I was finishing high school when the then Liberal government, led my Lester Pearson, unified the army, navy and air force under a single command, re-named them the Canadian Forces and gave them a common uniform. It was all so progressive and modern when contrasted with the military in other countries with their double, triple or even quadruple overlapping command structures. Still there were those who rated "tradition" higher than efficiency and effectiveness and railed against the green uniform and the loss of the traditional names, my father among them, although I think his opposition had more to do with a contempt for then Defence Minister Paul Hellyer rooted is the latter's childish, disrespectful behaviour at a VillaNova Baptist Church garden party. It's hard to be in awe of the ministers you knew when they were 8 or 10 year-old brats.
When the government decided to bring back "traditional" uniforms for the maritime and air commands, I saw it as retrogressive, but at least it didn't interfere with the unified command structure. The unified forces have served ably in many combat theatres over the past 40 years and it didn't really matter that someone in navy working garb was stationed in the mountains of Afghanistan hundreds of kilometers from any ocean. They were still the Canadian Forces.
 |
| TCA @ YYZ 2011 07 20 (photo: Ed Ng) |
Today's announcement that the government is bringing back the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force is more troubling, and it's not just the "Royal" thing. If, as it appears, the government is catering to a lobby of octogenarians who think they preferred things the way they were when John Diefenbaker and Lester Pearson were in office, then it's a mistake. If it's part of a move to dismantle the unified command then it's likely to be a huge and expensive mistake. The first time I see RCAF signage I'm going to start looking for a cold-war Diefenbunker and think I'm losing my faculties. Fortunately, Air Canada has been privatized or we'd be looking at Trans Canada Airlines turboprops on the tarmac. On the other hand, what was it with the jet done up in TCA livery that a friend spotted recently, another renaming coming-up?).
One can't, and shouldn't try to, go back. The past is seldom as wonderful as it is remembered - when there were no cars on Yonge Street it was ankle deep in horse manure - and trying to relive the past is a poor alternative to building a better future. That our government is looking so closely to the past to shape the future is not reassuring. I've grown up with, and am quite happy with, the Canadian Forces. So are about 30 million Canadians born, or who immigrated, here since 1968.
