You are so right Gordo. Those veterans sacrificed for our collective rights and freedoms; yet you so easily give up those rights to satisfy the cronies in the IOC, and bash workers with unjust laws to satisfy fatcats in boardrooms. My mother (a vet) would spit on you for what you have done.

and our soldiers do not volunteer..
gordo must have been lickingout the bottom of his bottle when he stated all this...
But I thank all our soldiers past, present and furture for what tehy do.

"to make our world a better place for future generations"

"Today, Canadian men and women continue to volunteer and serve in defence of DEMOCRACY, continuing a long tradition of bravery and service"

"Every one of those veterans has sacrificed to defend our COLLECTIVE RIGHTS and FREEDOMS....."

Gordo, you should follow those words. You have done, and continue to do everything possible to take our right to collective bargaining away, to take our right to freedom away! You are as phony as they come Gordo. What a bunch of crap comes out of your mouth every time you talk!!

Do us all a favour, and get out of town. You are an embarassment to man kind!

Sounds a bit hypocritical coming from the premier to my ears... on the eve of selling off portions of our forest industry to the communist Chinese state, the IOC violations of our rights, the standard of accountability in our legislature, the election lies about things like BC Rail and HST and the list is long of examples where the message doesn't match the messanger.

I don't often agree with everyone on comments here but today every one of you (in my humble opinion) are 100% correct. Mentioning Gordo's name is a disgrace today.

Any Rememberance Day message is more than a bit hollow coming from Gordon Campbell.
He represents so much of what these men fought against.
To have him even speak the word "democracy" is a bit embarrassing.

Sad, but all so true. Gordon Campbell has no "honour" himself, nor does the Party he leads. As a result, his message is about as completely devoid of both 'style' and 'substance' as its utterer.

Yes, everyone hates Gordo apparently. That's why he keeps getting elected.

100 ideas for a more peaceful world.

1.Be generous with your smiles.
2.Be kind.
3.Respect the Earth.
4.Walk in a forest.
5.Plant a tree.
6.Contemplate a mountain.
7.Protect the Earth.
8.Live simply.
9.Help feed the hungry.
10.Erase a border in your mind.
11.Teach peace to children.
12.Read Chief Seattle's Letter to the President.
13.Be honest.
14.Demand honesty from your government.
15.Think about consequences.
16.Commit yourself to nonviolence.
17.Support nonviolent solutions to global problems.
18.Speak up for a healthy planet.
19.Demand reductions in military expenditures.
20.Be fair.
21.Pledge allegiance to the Earth and to its varied life forms.
22.Think for yourself.
23.Ask questions.
24.Recognize your unique potential.
25.Join an organization working for peace.
26.Be less materialistic.
27.Be more loving.
28.Empower others to work for peace.
29.Oppose all weapons of mass destruction.
30.Support equality.
31.Speak out for a nuclear weapons-free world.
32.Support a Department of Peace.
33.Listen to your heart.
34.Help the poor.
35.Fight against militarism.
36.Study the lives of peace heroes.
37.Help create a community peace park or garden.
38.Commemorate the International Day of Peace.
39.Help strengthen the United Nations.
40.Support the International Criminal Court.
41.Read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
42.Advance the rights of future generations.
43.Be a voice for the voiceless.
44.Join an action alert network.
45.Be forgiving.
46.Laugh more.
47.Play with a child.
48.Support education and the arts over weapons.
49.Help educate the next generation to be compassionate.
50.Take personal responsibility for creating a better world.
51.Sing.
52.Write a poem.
53.Organize a church service on the theme of peace.
54.Learn about another culture.
55.Help someone.
56.Support the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
57.Oppose the arms trade.
58.Clear your mind.
59.Breathe deeply.
60.Sip tea.
61.Express your views on peace to government officials.
62.Fight for the environment.
63.Celebrate Earth Day.
64.Think like an astronaut, recognizing that we have only one Earth.
65.Be constructive.
66.Let someone else go first.
67.Plant seeds of peace.
68.Work in a garden.
69.Change a potential enemy into a friend.
70.Be positive.
71.Share.
72.Be a good neighbor.
73.Send a note of appreciation.
74.Tell your friends how much they matter.
75.Say "I love you" more.
76.Don't tolerate prejudice.
77.Demand more from your elected officials.
78.Walk by the ocean, a river, or a lake.
79.Recognize that all humans have the right to peace.
80.Respect the dignity of each person.
81.Be a leader in the struggle for human decency.
82.Be a friend.
83.Send sunflowers to world leaders, and call for a world free of nuclear weapons.
84.Oppose technologies that harm the environment.
85.Lose an argument to a loved one.
86.Value diversity.
87.Walk softly on the Earth.
88.Appreciate the power of the sun.
89.Speak out for global disarmament.
90.Support a democratic order.
91.Teach non-violence by example.
92.Remember that "No man is an Island."
93.Spend time in nature.
94.Boycott war toys.
95.Be thankful for the miracle of life.
96.Seek harmony with nature.
97.Remind your leaders that peace matters.
98.Oppose violence in television programming for children.
99.Listen to Beethoven's Ode to Joy.
100.Celebrate peace.

I would have hoped that the importance of November 11th would have allowed people to set aside their hatred of an individual for at least this day. But that is not to be.

Thank you diplomat for making the post you made to remind us what we are all about.

I am going to take the liberty of posting your item 12.

---------------------------

Chief Seattle's Letter

"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.

We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family.

The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father.

The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.

If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.

Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.

This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.

Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.

When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?

We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us.

As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you.

One thing we know - there is only one God. No man, be he Red man or White man, can be apart. We ARE all brothers after all."

great post diplomat. Good follow up Gus! I was silent in memory today, for more than 2 minutes! I will never forget who brought us our freedom.

I thought the premier's speech was the usual recycled address a leader reads on Remembrance Day. Nothing to get upset about.
Good post diplomat. I was not aware of #12. Thanks for posting it gus.

It's strange how the earth continues turning and yet everything remains the same.

Honesty, kindness, love, understanding and possessing your own inner peace is how to perpetuate peace in my opinion.

"I would have hoped that the importance of November 11th would have allowed people to set aside their hatred of an individual for at least this day."

I would have hoped that too. But we've been on this site long enough to know better.

Those 100 points are so full of obvious contradictions that, taken as a whole, I'm truly surprised anyone would ever believe they'll lead to any kind of 'peace' worth having.

Aside from the usual platitudes repetitiously listed, many of them are the exact recipe for the kind of totalitarianism that so many of those we are honouring today gave up their lives fighting against.

As for the attitude of many of us towards Mr. Campbell and his party, I believe the old saying is "...by their deeds ye shall know them", not just by their nice words on a day like today.

"Those 100 points are so full of obvious contradictions that, taken as a whole, I'm truly surprised anyone would ever believe they'll lead to any kind of 'peace' worth having."

Jeeeez... here we go again. Making a general statement which is not at least accompanied by say 5 or so examples.

So easy to make such a statement without at least spending a few minutes to provide readers an example of what you mean.
-------------------------------
29.Oppose all weapons of mass destruction.
30.Support equality.

A contradiction?

Why? Because those who have the weapons will not give them up but expect others to give them up.

Gus and MrPG are right. Using rememberance days for shallow political attacks is despicable. It is expected that political leaders at all levels make some sort of speech/statement on this day, hence those present at the laying of the wreathes. For the rest of you all, shame on you for using the deaths of our troops for your own purposes. You shame yourselves by comparing rather trivial greivances (albeit blown out of proportion into 'treason' and 'totalitarianism' to the great cause of freedom and democracy that our soldiers fought and died in the service of. Some of you seem to have strayed so far into your own rhetoric that you have forgotten the obvious truth. We live in a democracy. Our government was elected in a fair election (by any reasonable standards. You will have an opportunity to remove them from power soon. Those simple truths are what our soldiers fought for.
If you are so bitter about losing the last election, save your vitriol for another day.

By the way, the 100 points have as much to do with remembrance day as turkey and stuffing do. People ought to stop confusing one issue with a whole lot of others (including sipping tea and a whole lot of green platitudes. You guys cheapen remembrance day in my view.

Gordo is the one that you should shame caranmacil!!! His speech was shallow, to say the least! He is taking, what our war dead have fought for. May they rest in peace!

Gordon Campbell is a person of no substance!!

I am mindful of the objections raised by caranmacil, and others, over what they think is using the solemn occasion of Rememberance Day as a backdrop for political attacks, Gus, so I did not choose to dwell on the specific 100 points I find contradictory.

Despite their valid objections, I believe this day is also about our remembering just WHAT the fallen supposedly gave up their lives for, as well as honouring their sacrifice.

They fought for freedoms for the individual, as well as for our national freedom.

A great deal of both has since been very stealthily removed from us, and other people elsewhere, by those who cloak themselves in 'words' that are increasingly hollow in the face of their 'deeds'.

As to the 100 points for "Peace", I need only take but one, number 14, "Demand honesty from your government", and ask you, or anyone else, just how, specifically, are you going to "demand" anything from any government over which you have no effective sanction? Your "demand" will be completely ignored.

We have not had "honesty" from the current BC government, in my opinion, it is not led by, nor composed of, sufficiently "honourable" people. You could expand that statement to other governments, nationally and internationally, and we should. And we should ask ourselves, "why"?

Thanks for that socredible! Very well explained! I really want to cause some change in how our Country, Province, and City Governments are run! It is time for the likes of Gordo, to be run out of town. He is one self serving individual! We need to have an opportunity to remove these kind of dirt bags between elections! Gordo should be on the tight end of a rope IMO.

58.Clear your mind.
Thats the best one!

Not demanding honesty from government means giving tacit approval to the continuation of dishonesty.

The 100 ideas for a better world are ideals by the fulfillment of which the future can be better than the past and the present.

I venture to say that those who fought in wars envisioned a better world as well, one more safe, more kind and more respectful of others, be they people or countries.

Therefore, in my opinion, there is no contradiction.

Diplomat:- "Not demanding honesty from government means giving tacit approval to the continuation of dishonesty."
------------------------------------------
The point is, you can "demand" all you want, unless you have a sanction that's effective your 'demands' are going to be completely ignored.
(A sanction such as a "Voter's Veto" that gives the public a direct choice in whether certain actions the government has taken, ones where no clear mandate was asked for or given in a general election, or, alternately, where there has been a sudden change of course from a position previously taken by the government in its quest for votes in that election, are acceptable or not.)