Friday, June 30, 2017

CANADA 150

     Yes, tomorrow is Canada's 150th birthday. There will be many celebrations and most will be different. I would like some day to attend festivities in Ottawa, the nation's capital.

     We now call the day Canada Day , but at one time it was called Dominion Day as we were the Dominion of Canada. Canada Day sounds much better.

    We are a young country as far as ages go. We were formed in 1867 by the joining of 4 areas:Ontario. Quebec, Nov Scotia, and New Brunswick. Shortly after that Prince Edward Island became a province. Then British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan , Alberta and Newfoundland. Newfoundland entered confederation in 1949. So you see it took over 100 years for the country to form and we still have three territories which may some day become provinces.

     The other thing I found interesting is that some of the provinces were very small at the beginning and took in more territory . Ontario was only a third the size it is now.

    So we've grown physically and population wise. The population was less than ten million when I was ten years old. I liked the small population.

    The world considers us to be nice. We are pleased to be considered nice.

     We are fairly tolerant. I'm proud of that. We accept diversity fairly well but I think we could do better.

      Canada is the best country for me to live in.

    So here we are marking a happy milestone and looking forward to more.






37 comments:

  1. Congratulations to Canada. I wish I could live there, Red, but at my age your country would rather I just stayed here with the Orange Cheato. :-)

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    1. Ya gotta find some Canadian hunk and marry him and then we'll take ya!

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  2. Happy Birthday to Canada! The USA is very fortunate to have such a good neighbor. I wish we were better neighbors to Canada.

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    1. Thankyou. Most Americans are great neighbors and we appreciate you..

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  3. I'm happy to live in Canada, too, Red. It was a lucky accident to have been born here rather than in a war-torn region or a place of constant famine in the world. We don't stop often enough to consider our good fortune.

    I bet you remember the 100th birthday celebrations, too! (as do I) Happy 150th!

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    1. Yes, I remember the 100th anniversary. I was born just after the 75th. We're lucky to be here. Our family came from Russia as things were getting difficult for German Lutherans to live there.

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  4. Happy Canada to you and yours! I have been fortunate enough to be in our nation's capital for one or two July 1st celebrations. I recommend it to all and sundry if they can make it. There are a lot of places many parks and other areas) to celebrate and wonderful display of fireworks. I seldom participate where I live. It is just a hassle to get downtown to the waterfront and elbow the many others who want to get there too. I prefer to stay far from the crowds. But in Ottawa there are many very wide roads for the crowds to pass by and it doesn't seem quite so bad. Besides one can walk to so many places.

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    1. I don't like crowds either but for July 1 in Ottawa I could make allowances.

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    2. I just read in the news today that about 1 Million people were expected down at the waterfront area of Vancouver. I'm glad I stayed home! But I did watch the festivities on television from coast to coast to coast ;-) Truth be told I don't remember seeing the northern coast but I might have missed that part as the show was quite long. I hope you enjoyed it. You should try and get to to Ottawa for next July 1st.

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  5. It is a pleasant country to be in. We enjoyed a travel there twice, great nature and very friendly people. A niece of my mother emigrated to Canada to live there with her Canadian soldier Bill who had liberated our country.

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    1. There are many Dutch people where I live. Most of them are dairy farmers and very hard workers. I've also taught with many of them and like to hear the Dutch language.

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  6. Happy Birthday Canada!
    And extra birthday greetings to all with native North American heritage for you are much, much older than 150 years.

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    1. Thank you. Aboriginal got this one across this year and it's about time.

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  7. At the same time we celebrate our beginnings

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    1. The choice of dates has an interesting story.

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  8. Everyone should be proud of their country ... and Canada is a good one to be proud of.

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    1. We don't get carried away with the pride thing. We love our country and know it's great but we're quiet about it.

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  9. Those of us in the nation of privilege are a bit jealous these days. Happy Birthday.

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    1. Thanks. I'd never heard the term "nation of privilege " before.

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  10. Happy 150th! I've been to Ottawa on Canada Day and it's quite a treat. Very busy but fun. This year we didn't go because it's going to be insane. Plus, it's raining and that puts a damper on things. Anyhow, we are an amazing people. We still have a lot of work to do and things can be much better, but I feel we are headed in the right direction.

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    1. You're right that we still have things to do. However, celebrations are fun. I still remember the 100th with a lot of pleasure.

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  11. Canada has always seemed like a beacon of tolerance and reason. You have a right to be proud! It's amazing to think there were only 10 million people there when you were young -- that's not much bigger than the population of New York City!

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    1. Well, thank you. We've had some people who represented us well on the world stage.

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  12. Happy Canada Day. I hope you enjoy the holiday.

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    1. Thank you. we had a little rain to dampen things down but things still went on.

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  13. Happy Birthday Canada! I hope you enjoyed the celebrations.

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    1. Thankyou. I stayed home but I did put up my flag.

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  14. Happy Canada Day- I didn't know that about Labrador- I lived there in the early 70's while my dad was in the air force.

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    1. Thank you. Labrador is a tough place to live.

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  15. Happy Canada Day! I've always loved Canada from my first visit 50 years ago. I was fortunate enough to visit Expo 67. I've been to Montreal a few times and enjoyed that too. Great country, enjoy the celebrations.

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    1. Thanks. Next time you're here come out west!

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  16. Happy Belated Canada Day! I just saw on TV tonight how Canadians celebrated in one area. Everybody gathered in town wearing red and formed a huge maple leaf. So cool!

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  17. Beautiful thoughts on your national day Red!
    i really liked your generosity and humbleness in your wise simple words.
    thank you for sharing about you homeland .
    It is marvelous land indeed with sweet people .
    Happy Canada Day !

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  18. It was quite a celebration! I love being able to be here and take part in the festivities each year, though I can say I wouldn't try to get on the Hill on Canada Day. Way too packed. I spent the day going from museum to museum. There were more people here for the day than before. I chatted at length with a family from Grand Prairie before the fireworks.

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  19. Hi Red, Very neat post for Canada 150! Sorry I'm late with this comment. I hope you had a wonderful day! By the way ... I admire Canada so much. It seems like you guys have figured out a lot of things that have us messed up down here in the States. Go Canada!

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  20. I was fortunate to go to a Canada Day celebration at friends' in Scotland.

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  21. I appreciate learning the history of your country. I do not know much about it at all. I didn't realize things were still being organized in 1949. I did recognize that the Queen was somewhat a part of it all but the formation of Canada, I did not know. So happy 150th.

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