Harper Announces Expansion of Junior Canadian Rangers

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced that a re-elected Conservative government would expand the number of Junior Canadian Rangers by 15% to 5,000. This expansion will be completed in time for the 20th anniversary of the permanent establishment of the Junior Canadian Rangers, in 2018.

Junior Canadian Rangers, aged 12-18, are taught traditional skills, life skills, and Ranger skills in 135 remote and isolated communities across Canada. The Junior Canadian Rangers are affiliated with the Canadian Rangers, who support national security and public safety objectives and act as the military’s eyes and ears in northern, coastal and isolated areas of Canada.

“The Canadian Rangers and Junior Canadian Rangers make a vital contribution to community safety and national sovereignty in Canada’s Northern and remote regions,” said Prime Minister Harper. “The Junior Canadian Rangers program also strengthens Northern families and communities, by giving youth a sense of responsibility, identity and loyalty.”

The Prime Minister also announced that as part of the Canadian Rangers rifle replacement program, a re-elected Conservative government will honour the Canadian Rangers by letting them keep their current Lee Enfield rifles.

“The new C-19 rifles will ensure that the Canadian Rangers are properly equipped to safeguard northern communities and to defend Northern sovereignty,” said Prime Minister Harper. “Their Lee-Enfield rifles will become a symbol of our nation’s gratitude for their dedication and commitment.”

The Prime Minister noted that both Thomas Mulcair and Justin Trudeau are oblivious to emerging threats facing Canada’s sovereignty and security, and are opposed to properly equipping those who stand in defence of our nation.

“We share the Arctic with a hostile state, unconcerned with international norms such as respect for territorial integrity,” said Prime Minister Harper. “Justin Trudeau’s alarming naïveté, and Thomas Mulcair’s dangerously ideological foreign policy, mean that they simply aren’t prepared to keep Canada safe.”

Source: http://www.conservative.ca/harper-announces-expansion-of-junior-canadian-rangers/

Photo: http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/