Needed: 9,999 Canadians — plus you!

If you would give $7 each month to stop Harper, click here.

Dear Ceasefire.ca supporter,

I need you to take action…

What we really need is for 9,999 Canadians plus one – you – to take action right now. So please … don’t say you’ll do it later; do it right now before you move on to something else.

You’ll recall the last time I wrote you, it was about Harper’s not-so-secret military plans and his billion-dollar F-35 stealth fighter.

Well, we had great success because of you and thousands of other Canadians. We seriously derailed Harper’s plans for the F-35.

There’s no doubt Ceasefire.ca with your support had a great victory, but there’s much more work to do.

Canada’s military spending is out of control. Under the Harper government Canadian military spending has been higher than at any other time since the end of the Second World War.

And recently, when I attended an official Canadian defence briefing in Ottawa, it was laid bare … Harper and his generals are moving forward with a plan to outfit Canada with even more deadly weapons and more outrageously expensive military equipment.

That’s why I hope you will renew your support for Ceasefire.ca by joining our Peacekeepers monthly donor club. Will you give $7 each month to Stop Harper’s plans?

It’s not simply about the extreme amounts of tax dollars being spent on the military. Look at this list and its hefty price tag:

  •     The F-35 attack jets costing up to $45 billion
  •     New combat warships estimated at $26 billion
  •     Combat vehicles, armoured patrol vehicles, tanks, and upgrades for a total of $4.5 billion
  •     And, of course, the new Chinook heavy-lift helicopters at $2.3 billion

And there’s more. The next piece in Harper’s lethal military arsenal is attack drones.

I’m flabbergasted … Why does Canada need attack drones?

I believe at the core of all of this grotesque military spending is a single-minded agenda to change Canada … to change our military … to change our history … to change our culture and values.

It’s a “not-so-secret agenda” to make Canada more aggressive and to join U.S. and NATO wars around the globe.

Right now the U.S. uses these attack drones for so-called targeted killings in Pakistan and around the world – the result is that the victims are civilians… women, innocent men, and children.

In Pakistan alone human rights researchers at Stanford and New York universities estimate that since 2004 close to 900 civilians have been killed by armed drones. That has included the killing of 176 children.

Is this the cultural change Harper talks about? … An indifference to the killing of families and their children. … A refusal to even count the innocent victims. Does Harper want to have his own tough-guy kill list?

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This is why we need 9,999 Canadians, plus you, to take action right now.

We want to send ten thousand messages to Harper by March 3rd to stop his scheme to buy a new squadron of unmanned attack drones.

Yes, soon we will be starting our third annual Be Heard on March 3rd campaign. I hope you’ll join us and take action to help save lives and to stop Harper’s not-so-secret military agenda. Join our Peacekeepers monthly donor club, and on March 3rd, send a message to Harper.

Two simple actions. I hope you can join us.

If Harper’s plan goes ahead, there will be serious national and global consequences for Canada. At a speech I attended an expert in international law warned the audience that the spread of attack drones and their use in targeted assassinations could “turn the world into a battlefield.”

The battles are already raging around the globe.

Missiles fired by U.S. attack drones are indiscriminately killing innocent civilians, traumatizing entire villages, destroying families, and leaving relations with Pakistan and the world in tatters. Yet, Harper and the military brass want Canada to get in on the armed drone action.

Already, U.S. military industries know Harper is nearly frantic to buy drones. He’s been promising a new squadron of long-range attack drones since 2006.

Yet Harper’s plan has already fallen far behind schedule.

Originally the military planned to be operating drones by 2010; now they say they don’t know when a contract might be finalized … or when the drones might start operating.

This is our opportunity, right now, to stop Harper’s plan to buy attack drones for Canada.

9,999 plus one – you. It’s so important. In a few days we will remind you to sign up for our third anual Be Heard on March 3rd campaign.

Just two easy actions. Join our monthly donor program, Peacekeepers. And on March 3rd, send a message to Harper.

Remember, not only are these attack drones deadly and indiscriminate; they are just the latest in a series of wasteful military purchases.

Right now Canada is one of the top 15 military spending nations in the world, and the sixth largest military spender among the 28 members of NATO.

But that’s not enough for Harper.

For Harper, the measure of Canada’s greatness is the size of our military and its ability to join NATO and the Pentagon in wars around the globe.

He revels in the wars we have fought, whether it be the War of 1812, the First and Second World Wars, or the Korean War.

He’s disappointed we didn’t join the war against Iraq.

He belittles the idea that our greatness is in our caring for each other with social programs like medical care for all.

And he is disdainful of Canada’s history as a peacekeeper.

But no matter how hard Harper tries, he has not turned Canadian opinion against our values of peacekeeping and caring for others.

Ceasefire.ca is ten years old this year. Thanks to you and thousands of our supporters, we derailed Harper’s plans for the wasteful F-35 stealth fighters, exposed his lies about military costs, and continue to challenge the pro-war lobby.

Now, with 9,999 Canadians plus one – you – we’ll challenge Harper and the generals at every turn by

  •     launching a new campaign to stop Harper’s attack drones,
  •     exposing and ending his wasteful military spending and revealing his not-so-secret military agenda,
  •     and working hard to stop Canada from being dragged into U.S. wars around the globe.

 

That’s why I’m asking you to consider joining our third annual Be Heard on March 3rd campaign so we can be proud and make Canada a leader for peace, once again! Thank you for everything you do for Canada.

 

In peace,

Steven Staples
Ceasefire.ca

P.S. What we really need is 9,999 Canadians plus one to send a message to Harper to not buy attack drones. Please be the “plus one” and become a Peacekeeper by joining our monthly donor program, right now.

New Peacekeepers will receive a free copy of Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control by Medea Benjamin.

 

Tags: Arms industry, Canada, Canadian defence policy, Canadian Forces, Canadian foreign policy, Canadian military spending, Ceasefire.ca, Defence policy, Defence spending, Department of National Defence, Drone warfare, Drones, F-35, Harper, Joint Strike Fighter, Military spending, Pakistan, Peacekeepers, Peacekeeping, UN peacekeeping