FOR CANADIAN EYES ONLY. 🍁
DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT READING THIS IF YOU’RE NOT CANADIAN.
A LOVE LETTER TO CANADA.
Dear Canada,
Sometimes, in all the noise, the arguments and the headlines, we forget just how extraordinary you are.
So today, this one’s for you.
You’re the country that gave the world hockey, basketball, insulin, IMAX and the Canadarm.
You’re Alexander Graham Bell experimenting with the telephone in Brantford. Frederick Banting and his colleagues helping bring insulin treatment to the world. Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio helping lay the foundations of modern artificial intelligence.
You’re Donna Strickland revolutionizing laser technology and James Gosling creating Java.
You’re Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe and Sidney Crosby.
You’re Summer McIntosh making us leap off the couch and cheer.
And you’re Terry Fox, running down a lonely Canadian highway on one leg, showing the world that courage isn’t measured by how far you get, but by how far you’re willing to go.
You’re Gordon Lightfoot singing about the Edmund Fitzgerald and the Canadian Railroad Trilogy.
You’re Stompin’ Tom Connors, stomping his boot through The Hockey Song and singing about places most of the world had never heard of.
You’re The Tragically Hip, turning small towns, hockey heroes and Canadian history into the soundtrack of a generation.
You’re Leonard Cohen, Oscar Peterson, Céline Dion, Anne Murray and Neil Young.
You’re John Candy, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short, Mike Myers and Jim Carrey, making the world laugh.
You’re Lorne Michaels creating Saturday Night Live and James Cameron taking audiences to worlds they’d never imagined.
You’re Lucy Maud Montgomery and Anne Shirley, that wonderfully imaginative red-haired girl who made a little farmhouse on Prince Edward Island famous around the world.
You’re the Group of Seven, who looked at crooked pines, rocky shorelines and windswept forests and showed us just how beautiful our country really is.
You’re Viola Desmond refusing to accept segregation.
Willie O’Ree breaking hockey’s colour barrier.
And generations of Canadians who stood up against injustice, opened doors and helped make this country better.
You’re the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples whose cultures, languages, knowledge and traditions have shaped these lands for thousands of years.
You’re Tanya Tagaq, Susan Aglukark, Kenojuak Ashevak and the countless Indigenous artists and storytellers whose voices continue to enrich this country.
You’re the powerful stories of the Wendigo, carried through generations of Algonquian-speaking peoples.
And you’re Sasquatch, who’s apparently still doing a remarkable job of avoiding a decent photograph.
You’re the Rocky Mountains rising above British Columbia and Alberta.
The endless prairie skies of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The lakes and forests of Ontario and Quebec.
The red soil and rolling hills of Prince Edward Island.
The rugged coastline of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The fishing villages, covered bridges and ocean breezes of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
You’re the northern lights dancing above Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
You’re the Atlantic crashing against the rocks, the Pacific stretching toward the horizon and the Arctic reminding us just how vast this country really is.
You’re canoeing across a still lake at sunrise, with nothing but the sound of a paddle dipping into the water.
You’re the haunting call of a loon across the lake.
The smell of pine trees after the rain.
The crunch of autumn leaves under your boots.
You’re cottage docks, swimming holes, fishing trips, portages and the sound of rain on a tent roof.
You’re campfires, s’mores, mosquito bites and someone insisting they know a shortcut back to the campsite.
You’re a marshmallow catching fire while three people shout conflicting instructions.
You’re Saturday mornings at the rink.
Skates drying by the door.
Frozen ponds, backyard hockey and road hockey games interrupted by someone yelling, “CAR!”
You’re snow days, snow forts, toboggan hills and the first warm afternoon in spring when everyone suddenly appears outside.
You’re poutine, butter tarts, Nanaimo bars, Montreal bagels, Halifax donairs and sirop d’érable poured generously over Sunday pancakes.
You’re maple trees turning brilliant red in October.
The first snowfall in November.
The last stubborn snowbank in April.
And the annual Canadian tradition of declaring winter officially over about six weeks too early.
You’re the neighbour who shovels your driveway without being asked.
The stranger who helps push your car out of a snowbank.
The person who holds the door for someone twenty feet away, leaving both of them in an awkward little race to be polite.
You’re communities that come together when someone loses a home, faces a tragedy or simply needs a hand.
You’re the people whose families have lived here for generations and those who arrived yesterday, carrying their hopes for a better life.
You’re English and French, Indigenous languages and hundreds of others spoken around kitchen tables across this enormous country.
You’re accents that change from one province to the next.
You’re kitchen parties, community rinks, summer festivals, farmers’ markets and neighbours gathering around a backyard fire.
You’re small towns where everybody knows everybody.
And big cities where people from every corner of the world have found a place to belong.
You’re not perfect, Canada.
There are painful chapters in your history, injustices that must be confronted and promises still waiting to be fulfilled.
We disagree. We argue. We complain about the weather, the government, the price of groceries and the Leafs.
But when something truly matters, we have an extraordinary capacity to come together.
We’ve given the world discoveries that saved lives.
Inventions that changed industries.
Music that moved generations.
Stories that travelled across oceans.
Athletes who inspired millions.
And ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary things.
Yet some of the best things about you aren’t famous at all.
They’re the little things.
A canoe on a quiet lake.
A familiar song on the radio.
The smell of a campfire.
A hockey game on a frozen pond.
Fresh snow falling beneath a streetlight.
A neighbour waving from across the street.
A loon calling somewhere in the distance.
The sound of laughter around a kitchen table.
The feeling of coming home.
Because that’s what you are, Canada.
Not just a country on a map.
Not just a flag, a border or a collection of provinces and territories.
You’re the memories we carry.
The stories we tell.
The people we love.
The places we miss when we’re away.
From coast to coast to coast, we’re different in a thousand ways.
And somehow, through all those differences, we share something that feels unmistakably like home.
So here’s to you, Canada.
Not because we’re better than anyone else.
Not because we’ve got everything figured out.
And certainly not because we’re perfect.
But because you’re ours.
Our landscapes. Our stories. Our laughter. Our memories.
Our home.
And sometimes, in a world that seems determined to remind us of everything that’s wrong, it’s worth remembering just how much there is to love.
With love, eh?
Canadians. 🍁
The Free Ride Is Over: Why America Needs to Start Paying Its Way -
For decades, the United States has acted like a bad neighbour, mooching off Canada while pretending they do it all alone.
As usual we've just been polite. That's our nature for the most part. Lately, that's beginning to erode.
From fresh water and clean electricity to MASSIVE trade benefits, America has taken advantage of Canadian generosity for FAR too long.
Hardcore Trump supporters and MAGA nationalists love to talk about putting "America First," but they better get it through their heads:
......your FREE ride is over.
Canada has spent years doing the U.S. massive favours.
We have fueled American factories with OUR oil, kept your lights on with OUR hydropower, and stood by your side in every major global conflict.
During 9/11, Canada opened its airspace and homes to stranded American passengers without hesitation. Yet, in return, Washington pins tariffs on our softwood lumber, cheats our dairy farmers, and treats our borders like a one-way street for their economic gain.
Canada is putting an end to this exploitation.
We are NO longer content with being America’s compliant supplier.
If the U.S. wants our vital resources, they are going to have to pay a price WE SET and show some LONG OVERDUE respect.
The days of taking Canada for granted are done, bud.
Find some other Nation to mooch off of, because it won't be us.
#canpoli
#cdnpoly
#Canada
#MAGA
#Republicans
#trump
The US owners of Stelco are blaming foreign steel imports for their mass layoffs in Hamilton.
The @hamiltonspectator just took a look at where foreign steel imports are actually coming from.
This isn't about petty partisan politics, this is about an existential threat to 🇨🇦
Mark Carney says that Stelco's American owners "betrayed" the up to 500 workers the company is set to layoff in Hamilton.
Cleveland-Cliffs agreed with the feds not layoff anyone until 2029, a deal Carney plan to "pursue to the full extent of the law"
There was money on the table from the feds to avoid layoffs according to Carney, who noted that Cleveland-Cliffs CEO has been a vocal Trump steel tariff supporter, while the company blamed those tariffs as one reason why over 80% of their Hamilton workforce is set to be laid off #cdnpoli
Boycotting US products is good for your health, it seems.
Carney should pull a Trump and increase tariffs in response to Driscoll's little escapade.
https://t.co/Z5ZpmMBjou
Kraft Dinner has launched a limited-edition cream soda with a hint of its signature mac & cheese flavor.
The drink is available only in Canada for a short time.
#REPORT: Hero Arrested After Saving Woman Being Sexually Assaulted In📍Woodstock, ON — Police Said They Found Woman Suffering From Serious Injuries. Bystanders Intervened And The Suspect Was Assaulted By One Of The Heroes.
✅35-YO Male Was Charged With Sexual Assault And Assault.
❌29-YO Hero Was Charged With Assault With A Weapon And Possession Of A Weapon For A Dangerous Purpose.
Michel Tirabosco is a world-renowned Swiss pan flute virtuoso.
Born with a severe congenital malformation that left him with very short arms and no hands, he overcame immense physical barriers.
Here's one of his phenomenal performances.
[🪈 mtirabosco]
Former Canada Prime Minister Jean Chrétien: "I have message for American friends...never mistake our generosity for weakness. Never mistake our tolerance for lack of determination. And never, never mistake our kindness for softness...We bow to no one."