Canadian valour on the beaches at....

[Assault (CAN) 1]

Anyone who took history in high school, or watched "Saving Private Ryan" or the "Band of Brothers" series, or simply picked up a history book would know that the Allies (US, UK, Canada) landed on the Normandy coast on June 6th 1944.

Apparently, our Prime Minister hasn't done any of these things:

<a href="http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1082036102773_62///?hub=Canada" target="_blank">

PM mistakenly recalls D-Day invasion of Norway</a>

Quote[/b] ]CTV.ca News Staff

Prime Minister Paul Martin is not afraid to rewrite Canada's military history. At least, that's how it appeared when he spoke to soldiers on Wednesday.

Addressing troops at CFB Gagetown outside Fredericton, N.B., Martin was recalling Canada's contribution to the 1944 liberation of Europe.

"Sixty years ago, Canadians were working alongside their British and American allies planning for the invasion of Norway and the liberation of Europe," Martin said without batting an eye.

In fact, the slip-up seemed to cause little stir throughout the room, even though it is a famous fact of history that Normandy, not Norway, was the scene of the famous landings.

Then, a few minutes later, Martin underscored his point.

"Today, it is every bit as important that Canada step forward -- just as we did during the invasion of Norway," he said.

Despite a distinction of at least 1,000 kilometres and two national identities, Martin's gaffe again went largely unacknowledged.

There were whispered murmurs among the prime minister's aides.

Martin's visit to CFB Gagetown -- the latest stop on a countrywide campaign-style swing -- was the first by a Prime Minister. In his speech, Martin went on to outline his military priorities.

"The purpose of today was to put the role our armed services play, domestically and internationally, into context," he said.

I'm not kidding, and this isn't the first time this has happened either. A few months back, our defence minister talked about how Canada earned its name on the battelfields of VICHY! (Vimy was the actual place, for those of you not in the 'know')

All of that in front of soldiers to boot.

And if that wasn't enough, Wal-Mart Canada (yes, WAL MART!, the corporation founded in the U.S.) raised $8 million for the Juneau beach centre while the Canadian government put up a paltry $1 million.

Proof that the liberal government doesn't give a flying f*ck about Canada's military, past or present.

Tyler

[DracoPaladore 0]

Our leaders seem to mix up over the most simplist things.

[ralphwiggum 6]

and I thought Cretien was bad...

[Cpt. FrostBite 0]

If I recall correctly (and I do) than there were a few attacks on narway and I think at least one large scale commando attack. Perhaps Canadian forces were among the commandos on these raids.

And of course we must not forget that the allies wanted the germans to think the actual invasion was going to be in Norway. They actually created a whole fleet (only on paper) that was talked about on radio when they knew germans were listening. That made Hitler pull 30000 troops away from the front-line and place them in Norway (Where they would be completely useless and would not have been able to be placed back in the front lines in france and russia on short notice).

So perhaps your PM read the wrong parts of the history books and mixed the two facts to come up with his own version.

[theavonlady 2]

Nothing a little callibration south couldn't resolve.

[Gollum1 0]

Oh. My. God.

[Assault (CAN) 1]

Quote[/b] ]So perhaps your PM read the wrong parts of the history books and mixed the two facts to come up with his own version.

I doubt it.

Read the article more closely, you can see he was supposed to say Normandy.

Besides, our PM isn't that smart.

[SpongeBob 0]

What a fucking noob prime minister.

[Winters 1]

Ahhh yes, i remember the Invasion of Norway quite well. It took place shortly after the Invasion of Little Italy

[SpongeBob 0]

Ahhh yes, i remember the Invasion of Norway quite well. It took place shortly after the Invasion of Little Italy  

Does anyone know if the Invasion of Norway was before or after the failed Diip invasion?  You know the one, there was onion diip all over the beach, and they ran out of chips?

... but to say Norway once in his speech, alright, he might be thinking Normandy but it came out Norway.... I'll give him that one. But to say Norway a 2nd time a few minutes later... that's just careless.

[theavonlady 2]

Does anyone know if the Invasion of Norway was before or after the failed Diip invasion?  You know the one, there was onion diip all over the beach, and they ran out of chips?

/avon reads in amusement while noshing on a dunkirk doughnut

[somebloke 0]

Want some Grilled Gurkha after that donut avon?

[red oct 2]

I'm not kidding, and this isn't the first time this has happened either. A few months back, our defence minister talked about how Canada earned its name on the battelfields of VICHY!   (Vimy was the actual place, for those of you not in the 'know')

All of that in front of soldiers to boot.

And if that wasn't enough, Wal-Mart Canada (yes, WAL MART!, the corporation founded in the U.S.) raised $8 million for the Juneau beach centre while the Canadian government put up a paltry $1 million.

Proof that the liberal government doesn't give a flying f*ck about Canada's military, past or present.  

Tyler

i did read a article about Canada's military hasn't been looking in the best of shape, i figured it was maybe exaggerated up till now, the article said things like there being more officiers, than regulars, recruits getting payed while waiting for basic training.

[jgk6 0]

Argh! I can't take the punishment in this thread...

[Pathy 0]

My grandad was in Norway. Professional soldier before the war, served in India, then stationed in France at the outbreak, then Dunkirk, then Norway.

, then France again.

But still, Norway was hardly D-Day.......(although he got so used to eating old and hard bread that he would ONLY eat bread that had been left to go stale  when he got home )

[stgn 39]

Maby he is one of those guys that think we speak Deutch(did I spell it right?) in Denmark we speak Danish thank u. But unestly its too bad when you dont read up on what your are saying.

STGN

[Apollo 0]

Canadians liberated my hometown twice ,in WW1 and WW2 ,well they especially lost a hughe amount of men on our fields in WW1.Canadians are pretty respected over here ,then again many of them come here as tourists to visit war graves ,so they liberated us twice and now they regulary spend money here.We love Canadians.

In a way we respect Canadians more that the U.S for their war effort.In both wars they were fighting for us at day one (wich cant be said of the U.S) ,and compared to the U.S they send a far larger percentage of their total manpower to Europe than the U.S did ,and most importantly compared to some Americans they arn't acting like they liberated the whole world all by theirselfs.

There are a number of Canadians living here to ,my baseball coach is Canadian.

In any case ,they deserve more respect than this little absurd episode.

[somebloke 0]

the americans don't treat canadians with respect, or as they'd put "little america people" (not all americans just the really stupid ones)

[Winters 1]

Hey guys lighten up!!

You don't know Americans as well as you think and besides the same can be said about the way other countries treat their neighbors. Nobody here is disrespecting the contributions made by Canada during the 2 world wars, we are just having a little fun with the PM's flub. I was laughing my butt off when Bob Kerrey kept calling the NSA Dr. Clarke during her 9/11 testimony and how many times have we heard jokes about Pres. Bush talking about "The Call of Doody"?

It's all in good fun  

[DracoPaladore 0]

You don't know Americans

Then you've never been a Canadian in the United States. You'd be surprised as to how 'respectful' they can be.

Not much, and I can say that with experience and first hand accounts.

[red oct 2]

BS, a lot of my fathers side of the family are canadian and im not treated any differently, and don't act like any of you are any better. friends of mine who went up north told me they weren't exactly greeted w/ a warm welcome by any french canadians. and this was way before Bush ever got into the white house.

[Assault (CAN) 1]

Quote[/b] ]friends of mine who went up north told me they weren't exactly greeted w/ a warm welcome by any french canadians.

Tell them not to worry about it.

The French Canadians hate EVERYONE!

They hate the French, they hate English Canadians, they hate Americans. They even hate people in their own province who speak different kinds of French.  

You just can't win with those people.  

Quote[/b] ]Canadians liberated my hometown twice ,in WW1 and WW2

What's the name of your town?

[Winters 1]

You don't know Americans

Then you've never been a Canadian in the United States. You'd be surprised as to how 'respectful' they can be.

Not much, and I can say that with experience and first hand accounts.

As i said this happens everywhere, my friends went to Canada and got treated like criminals, is that showing your respect?

Edit: I get disrespected on occasions myself and i just let it go. Jerks are everywhere.

[DracoPaladore 0]

You don't know Americans

Then you've never been a Canadian in the United States. You'd be surprised as to how 'respectful' they can be.

Not much, and I can say that with experience and first hand accounts.

As i said this happens everywhere, my friends went to Canada and got treated like criminals, is that showing your respect?

Edit: I get disrespected on occasions myself and i just let it go. Jerks are everywhere.

I never said it didn't happen up here or that we were superior in any way.