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“Canadians have a long history of guarding our freedoms at home.
“And we have an equally proud history of defending freedom abroad.
“Another one of my predecessors, Prime Minister St. Laurent, who served in the early post-war years, put it well when he said, and I quote: ‘The vigour and liberty of our national way of life are the foundations for playing our role in the Cold War.’
“A statement, I would add, that applies equally to virtually all of Canada’s historic military engagements abroad.
“Now I must pause here, however, with immense regret to note that Canada has not always lived up to these high aspirations.
“There have been times when we’ve fallen short, heeded the calls of those who preferred to see Canada sidelined, to see Canada serve as a neutral bystander instead of a principled actor.
“Those who preached moral-equivalency and who said that Canada should learn to accept totalitarian communism as just another option.
“They were the people who showed blindness to the unparalleled crimes of Maoism in China.
“Indifference in the face of the communist coup against Poland’s Solidarity in 1981 and who pushed the so-called Peace Initiative of 1984, not long before the Warsaw Pact collapsed.
“Friends, our Government has learned from the past and we have used these Canadian examples and experiences – both proud and shameful – to guide our present actions and shape our foreign policies.
“Today, our foreign policies are informed by our highest values.
“Canada defends and promotes the basic freedoms that are crucial to maintaining human society and we oppose those everywhere who threaten those values.
“Under our Government, Canada has cut support for terrorist-led governments.
“We’ve condemned human rights abuses.
“And, ladies and gentlemen, Canada proudly, resolutely, unequivocally stands with the people of Ukraine.
“Now I just want to add something: I was told a couple of weeks ago that Mr. Putin made some comments.
“He said he didn’t understand why Harper and Canada cared so much about Ukraine; it’s a long way away, he says.
“The fact that he doesn’t get it tells you there’s a problem.
“Freedom, democracy, justice: that’s what it’s all about for the people of Ukraine.
“A couple of months ago I travelled to Ukraine as some of you know, the first G-7 leader to do so.
“During my visit I had the pleasure of meeting with Prime Minister Yatsenyuk.
“And when we met I shared with him – as I continue to share with my counterparts in the G-7 and beyond – that what is happening today to the millions in Ukraine is both a wake-up call and a call to action.
“Over the last several months, indeed years, the world has watched as President Putin has grown more comfortable with confrontation.
“His boldness has increased since Russian troops first made an open grab for power in Crimea.
“The impact of the Putin regime’s expansionism and militarism extends beyond Ukraine.
“It threatens the security of our Eastern European allies and, by extension, the stability and security of the world.
“Now friends, I cannot predict what these next few months or years hold for Ukraine, for Europe, or for Canada.
“But I do know this: Canadians have always supported freedom and democracy for all people and we will not hold back that support now from the people of Ukraine.
“Canada will do what we have always tried to do, the right thing.
“Now let me just close with this.
“Pope, now Saint, John Paul II referred to the 20thCentury as the century of tears.
“And, for countless tens of millions of people, he was right.
“In the course of that century, its great evils – militarism, fascism and communism – snuffed out the lights and the lives of freedom, democracy and justice.
“But just as stars shine more brightly as darkness claims the sky at night, so I believe Canada, the North Star, stood out as these shadows fell across the globe.
“Now those of us who have lived long enough will know that evil comes in many forms and seems to reinvent itself time and again.
“But whatever it calls itself - Nazism, Marxist-Leninism, today, terrorism - they all have one thing in common: the destruction, the end, of human liberty.
“My fear is this: as we move further into the 21st century, Canadians, especially new generations, will forget or will not be taught the lessons hard learned and the victories hard earned over the last 100 years.
“That they will fall even further in love with ease and convenience.
“And that they will not understand that their rights and their advantages, their peace and their security, were won by people willing to live and die for what is good and right.
“That they will not appreciate how precious and rare our way of life here in Canada today truly is.
“And that they will not recognize these grave threats when they re-appear.
“What history has taught us is one clear thing: that the political ideologies that promise utopia lead to the opposite, hell on earth.
“That’s why Canada needs this monument, and why we are so grateful to the work of Tribute of Liberty that reminds us of the names and the stories of those lost to one of the deadliest ideological plagues ever spread, to communism.
“This monument is part of marking our path as a nation, and, thus, helping to ensure that we do not lose our way.
“Thank you very much.”
一块 发表于 2014-6-3 08:24 http://bbs.51.ca/images/common/back.gif
一块学习呀， 天天学， 日日学， 夜夜学 |
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楼主: 一块
狗仔卡
发表于 2014-6-19 16:20:56
显身卡
楼主
