There are 70,000 active regular force military personnel.
There are 30,000 active reserve force military personnel.
As of 2003 there were 309,000 living veterans.
In 2008, 13,929,093 votes were cast.
Now let's assume that each active military personnel and veteran have 2 people that love and care about them. Oh and let's also assume those people vote. Vote in a manner that is sympathetic to their patriotic loved one.
So we have 409,000 active and retired military voters with another 818,000 people who love them and could be persuaded to vote in a way that benefits aforementioned loved ones.
That is 1,227,000 voters - roughly 10 percent of actual voters.
Can you really afford to alienate that many people?
Because if there is even a grain of truth to the story about the Conservative government manipulating budgets to cut costs at Veterans Affairs, none of you deserve to be where you are.
Mr. MacKay, next Mother's Day don't send an email to my husband asking him to extend your best wishes to me for my support of his service. Mr. Blackburn save your apologies. Mr. Harper, save your platitudes.
Make no mistake - check the stats on voter turnout for military personnel and their families. Go on. Get one of your assistants to check with their counterparts at StatsCan.
Do you think what you're doing - and not doing - isn't noticed? Do you think that a Conservative vote is a shoo in for someone who serves or has served their country?
Let me tell you something about every soldier I know. They may be good at taking orders but they are even better at thinking for themselves and on their feet. It's the survival instinct that has been drilled into them.
Just how do you think this Conservative government is tapping into that instinct?
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