This morning I listened to a radio program about a proposed monument that prompted me to post twice on Facebook about it within a couple hours of the segment. Please see my posts below, shared in the order I wrote them, followed by pictures of the Cabot Trail, where backers of the monument want to see it erected.

I visited Cape Breton several times in the 1980s and ’90s, and wrote about those journeys here on this blog. View this pristine landscape and ponder the proposed statue. Given the Harper government’s propensity for reverting to the playbook of the George W. Bush administration, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re looking for a wedge issue here, something that can allow the militaristic prime minister, who will be running for re-election in 2015, to suggest that opponents of the statue are “against the troops.”