06.26.2012 12:00 AM

In today’s Sun: tarnished medal

The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the governor general informs us on a slick vice-regal website, is “a new commemorative medal … created to mark the 2012 celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the Throne as Queen of Canada.”

The medal, enthused the GG, “is a tangible way for Canada to honour Her Majesty for her service to this country. At the same time, it serves to honour significant contributions and achievements by Canadians.”

How nice! How “tangible!” In all, around 60,000 Canadians will receive the shiny silver medals, which have a likeness of the Queen on one side, and her insignia and some maple leafs on the reverse side. To get one, you need to be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, you need to have made “a significant contribution” to the country, and you needed to be alive as of February of this year.

It also doesn’t hurt, apparently, if you are a Conservative Party hack, a separatist, a banker, a conservative tax lobbyist, a conservative cheerleader, or even a member of an organization with links to white supremacy and homophobia.

Many people who have received the medals are deserving of recognition, of course. But others associated with the medals don’t deserve them, at all.
Here’s a sampling:

9 Comments

  1. Brammer says:

    Another indicator of the monarchy’s irrelevance.

  2. Cynical says:

    I don’t know which is more depressing: Warren’s piece or the bitter and twisted commentary that follows. Serves me right for reading the Sun.

  3. Anne Peterson says:

    I was very sad when I realized the new Governor General was a tacky little man who would do his boss’s bidding. Just one more piece of evidence.

  4. W.B. says:

    Remember when the GG turned out gung ho to lend the stature of the Queen to the tacky little ‘mission accomplished’ photo op fly past by a few jets to celebrate that little fish in a barrel war called Libya. No members of the real public just a staged North Korean style show designed to deify the great leader. It was probably organized by the woman who heads up the PC election team and gets a medal. So the head cook at MacDonalds get free fries. Big deal.

  5. dave says:

    Oh, let it go…to the victor go the spoils…Atilla did it, Ghendis Khan did it, the Crusaders did it…even the Nazis did it…What’s the sense of sacrificing everything for power if you don’t divvy the booty with your spear carriers!

  6. Tim Sullivan says:

    At a meeting I was at with a certain MP a few months ago, he mentioned he was handed the distastful and unrequested, non-statutory obligation of dolling out these medals. While he was pleased there could be some recognition for deserving people, he feared, as we all did at the meeting, that the Cons were judt pumping the nation full of more Queeny things.

    Without objective criteria or a non-partisan decision-maker, these who doll them out, receive them, and whose name is on them, and who thought it them, are debased.

    Perhaps the Bloc MPs are the only honourable Honourable Members.

  7. Eric says:

    This kind of nonsense happens every few years … Canada 125, Queen’s 50th … commemorative medals that do not recognize valour, service or bravery … it doesn’t matter which party is in power ….it mostly goes to show that medals should only be presented to and worn by men and women who wear a uniform on which to pin them.

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