Statement from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on the Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge
Ottawa, ON – The Hon. Pierre Poilievre, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, released the following statement on the Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge:
“Before the break of dawn on Easter Monday, as gray clouds blanketed the skies, the blasts of artillery shells erupted to fill the air. They were more than the clamour that had enveloped those assembled over the long last three years. It was their signal.
“The four divisions of the Canadian Corps had gathered together for the first time holding in their hearts not defence of their home, but defence of common treasures – Peace, Justice, Faith, Hope. They heralded from varied communities across our vast country, stirred by its summons.
“At 5:30 am, that call of duty and honour propelled the first 15,000 of their ranks to rise from the trenches and storm the ridge. Joined by 97,000 of their brothers over four days, they fought against a torrent of enemy fire, steadily advancing eastward to push the German line as far back as 5km.
“Where our progenitor nations had failed, a Canada united in common cause had triumphed, at great cost. A day that dwarfed those which came before in magnitude of human bravery also surpasses those which have come after in sacrifice.
“In the love we bore for them, we erected our largest war memorial atop the ridge secured by the 3,598 Canadians who fell. Its grandeur humbling the living to our nation’s sons, lying in the fields from Flanders to Picardy, etched into its stone, ‘their name liveth for evermore.’”
“Lest we forget.”