| CHARLEY FOX & VETERANS TRIBUTE |
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| Monday, 10 November 2008 19:00 | |||
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I am humbled and proud to deliver remarks on Remembrance Day and the late Charley Fox on behalf of the PC Caucus. Last year, this week, in this esteemed House I was fortunate to host someone who I would later learn was one of the major actors in World War 2, who would shape the days after D-Day and the German response to our allied Forces. He would change the course of history. He was a hero. He had finished the war with 222 operational missions and 2 distinguished flying cross and bar. He was the Canadian pilot who stopped German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in his tracks. And He was an Ontarian. Charley Fox was all that we could have hoped for in a home grown hero. He was brave, he was humble and he wanted to share all he had ever learned with each of us. And one year ago I was blessed to have Charley Fox join me and my family as I was sworn into the 39th Provincial Parliament in Ontario. It was an occasion I will always remember. On a day when the Indo-Canadian community was celebrating Diwali at Queen’s Park, Charley joined me at that celebration too. He was wearing his medals, his poppy, his pride in Canada and all that our country had become since the days he and so many others fought for our freedoms. Fought for our right to assemble. Fought for the very diversity we prize in this country and on that day, in this legislature. Meeting Charley was like meeting someone from my favorite book. As a student of Canadian heritage, culture and most of all identity, to me Charley was a living example of what it means to be a Canadian. Charley Fox was a modest, proud, passionate and patriotic Canadian. He spent his years after the war, always asking two questions. Why did I survive the war? And how can I ensure there is an enduring legacy for our veterans- those men and women who have sacrificed for our country. And thus began his life long mission to remind all of us of the importance of Remembrance Day . . . of November 11th. Charley worked hard for Torchbearers so he could inform schools, military and other community organizations of the stories of Canadian veterans. Charley Fox wanted to give veterans a voice and there were few things more important to him than that. His presence was so sought after; I am informed that he was to have attended an event with our very own Speaker of this Legislative Assembly this coming weekend. And it is only fitting that today’s tribute to Charley Fox fall alongside the very mark of respect for remembrance that he worked all these years to preserve. And that this mark of respect take place in a Chamber that stands strong in peace and defiant in the face of the tyranny that Charley Fox and the men and women who have served our country so valiantly in all of Canada’s wars and conflicts have fought against. Charley’s story will continue, his family who is here today will finish his book “Why not Me?” and they will complete a project in Charley’s memory. And this week as each of us go back to our communities, we must take up Charley’s cause and make sure that all of our veterans stories continue. In this Chamber it is up to us. It is our obligation to remind people of their noble efforts to preserve and protect Canada’s just society. We debate the issues of the day in absolute freedom. And it should always be remembered that absolute freedom came at a price. To this day, it continues to come with a price. And so, when we will see our soldiers and our veterans in their medals, some of whom are old and others now increasingly younger we must remember to thank them for their service that has kept and continues to keep Canada the true north strong and free. On November 11th fallen soldiers and now deceased veterans, like Charley, will not be forgotten. We will be reminded that their sacrifices made way for our liberties. We will be reminded that the honour in which they served shaped our democracy; and We will remember that those values we hold so dear which include those fundamental freedoms of liberty and democracy are a direct result of their selflessness and their patriotism. My dear friends both in this Chamber and throughout Ontario, please take the time this week to honour our veterans and our soldiers. I urge all Ontarians to reflect on these few verses as we remember our heroes, like Charley Fox, like my grandfather Alex Stewart and the thousands of other men and women who put our freedom and security above their own. So, I conclude with these few verses of poetry which were put to music by Terry Kelly a folk singer from the Maritimes: “They fought and some died for their homeland. They fought and some died, now it's our land. Look at his little child; there's no fear in her eyes. Could he not show respect for other dads who have died? Take two minutes, would you mind? It's a pittance of time, For the boys and the girls who went over. In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.. Read the letters and poems of the heroes at home. They have casualties, battles, and fears of their own. There's a price to be paid if you go, if you stay. Freedom's fought for and won in numerous ways. It takes courage to fight in your own war. It takes courage to fight someone else's war. Our peacekeepers tell of their own living hell. They bring hope to foreign lands that hate mongers can't kill. In peace may they rest, Lest we forget why they died. Take a pittance of time.”
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