Lennie
Gallant, Canyon entertain troops on visit with Peter MacKay
By
Sean Kelly
The Evening News - New Glasgow
When
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay paid a visit to Canadian
troops in Afghanistan this past week, he brought along another
of Pictou County's best-known ambassadors.
George Canyon was admittedly groggy when we reached him in Halifax
yesterday. It's hard to fault him for it – especially
when you consider his schedule.
He had just returned from a two-day trip halfway around the
world preceded by a two-day visit to armed forces posted in
the country.
He received the call from MacKay last Sunday.
"It didn't really fit into my schedule at the time –
but I finished the show I was playing in Calgary and hopped
on a plane," Canyon said.
Two days later, aboard a Hercules aircraft, Canyon was flying
toward Kandahar.
"It was an experience just flying in there – flying
low over the mountains, wearing a helmet and a flak jacket."
With Canyon were singer/songwriter Lennie Gallant as well as
MacKay's Liberal and NDP counterparts, Bryon Wilfert and Alexa
MacDonough.
"Politics aside, we should proud of Peter. The guy's doing
an amazing job and he really cares and really gives his whole
heart."
Canyon said he'd had been hoping for a chance to visit the Middle
Eastern country for the past several months.
"I wanted to do something, instead of just watching it
on television," Canyon said.
The group spent two days in the country, first in Kandahar and
then in Kabul.
"These men and women have so much courage and dedication.
They just go about their lives as if it were any normal day."
But when you're there, he said, "your whole body goes into
high alert."
It was a trip he said he'd gladly make again.
"We are actually trying to plan it right now," he
said.
In the interim, Canyon said he has made arrangements to send
over copies of his last CD.
Highlights for Gallant included having a chance to play for
the troops, but more importantly having a chance to speak to
the officers, to speak to the troops and learn some of the lesser-known
stories many of them had to tell. For instance, he said there
are now traffic control officers on the streets of Kabul where
before there were none. Young women and girls are now given
the opportunity to go to school.
Gallant said it was some of the smaller stories which meant
the most for the troops.
"We packed a lot into two days."
"I feel they have a sense that what they're doing is making
a difference – that they're working to make it a better
place."
