans for MacKay, a grass roots movement to encourage present and retired military members to support MacKay in his bid for the Conservative leadership.
While MacKay is expected to pick up a lot of the progressive members, Macdonald insists he has solid core support from the military. Educating people on the process is often a challenge and that’s what Macdonald is hoping to do.
“A lot of veterans support Peter MacKay,” said Macdonald, who served in Bosnia with the Canadian Army and in Iraq with the British Army.
“He’s Canada’s longest-serving wartime minister of national defence. He was our minister throughout the conflict in Afghanistan. He took a personal interest in our veterans, making it a habit to visit troops in the field. I was in Afghanistan on two different Christmas Days with Peter. He was away from family and could celebrate Christmas anywhere in the world, but chose to be with the troops.”
In his own opinion, Macdonald said the No. 1 issue for serving military is maintaining and improving equipment. For veterans, it’s transitioning to life as a civilian.
In an interview, unlike most Conservatives, Macdonald wasn’t overly critical of Justin Trudeau.
“I’m disappointed with some of the initiatives of the Trudeau government. I have some concerns on the equipment front. I’m concerned about fighter jets. Refitting the navy is a key priority and they’re not moving fast enough on that very-important file.”
In addition to veterans and serving military, Macdonald said Mackay supports organizations such as the Royal Canadian Legion and the Army Navy and Air Force Veterans in Canada.
“During my years with Peter, we visited a lot of Legions together, especially in small-town Nova Scotia where he’s from. He understands first-hand the struggles Legions have keeping their doors open.
“Anything we can do to encourage veterans to join the Legion now is a good initative. Legions support veterans, we all know that. But they are also an important part of aby community, especially in rural areas where it’s often a meeting place for people and a social hub.”
Macdonald launched a website (veteransformackay.ca) and encourages veterans to join the Conservative party and sign up before the April 17 deadline. The membership fee is $15.
“Everywhere I’ve travelled with Peter, veterans and people in the military want to shake his hand and say thank you. As defence minister, Peter broke his back to see that our military had the resources and equipment to do the job. Here’s a chance for them to show their appreciation by joining the party and voting for him for the leadership.”