A poem, a cadet captain and a missing poppy
A Hamilton cadet captain who cannot walk, Ottawa students who forgot their poppies, and a teachers' handbook that recasts the day as anti-war.
Article by Rebel News staff.
Every Remembrance Day, Ezra Levant reads the same poem on air: Rudyard Kipling's "Tommy," written in 1890 about the ordinary British soldier. This year, he says, the last line is harder to get through.
Ezra began with the four soldiers killed October 17 in a grass fire during a training exercise at CFB Wainwright: Sgt. Morgan Wong of Edmonton, Pte. Shaun Farrell of Prince Albert, Pte. Aidan Goulding of North Vancouver and Pte. Hayden Lykkemark of Langley.
Thirty-nine others were taken to hospital, 19 of them in critical condition. The country mourned them, Ezra said, but Kipling's poem is about the other days of the year.
One of those days was November 1.
Capt. Kenneth Kunkel, 59, commanding officer of the 826 Gryphon Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, was supervising two young cadets selling poppies outside a restaurant in Hamilton. Police say two boys blew an air horn into the cadets' ears, and that Estela Quintanilla, 48, then jumped in and assaulted Kunkel.
A boy then struck him several times, according to police. Kunkel had spinal surgery and cannot walk. A 12-year-old has been charged with assault. Quintanilla faces an aggravated assault charge. None of the allegations has been proven in court.
Quintanilla told Rebel News reporter David Menzies she was protecting the boys and did not trip or push Kunkel. Ezra said a grown woman's instinct was to side with the child holding the air horn. Premier Doug Ford has said the parents should be ashamed.
After the reading, Ezra argued that the word in Kipling's poem is "cheaper." Everything done to soldiers in peacetime is done because it costs less, he said, including what he described as offering veterans with PTSD assisted suicide instead of treatment.
He then showed a Drew Sylver street interview in Ottawa, where people were asked why they were not wearing a poppy. Several said they had forgotten. Some newcomers said nobody had explained it to them. A high school student said her school shows one video and does not discuss it, and that she wishes it did. Ezra said none of them were hostile. They were never told.
He recalled Don Cherry's 2019 poppy remarks, which got Cherry fired, and a Joe Warmington column this week finding poppies rare in downtown Toronto.
Ezra also pointed to a new World BEYOND War Canada handbook for teachers. By his reading, it has younger students making white poppies and peace posters, and older ones writing to their MPs about defence spending.
Ezra said the American veteran in the Ottawa video was right that nobody should be forced to wear a poppy, but argued nobody is. His closing ask was simple: tell one person what the poppy means.
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Ezra Levant
Rebel Commander
Ezra Levant is the founder and owner of Rebel News and the host of The Ezra Levant Show. He is the author of multiple best-selling books, including Ethical Oil, The Libranos, China Virus, and most recently, Trudeau's Secret Plan.
