It’s hard to believe my country will be 150 years old on July 1st. I feel privileged to be around to witness this milestone. In fact, this will be the only big Canadian birthday that many of us will be around to experience. When Canada reaches its bicentennial in 2067, I will be in my eighties (if I’m lucky to live that long). Only our children and grandchildren will shall be fortunate enough to witness Canada’s big 2-0-0!
I’m proud to be Canadian. On July 1st, I will walk around wearing a Canadian flag like a cape. I don’t know exactly what I’ll be doing that day. I wish I could be in Ottawa with the masses for the big fireworks, but sadly that will not be possible. So in honour of Canada’s 150th birthday, I’d like to share 25 things I love about Canada. I wanted to share 150 things, but I realized that I would likely repeat myself, and while 150 things is great, it’s a pretty long list! I’m sure your eyes would be glazing over after 50 things!
So here it is, 25 things I love about Canada:
- Diversity
- Democracy
- Tim Horton’s coffee
- Vancouver – my all-time favorite Canadian city
- Pierre Elliott Trudeau – probably our greatest prime minister!
- Snow
- International food in grocery stores
- The wilderness
- Alexander Keith’s beer
- People waving car flags during the European Championship and World Cup
- Ketchup chips
- Salmon
- Michael Bublé
- John Candy
- Hockey
- Maple syrup
- Government regulated salaries
- Roots clothing
- Rideau Canal – the world’s largest skating rink
- CN Tower
- Niagara Falls
- Toonie (our two-dollar coin)
- Mr. Sub (Canadian version of Subway)
- Canada Goose (the bird, not the parka)
- How we embrace newcomers and let them be who they want to be!
Happy birthday Canada!!
I’ll add a few more to give the list a bit of a western slant:
– Banff National Park
– Dinosaur Provincial Park
– Helmcken Falls in Wells Gray Provincial Park
– Fossils in the Burgess Shale, Yoho National Park
– Mount Robson
– Islands & mountains on the BC Coast seen from the air
– Totem poles & NW Coast Native art in general