I've heard tell it's been broken since, but:
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20070425_112319_9404Record-breaking snipers were treated fairly: Canadian Forces ombudsman
Report dismisses claims that award-winning sharpshooters were hung out to dry
hey were the first Canadian troops to taste combat in Afghanistan. It was March 2002, back when 9/11 was still fresh and Canada’s coffin count was still zero. For nine days and nine nights, a team of Edmonton army snipers marched up and down the infamous Shahikot Valley, hunting al-Qaeda fighters and destroying enemy hideouts. By the time Operation Anaconda was over, the Canadian sharpshooters had reset the bar of their elite profession. One member of the unit—Cpl. Rob Furlong—broke the all-time combat record, killing another man from 2,430 m away.
They were the toast of the base. “Like rock stars,” said one fellow soldier. The Americans who worked beside them were so impressed with the snipers’ handiwork that they nominated all five men for the coveted Bronze Star medal. Yet within days, their heroics were forgotten, overshadowed by gruesome allegations that two of the snipers—Master Cpl. Graham Ragsdale and Cpl. Arron Perry—sliced a finger off an enemy corpse. The accusation never panned out; after a 10-month probe, the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (NIS) said there wasn’t enough evidence to lay criminal charges. But the damage was already done. Furlong, Perry and Ragsdale were on their way out of the army, convinced, to this day, that the Forces had hung them out to dry.
I actually don't recall hearing about the incident so don't have an opinion about what happened or didn't happen. I would have hoped our military had learned its lesson after the horrorshow put on by the Airborne in Somalia and the millions of dollars spent investigating that one ...
And of course there's always good old Linda Thom. Haven't heard a peep out of her right-wing mouth for a while.
http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/shooting/story/2008/05/05/f-olympics-shooting-history.htmlWhile shooting remains an amateur sport with a limited following in Canada, it did have its 15 minutes of fame during the 1952 Olympics, thanks to George Genereux, a young Saskatoon marksman. Canada had two silver medals to its credit and was despairing of winning gold in any sport when the 17-year-old Genereux beat the entire field by just one target in the trap event.
His gold medal not only brought instant fame, but for his achievement he was named Canadian Athlete of the Year, beating out the likes of hockey great Gordie Howe.
Canada's last Olympic shooting medal was Linda Thom's gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Games in the air pistol event.
Five-time Olympian Susan Nattrass turned in Canada’s best performance in women’s trap shooting with a sixth place finish at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens.
Frankly, I think the thing is that there really just isn't much interest in the sport here. This is one of the most urban nations in the world, and urbanites just don't tend to take up shooting sports. I'd also suspect that it isn't a pastime historically practised by the cultures many of our immigrants come from, and with about 1 in 5 Canadians being non-native born and all, that would be another strike against it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_ThomIn the 1995 Ontario general election, she ran as a Progressive Conservative against Dalton McGuinty for the riding of Ottawa South but was defeated.
McGuinty is Premier of Ontario now, of course.
We don't go in for negative campaigning up here, but when we do, it's pretty funny. This is Dalton:
Separated at birth? --
Dalton gets called Norman a lot. But the best was the Conservative email that leaked out.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030912.wonta0912/BNStory/National/The bizarre insult, contained in a statement e-mailed to media representatives shortly before lunchtime, immediately deflected attention from the health-care agenda that the Conservatives had hoped to pitch Friday.
"Dalton McGuinty," the statement said. "He's an evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet."
"I'm not apologizing, but I am acknowledging that it certainly went over the top," <Conservative Leader Ernie Eves> said. "Somebody had a weird sense of humour and we will try to ensure that it doesn't happen again. We'll give the (staff) less coffee."
All grist for the Guns forum, I guess.