Happy Canada Day

:ca: HAPPY CANADA DAY EVERYBODY :ca:



I just received this email. Hope you all enjoy being Canadian today !!!


On this, our nation's birthday, we celebrate our pride of place as a rambunctious fledgling on the world stage, at least by demographic and historical standards.

Our vast 10 million square kilometres, girded by three oceans and also by the most powerful nation on Earth, is populated by a mere 32 million people, most of them border dwellers and many of them newcomers themselves.

Yet, despite our youth, we are universally recognized as a diverse resolute country of admirable character, a land peopled with the descendants of native Indians, stoic pioneers, and new generations of grateful immigrants.

We're a respected global peacekeeper, and rich in assets, from our bountiful resources to our big thinkers.

And ours is a healthy democracy with an energetic citizenship that holds fast and true to the open secret that Canada is the best place on earth to live.

Here are some utterly subjective, in-no-particular-order reasons to love Canada......


1. The toque. For inventing hat hair, Canuck-style.

2. Joni Mitchell. The Prairie priestess of poetry. For singing Butterbox Babies and A Case of You.

3. Tim Hortons. For brewing coffee that tastes as good as it smells. And for chocolate sour cream Timbits.

4. Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Because he could do handsprings, and drove a gull-wing Mercedes roadster. Because he made us think about what our country means to us.

5. Polar bears. Big, white, beautiful.

6. The anti-gun rack. In which our pickup trucks carry umbrellas, not automatic weapons.

7. McIntosh apple. That sweet crunch was brought to you by Ontario's Johnny (Appleseed) McIntosh, in 1796.

8. Wayne Gretzky. You don't have to be a hockey fan to call the pride of Brantford a great athlete, and one classy guy.

9. Salmon. Our iconic survivor.

10. Greenpeace. For raising global environmental consciousness, and for saving whales.

11. Paul Anka. From Puppy Love to (You're) Having My Baby, the smooth Ottawa-born crooner has done it his way.

12. Agnes McPhail. Here's to the leader of the pack: The first woman elected to Parliament, in 1921.

13. Bill Reid. World-renowned Haida artist and touchstone of a vibrant, cherished native culture.

14. Perogies. Smothered with butter, fried onions and sour cream. Thank you, old country.

15. The Canadian Shield. Impenetrable and massive, this central Canadian layer of igneous rock and coniferous forest is our protective shell.

16. Snow. Because we can't control it. And can't stop talking about it.

17. Cindy Klassen. Speed skater extraordinaire, her six Olympic medals are the most won by a Canadian.

18. The Maple Leaf. Our flag, bold and graphically spare, makes the heart swell.

19. Finola Hackett. Because she's gracious and can spell poiesis. And she's only 15 so giving us hope for the next generation.

20. Arthur Erickson. He lives in a backyard Eden, but his buildings are all business, stark and purposeful.

21. Melting pot. Our ethnic soup does not always make for a smooth multicultural mix, but mostly it works.


:ca:

Nice post Rainbow!

You guys are good!

I was JUST about to post a Happy Canada Day thread!

Sooo...I 'd like to wish all our dear members mods and guests Happy Canada day!! :ca: :ca: ...eh?

I've said this before...but just living in this amazing country is a true blessing and a true gift...especially given the plight of the majority of people in this world that through no fault of their own - were born in 3rd world or poor countries where their struggle is 1000x harder than ours.

So yAy Canada our home and native land...You rock and so do most of the amazing citizens in your country. Let's have a couple of beers today ay, and remember what a great beautiful country we live in!

Best!

Marko

HAPPY CANADA DAY

:ca: Happy Canada Day!

I hope everyone has a great day, drive safely if you are out celebrating and have FUN! Eh!!!!!

:ca:

......wherever you are, I hope you are getting better weather than Ottawa! We will top out at 16 degrees, cloudy, windy, rainy!!!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!

Happy Canada day everyone !!! :ca:

And Marko , you are so right about this : especially given the plight of the majority of people in this world that through no fault of their own - were born in 3rd world or poor countries where their struggle is 1000x harder than ours.

I'm thankfull everyday !

And you are right about having a couple of beers today to celebrate , yippeee ! http://bestsmileys.com/drinking/8.gif

Happy Canada Day
from me and my furries as well:ca:

We had a cloudy, very cool day in Ottawa, but the Snowbirds did their thing! It always amazes me when I see and hear them fly over. We are very lucky, we live just outside of Ottawa and they seem to do their turn abouts right over our house! On a sunny day, it's even better!

I've only seen them once and I loved watching them. :thumbs up We were very lucky to get them in our little town. :o I heard they came because our airport is one of the most difficult in the world to land at because of the mountains. In fact, the PM's jet was here all last week practising landing and taking off. I hope we're lucky emough to get the Snowbirds back again. :fingerscr

I just got another "Canada Day" email which kind of explains our national holiday to our friends south of the border.....


CANADA DAY


As the USA prepares for their July 4th celebrations, very few of those planning parties or weekend trips are aware of the significance of July 1st to their northern neighbors.

I moved from Canada to the USA in the fall of 1999 and was shocked to learn, few Americans knew anything about Canada Day. In Canada, we all knew about July 4th. It's just common knowledge.

Today, July 1st, 2007, Canada will celebrate its 140th birthday......140 years of confederation.

The people of Canada celebrate it the same as Americans celebrate their "big day" - parties, parades, fireworks, cookouts, and trips. We love our day and our country.

Canada Day celebrates events that occurred on July 1, 1867, when the British North America Act created the Canadian federal government. The BNA Act proclaimed "one Dominion under the name of Canada," hence the original title of the holiday, "Dominion Day." In 1982, the name was officially changed to "Canada Day."

While writing this tribute to my adopted country, I decided to gather some information on Canada to pass on to those who read my stories. A lot of it I knew, but there were a few things I didn't know. For instance, I found it interesting to learn that.....

Canadians eat more Kraft© Macaroni and Cheese per capita than any other
nation.

Canada has more donut shops per capita than any other nation in the world, but also the fifth least amount of police per capita. I guess this means Canadian police eat a heck of a lot more donuts.

Canadians are noted as beer drinkers - I do not do my part. Surprisingly, I learned in my research, we are actually rated 16th in beer consumption. The Czech republic has us beat by a long shot. I call on all Canadians to correct
this wrong.

Canada is the second largest country in the world, second to Russia. However, it's the 9th least populated. It has a population of thirty-three million people, one million less than the state of California.

Most of Canada is wood or farmland. The far northern sections are frozen
tundra. The majority of the population lives along the east and west coasts, on the edge of the major rivers, and of course the Great Lakes. Our forefathers settled these areas hundreds of years ago, because the waters
provided food.

There are five and a half time zones in Canada. A half you ask? That's because Newfoundland, which only joined the federation in 1949, to make Canada what it is today, is in a half time zone. Newfoundland, (but not Labrador), lies squarely in the eastern half of its time zone, exactly three and a half hours from Greenwich. The Newfoundland government attempted to bring the province into conformity with the other Atlantic provinces in 1963, but withdrew in the face of stiff public opposition. Other countries that operate on the half hour time difference are: Suriname, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, and Central Australia.

Canada has the 6th best standard of living. In spite of their love of Kraft© Dinner and donuts, it is a great place to raise a family.

We, also, have the largest surface area of fresh water, which one day may be more valuable than oil and natural gas.

Many people, from the U.S. ask me if Canada is mostly French speaking. I found the statistics in my research. In a survey of what people considered their "Mother Tongue," it was found that 59% of Canadians were English speaking, 23% French, and 18% had either more than one "Mother Tongue," or a "Mother Tongue" other than English or French.

Canada and the USA are sisters. We share rivers, lakes, lands and the air itself, just as true sisters share the same genes. As Americans hit the road
for their July the 4TH weekend plans, I ask them to please raise a cheer for their northern sister on her birthday.

Canadians will do the same on July 4th for their southern sister.

Let's all have a little extra Kraft© dinner and a donut, and definitely don't forget the beer.

I was just wondering what Canada Day celebrated, and know I know! :thumbs up :ca: It's always printed as a holiday on calendars, but they don't teach us about it in school or anything. (In fact I was taught basically nothing about Canada in school, except that we called it "our friendly neighbors to the north"!) My great-grandparents were Canadian, so I'm glad to learn more (I wonder if they had kraft macaroni back then. :D )

Glad to hear that at least you learned we're the "friendly neighbours to the north". :D