It appears that the Harper government now needs to hire a veritable army of watchdogs that Canadian governments have institutionalized to defend the public interest against – Canadian governments. It's been one of the proudest achievements of our governance system that we the public have forced our governments to hire independent souls to ensure the public interest is not violated by them.
So we have, for a few examples among many, an RCMP complaints commissioner, a military police complaints commissioner, a Canadian nuclear safety commissioner and a veterans' ombudsman. By no coincidence at all, several of these positions have come open after the Harper government decided their appointees had a misguided concept of the public interest. Digging deeply into lessons taught by Lewis Carroll, Franz Kafka and George Orwell, as has been their practice, the Harper government has clarified exactly what it expects from these appointees: An understanding that protecting the public interest means unquestioning loyalty to the Harper government.
The qualifications for these vacant positions haven't changed, merely their interpretation. The right woman or man will be passionate, dedicated, bold, tough. Each will passionately defend the Harper government against all criticism. They will all be tough and disciplined in repudiating those who blame the Harper government for their ills. They will speak out boldly and fearlessly about the impeccable job the Harper government is doing in all areas.
It's a seeming paradox that one of the genuine contributions of the Harper government to the commonwealth was the creation of the latest of these public advocates, an independent Veterans' Ombudsman. But its purpose, we can now see, was to stand up for the Harper government against our war veterans. But in retired colonel named Pat Stogran, the government seemed to have selected the wrong man for the job. Stogran apparently shared the plausible assumption that the Harper government cared about the welfare of our troops not only in the field but when they returned home bearing the deep scars of their military experiences.
This was an easy mistake to make. After all, anyone who had opposed the Harper government's war policies in Afghanistan were given the Joe McCarthy treatment, smeared as something close to traitors betraying the brave boys and girls who were putting themselves in harm's way in a distant land. As the Prime Minister repeatedly observed in a nice Orwellian twist, it was those who wanted to bring our young women and men home who were actually responsible for the danger they faced in the field.
It is surely no large surprise to learn that going off to fight is not good for anyone's health. More than 1 in 5 Canadians soldiers are known to leave Afghanistan with psychiatric problems, though experts are certain this considerably lowballs the real figure, given what soldiers face there. A significant number return home deeply traumatized. As Pat Stogran discovered, to his horror, some of them become spouse abusers, drunk drivers, druggies, homeless, uncontrollably violent, attempted suicides and drunken thugs. Those who have endured multiple deployments become the walking wounded. Their families are often shattered, with all members facing their own psychological or physical nightmares.
Given the very loud commitment of our government and military brass to the troops, Stogran apparently took for granted that everything possible was being done to help returned vets cope. But he soon found that was simply wrong. Three years ago he began informing the government and military brass what was really going on. After two years of being ignored, he began shouting about it publicly. For still another year his cries drew only meagre media attention.
