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Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Sunday asked the country's Governor General to dissolve parliament and call its third general election in four years.
Over that same period, Canadian forces in Afghanistan have paid a heavy price, watching nearly a hundred troops and one diplomat come home in coffins draped in the Maple Leaf.
Every time a soldier dies, thousands line a main Ontario freeway - renamed the Highway of Heroes - watching the sad cortege pass by.
Since the days of Lester B. Pearson, Canada has had a long and proud tradition as a nation of peacekeepers. That tradition needs to be maintained, not sullied as an election issue.
The country's voters, however, should focus on how to revive its stalling economy, cut inflation, provide meaningful tax cuts, reduce carbon emissions, and define its relationship with the US and the new leadership there after November.
Its troops serving gallantly overseas do not need to become political fodder.
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