It's the 94th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, the battle which is now widely described, at least in English Canada, as the Birth of the Canadian Nation.
Although what they don't tell you is that many, if not most of the soldiers, charged up that ridge to show their colonial overlords that they were more British than the British.
And the only people calling themselves Canadians back in those days were the Canadiens.
But whatever, myths are myths, facts are inconvenient. And the historical truth that this nation was born of the genius of compromise not confrontation, is just too BORING.
Even though ignoring who you are, or pretending to be what you are not, can have catastrophic consequences for a country like Canada.
So on this solemn occasion, I thought I'd have a little quiz. And ask you to decide what military recruiting ad strikes you as more Canadian.
This one.
Or this one.
It's funny eh? If that guy with a tuque wasn't speaking Swedish, I would have thought he was Canadian.
My guess is after trying to be more British than the British, we stumbled upon our identity as peacekeepers and compromisers, only to give it up because it was too boring. So then we tried to be more American than the Americans.
And now we don't know who we are. And the only thing that holds this country together is its hatred of Quebec. Which of course in the end will destroy it.
Oh boy. I was hoping that this election would draw a clear line between the Canadian values we used to cherish, and Stephen Harper's Amerikan ones.
But if you don't know who you are, or what you are becoming, where do you draw that line? And if you don't recognize the real enemy.
How can you defeat it?
Recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.
