November 11 is a time of sombre remembrance in Canada. It is a time when we stop to remember the steep sacrifices that our nation and every nation has made through the scourge of war.

Most of our Remembrance Day traditions stem from the First World War which saw the highest level of Canadian casualties of any conflict before or since. Roughly 67,000 Canadians lost their lives in that war. That’s about the size of Moose Jaw.

But it’s more than that. Sometimes in economics they talk about the “multiplier effect” of economic activity but they don’t apply that analysis very often to war losses. Four generations have come and gone since the First World War. If each of those generations had two children, then that means the deaths of those 67,000 Canadians contributed to over a million Canadians never being born.

How many doctors would have come out of that million people? How many engineers, artists, scientists, inspiring teachers or skilled tradespeople? The loss inflicted by war to our nation and to each of our lives can’t be measured by numbers alone.

As citizens Canada, we have so much for which to be thankful. We have been blessed with a wealth of natural resources. We have productive farms and vibrant cities. We have opportunities to learn, grow and prosper that are only limited by our imagination. And we have freedom: freedom to choose where we live; freedom to choose our life’s work; freedom to choose our government.

These blessings did not come about on their own. We have paid for them and we continue to pay for them.

We can never forget to be grateful to the soldiers and families who have born the brunt of this cost but we should also remember that war’s waste of life robs all our lives.

We Canadians should be proud that we have never been an aggressor and that we have always been quick to come to the support of others in need. We should be proud of what our troops are doing in Afghanistan where the people live under a constant threat of violence and a return to Taliban oppression.

But we should never forget that war is the worst solution to any problem.

This Remembrance Day, I ask all the constituents of Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre to join with me in honouring the duty, courage and loyalty of our Canadian troops and mourning the sacrifices our country continues to make in pursuit of the best and highest ideals.