Happy Canada Day!

Jonathan McLeod

Jonathan McLeod is a writer living in Ottawa, Ontario. (That means Canada.) He spends too much time following local politics and writing about zoning issues. Follow him on Twitter.

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28 Responses

  1. North says:

    Happy Canada day. Go out and have some pancakes.Report

  2. Saul Degraw says:

    And really. What would Canada Day be without some Rush:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpCASVFyQoEReport

  3. Chris says:

    Guess I’ll have some poutine today. or at least I would, if my doctor would let me. But I will definitely daydream about poutine, for you, eh.Report

  4. Burt Likko says:

    Who is Laura Secord?Report

    • She acted as, essentially, a spy who helped secure British North America’s victory in the War of 1812 (yes, that image was a bit of a dig).

      There’s also a chocolate company that’s named after her. That’s not too bad, either.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_SecordReport

      • Heh. We are taught that the war of 1812 resulted in a draw, because no boundary changes. Of course from the Canadian perspective, no boundary changes was the objective all along, so of course you all would naturally see it as a victory. OTOH, HM Navy did stop impressing our merchant seamen, which you’ve got to admit was a pretty not-cool thing to have been doing.Report

      • North in reply to Jonathan McLeod says:

        In fairness Burt, the RN was only impressing American* seamen because they were in the midst of an existential war with Napoleonic France. By the time they turned their attention to the War of 1812 they had defeated Napoleon so they had no further need to impress sailors from anyone.

        But really the outcome of the War of 1812 was an unambiguous victory for the British(Canada), a technical loss for America and a literal and crushing loss for the Native Americans.

        *American in this sense being anyone including defecting British sailors working on an American ship.Report

      • James Hanley in reply to Jonathan McLeod says:

        @north
        the RN was only impressing American* seamen

        We were never that impressed.Report

      • Glyph in reply to Jonathan McLeod says:

        the RN was only impressing American* seamen…We were never that impressed.

        On the contrary, there are copious historical records of the American sailors’ awed ejaculations.Report

      • James Hanley in reply to Jonathan McLeod says:

        I hear they regularly shot their wads when they met the RN.Report

      • It’s a fair point, Burt, though my understanding is that Britain had reversed their decision (and rightfully so) before the war, but word didn’t spread to the colonies in time to start the war.

        I think a lot of people forget that there were really three parties* to the war, Britain, the US and British North America. The war was not a victory for the British (who tried to grab more of the US), but it wasn’t a complete defeat. The war was kind of a victory for the US, but they were still unable to gain control of BNA, so it wasn’t a 100% victory.

        However, it was a complete victory for BNA. The colonies were invaded by a foreign power (ie you) and were successfully pushed back. We kept our “country” and weren’t really part of the trade dispute.

        *I am, of course, not counting the role of the First Nations. There’s no real way to consider what has happened to them since the settlement of the Canadas as anything close to a victory, even though they were instrumental in battle.Report

      • Mike Schilling in reply to Jonathan McLeod says:

        they were in the midst of an existential war with […] France

        “Avast! Jean-Paul Sartre off the starboard bow!”Report