And the cost to the Canadian taxpayer? To hell with the cost, they say.
There are two things telling about this. Firstly, it shows the monarchists odd propensity to complain even when they're on the winning side. Secondly, the whole sorry affair reminds us as to way the monarchy serves politicians.
While the monarchists are going through their usual rounds of gloating and assorted other childishness, the real sting from the name change came a week later: Canada's government has a "strategic review" of its Department National Defence, aiming to cut $1.126 billion Canadian dollars from the defence budget. The internal report calling for the cuts was authored by Lt. Gen. Andrew Leslie, a person of considerable standing in the Canadian military as the "Chief of Transformation". Given that the name-change announcement would have been made after the decision to release the report CBC was made, it's clear that Her Majesty's Canadian government has another agenda — and, as usual, the monarchists are playing to it.
Of course, governments around the world are cutting back spending and in no way am I suggesting that defence budgets aren't a legitimate target to keep the books balanced. But the fact the name change timing came just one week before the major cut-backs report came out is just all too coincidental. The cuts were foreshadowed back in May, following the re-election of Canada's Conservative Party government, this time with a majority. Meanwhile, a group calling itself Restore the honour had been after the restoration of the titles for some time. They had managed to gather a whopping 7,000 signatures on their online petition. Without thinking, they provided politicians with the perfect cover for their budget-cutting.
I wonder what the veterans sitting behind the minister when the name-change announcement was made are thinking now? It's likely that as a result of the cuts funding to the front line will be cut back.
