LOW BLOW

I recently had the extreme displeasure of both hearing and seeing the new barrage of radio and TV ads that are purportedly targeted at members of the Canadian Armed Forces who are transitioning from military to civilian life.

They depict departing members, who apparently haven’t been paying attention, being informed that many programs exist to ease their transition, presumably solely due to the beneficence of the Conservatives. What a relief ! And yet I wonder why the Conservatives would spend so much money for so much airtime in order to target what must surely be a very small demographic. Even if a full quarter of the Canadian Armed Forces should quit wholesale in the next year, this would only be a target audience of about 20,000 people nationwide.

Surely a briefing or a mass email would be less expensive. Maybe the Conservatives are planning to make major cuts, and have at heart the best interest of the troops about to be let go?

Or maybe this is another taxpayer-funded bid by the Conservatives to convince the public to disregard the government’s atrocious record of using the Canadian Armed Forces as a political prop, while simultaneously making every effort to shortchange the men and women who have and continue to serve the nation with pride and professionalism.

Maybe they just hope that we will forget about the cuts to Veterans Affairs. Especially following the so-called National Day of Honour (see political prop, above), this ad blitz, even for the current government, is particularly low.

I hope they are thoroughly ashamed of themselves. Kira Olfert Dundurn