Happy Dominion Day

How can I explain why I don't like Canada day without sounding like a mean-spirited grump? I don't think I can. I guess I'm a mean-spirited grump. But I'll try.

I was just watching CBC kids this morning ("Hi CBC kids! What a great day, isn't it CBC kids? We're your annoying peppy hosts that you'll have to suffer through between programs, because commercials are bad but most of the programs we show don't fill their time slot. So how about another really crappy song? Okay, CBC kids?") and they had a special Canada Day song and video. It was as if you took the worst of Can-con schmaltz and distilled it to a lethal concentration. Soaring, painfully earnest lyrics, sung by a precisely-constructed, multi-cultural choir, mixed with shots of people in canoes, standing next to totem poles, and assorted other 'Canadiana'. About a minute of it was all I could take, but it just kept going. I was forced to change channels while we waited for Zooboomafoo to start to preserve my sanity.

Canada day for me is like that video. It tries too hard. It's insecure. It's embarrassing. All that government-sponsered flag-waving is flat-out Orwellian. It gives me the creeps.

Canada is a great country and I don't think there's anywhere I'd rather live. My wife and I frequently reflect on how lucky we are to be here. But we use today to have a barbecue, have some drinks with friends, relax. But taking part in the great nationalist religious service sponsored by the feds in every town -- it just gives me the willys.

But having said that, here's my kids waving our government-issue flags. Aren't they cute?

Update: Mark Steyn has a good little rant up on this subject.

Posted by Bruce Gottfred at July 1, 2004 10:58 AM | TrackBack