Happy Canada Day, Canada!

Well, it is officially a stat holiday here in Canada, thanks to the annual return of Canada Day. Which has something to do with either Canada’s birthday (maybe??), or Canada’s landmark claim to officially owning the first of July.

As is the case most every Canada Day, aside from the last 40 or so, I’d like to take a few moments to reflect on some of the things that make Canada stand so tall as a country, without even needing Tom Cruise™ elevator shoes. Except maybe in those short little Atlantic provinces…

1) The Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Is there any police service in the world as instantly recognizable as the RCMP? No, really – I want to know. These guys put on a red jacket, and get on those horses, and you’d think the pope was in town. Would they stand so majestically if they had to mount Segways?

2) “Eh”. Sigh… Yes, the bane of our existence as Canadians. Like most parts of America, each different region of Canada has varied local accents and inflections, but the whole world knows us by “eh”. Eh is the period of our sentences, eh?

3) Moose. I just don’t get this one. Every time we travel, people are always so excited to say they were in Canada once, and they saw a moose. Every time, eh? Aren’t there moose in the rest of the world? By the way, I have photos available, if you’d like to retain a bit of Canadian moose…

4) Hockey. Sadly, hockey here has taken a beating lately. Our teams rarely manage to advance in the Stanley Cup playoffs these days, and we recently had a major scandal with the long-running Hockey Night In Canada theme song. Maple leaves are hanging at half-mast on some trees. Oh well, there’s always lacrosse…

5) Celine Dion. The one bright and shining star that Canadians can always rely upon, our international chest-thumping ambassador to the world. Currently on a major world concert tour, Celine’s broken English lets the rest of the world know that Canada doesn’t just lie somewhere out there between America and Greenland. Or, maybe it does…

Chow for now!!