Trudeau faces history and political legacy of Vimy

The significance of Vimy has shifted through the decades as new generations ponder the sacrifice

There were many people in chilly, war-weary London who wanted to shake Canadian prime minister Robert Borden's hand on April 9, 1917.

The first accounts of "Canada's victorious day" on Vimy Ridge filtered through the imperial war cabinet within hours of the battle and well-wishers sought out the prime minister to offer congratulations.

His diary bursts with pride. "I hope that this victory is only the augury of further triumphs," he wrote.

Events may have moved quickly in those day, but news moved slowly. At least when you compare it with today's lightning-speed tweets and live streams...

....Today, there is no shortage of international crises for Trudeau to deal with, from U.S. missiles pummelling Syria to gently renegotiating NAFTA with the Trump administration.

Unlike his predecessor Borden, Trudeau won't follow Sunday's ceremony with more than a month of visiting wounded and dying soldiers in hospitals.

One hundred years ago, Canadian prime minister Robert Borden heard about "Canada's victorious day" while in London, then spent a month visiting the wounded. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marks 100 years since Vimy, he faces many of the same political burdens

Mr. Murray Brewster... A CBC analyst actually had the audacity to write such drivel... Trudeau is a wet behind the ears bleeding heart liberal who is so out of tune and touch with Canada's military, that he doesn't even have the gumption to salute the Air Force steward who greets him as he boards his plane to go to the Vimy Ridge memorial, or when he goes on any trip aboard the prime ministerial plane that is flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Comparing Trudeau to anybody out of the past, including his father and especially Borden, is complete bunk...

Trudeau comes from 'generation whine' and he acts accordingly listening intently to every cry for help from a generation that is beyond help. It's the generation who's complaints about being teased on the internet, or having been accosted for being different rises to the level of those 19 year old men who became machine gun fodder for German troops 100 years ago. It's a generation who suffers from PTSD at the slightest hint of a traumatic episode.

There are those within this generation of youth who resemble the generations of the past, those mean and woman who's duty to something more important than themselves took precedence... Sadly enough, Justin Trudeau is not one of those few.

Many,many amazingly brave men...Americans...Brits...Canadians...Aussies (and others) have paid a huge price for the freedom that we in the West enjoy today.I can't claim to know much about Canada's current PM but what little I've seen (and heard) suggests that he might be a bit of a lightweight.And,of course,our former Community Organizer-In-Chief was a lightweight of the first order.

To suggest that Trudeau faces anything like the pressures that some of Canada's earlier leaders did (WWI/WWII/Korea) is beyond silly.

Trudeau is a wet behind the ears bleeding heart liberal who is so out of tune and touch with Canada's military, that he doesn't even have the gumption to salute the Air Force steward who greets him as he boards his plane to go to the Vimy Ridge memorial, or when he goes on any trip aboard the prime ministerial plane that is flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Junior is indeed a wet-behind-the-ears bleeding-heart liberal, but I don't believe protocol requires him to salute. The Commander-in-Chief is the Queen, or her vice-regent the Governor-General, David Johnston. The Prime Minister is the head of government and it is proper for the military to pay compliments, but I don't think it obliges Trudeau to return them.

Perhaps if there's a Freeper who was/is part of the Canadian Forces, they can correct me on this if I'm wrong.

“We Canuckleheads are extremely lucky to be situated on a patch of land far from immediate threat”

Closer all the time. In fact, Justin is importing them. Was name recognition/legacy enough to get such a squish as PM?
If he isn’t stopped Canada will soon be Sweden.

I am of an age that I can recall the WWI vets of my boyhood neighbourhood as men in their ‘60s, and the WWII vets as men in their ‘30s and 40s, friends of my father.

We subsequent generations are certainly not up to the strength of character of our forebears, and our political leaders reflect that sad fact.

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