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Western Desk

Go Ahead, Make Your Day

Paint your face, fly the flag, drink lots of beer, let a Canada Goose bite your finger. The great thing about living in Canada is no one holds a gun to your head, makes you march on Main street, or sing patriotic songs. Do what you want. It’s a free country, eh?

    Canada Day is a lot of things to a lot of people. That’s because we are a lot of different people. But one thing that binds us from sea to shining sea, despite those homemade wedgies Canadians give themselves now and again,  like same sex marriage,  just so we have something else to talk about other than the weather, is that we are proud of our country. All the surveys leading up to July 1^st, tell us we are proud about something.

     Younger people like living in a country where they feel people, are treated fairly. We stand up for the rights of others. Across generations, what makes Canadians proud is when we win big in sports, and the rest of the world might see us as slow burners with long teeth but once in a while we let them know, Canadians can kick ass too! Just like in the war. That is important to a lot of older people, our military and our achievements.

      The quiet Canadians. Maybe that’s why we get respect in the rest of the world. We don’t gush with national pride all the time. For a while there, the definition of a Canadian was about as elusive as what the definition of marriage should be now. Peacekeepers? Yah, okay. We make good beer? Yep, that too.  Maple Syrup, the Mounties and the Maple Leafs? You betcha!

It’s a fact that when we travel to other countries around the world, some people like us because we are not Americans.  But more people on the planet are liking us, because they find out we are Canadians. Not hyphenated-Canadians….just someone who lives in Canada. And despite what they might know, or not know about Canada, they are glad to meet you. And treat you pretty good. And to look up their cousin who must live in the same village of igloos you do.

If the bears, don’t eat you first. Because you carry bacon, in your back pocket. And you can’t be serious, that’s not real money! But jokes aside…we’re getting a rep. They’ve heard of us.

And this is what the world should hear…..

“I am Canadian!”

Kind of fitting it took a beer company to fire up our national pride. And we invented a lot of things too. Like radio.

That’s a good thing because on the talk show I do every year on Canada Day I got to meet Murray Lewis, on the line from Montreal, this time around. He’s the editor in chief of  Our Canada.  It’s a relatively new mag on the rack, born about 18 months ago. It’s mission…to go where no Canadian has gone before….Canada.

To celebrate Canada, to let people read, and write and take pictures of things they are proud of in their own backyard, and get them published. No political stories and no debates on the issues.

 And people like it! They like it so much that some of them book vacations around a story about a place or a picture someone submitted, to go see it.

     That to me, was one of the things, causing us all that angst for so long of what it meant to be Canadian. We missed being fascinated with our own country and our own people. Like the “ cosmic dumper ” as Trudeau was once called  when he raised his finger, not the flag, and once quipped that Canadians were so NIMBY, not Bobby Gimby ( you remember that, don’t you? Caaaa-naaaa-daaa…one little, two little..) that Not In My BackYard attitude, missing the vision of our country. Regional rats fighting over the biggest piece of cheese. Well, I get the feeling we are now on to bigger and better cheddar,

and it’s Canadian, and we know it. We love it.

 So make your Canada Day…..whatever you want. Join in the festivities, paint your face,

fly the flag, you can’t dress up in enough red and white and Maple Leafs. Go to the football

game, go shopping, go to the lake. Haul your lawnchair to the best spot to see the fireworks

from, two hours early. In Quebec, spend the day moving. In Alberta and Saskatchewan spend

the day celebrating the Centennials and Canada Day. Take a homeless person to lunch, help

someone with a flooded basement, go to Barrie and tell Sir Bob Geldoff to take a homeless

person to lunch, salute something, be happy at work. Stop complaining, talk about something

else other then the weather, say “ eh?” at the end of every sentence if you want to.

Face Toronto and say a prayer, sleep all day, party all night. Don’t be nationalistically-

challenged, wish everyone you meet a Happy Canada Day, and hope they have a great one.

 You are a Canadian! Get over it…..