I Am Canadian
Published July 1, 2009 @ 16:49 in O Canada

In 2000, a certain beer company launched an ad entitled "The Rant". You may have seen it. It starred Jeff Douglas as Joe, a proud Canadian with something to say. Here's the ad.

On July 1, 2000, I was at Molson Park for an Edgefest when Jeff Douglas actually delivered this rant live. That's how popular this ad was.

It didn't inspire me to buy beer, but nine years later, it's still a great ad. I am Canadian.

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Canada Turns 142, I Look Back in Time
Published July 1, 2009 @ 11:25 in O Canada

Happy Birthday, Canada, you're 142 years young today.

Over the past 6.5 years I've written quite a bit about you. All of those posts can be found at http://www.torontomike.com/o_canada/. But here are a few of my favourites, in the order I wrote them.

1. Vimy Ridge
2. O Canada! (2003 Version)
3. A Distinct Identity
4. Blame Canada
5. Reason Number 32
6. Our Other Anthem
7. The Maple Music Revolution
8. My Ten Favourite Song References to A Canadian Place
9. Best Canadian Movies
10. Top 100 Canadian Songs: The Definitive List
11. D'oh Canada!
12. My Ten Favourite Canadian Albums
13. Helping Fukuoka, Japan Celebrate Canada Day
14. 117,000 Reasons to Remember

Happy Canada Day!

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Canadian War Posters
Published June 26, 2009 @ 15:29 in O Canada

McGill University has a great collection of Canadian war posters online.

The holdings of the Print Collection in the Rare Books and Special Collections Division include some 250 Canadian posters from the two World Wars. The posters are accessible to researchers who visit the Division's Lande Reading Room; a printed finding aid is available from the Reading Room Supervisor.

This website contains basic descriptions and images of each poster, an artist index, a search facility, and an essay about Canadian War Posters. The search facility enables you to search by World War, by Category, by Artist, or by keyword. The results of your search are displayed as thumbnail images. Click on a thumbnail to obtain a larger image and a full description. Each description includes the following information: the poster ID number and title or lead text; the date, artist, and publisher, when known; size, and appropriate notes.

I dig this sort of thing. Here's one of my favourites from WWI.

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Cancon for Barack Obama's iPod
Published January 20, 2009 @ 12:39 in Lists, O Canada, Radio

CBC has unveiled their 49 Canadian Songs for Obama's iPod. These 49 won out over their top 100.

I can't really speak to the French songs or the non-pop songs, but they seem to have hit most of the essential tracks from my definitive Cancon list.

Still, how does The Band's "The Weight" not make this list? Was no Sloan song worthy? Where's the Blue Rodeo? In typical CBC fashion, it seems inclusion was deemed the higher priority.

• Arcade Fire, "Rebellion (Lies)"
• Barenaked Ladies, "If I Had $1,000,000"
• Beau Dommage, "La complainte du phoque en Alaska"
• Ben Heppner, "We'll Gather Lilacs"
• Bruce Cockburn, "Wondering Where the Lions Are"
• Buffy Sainte-Marie, "Universal Soldier"
• Daniel Bélanger, "Rêver mieux"
• Daniel Lanois, "Jolie Louise"
• Daniel Lavoie, "J'ai quitté mon île"
• Diana Krall, "Departure Bay"
• Gilles Vigneault, "Mon pays"
• Glenn Gould, "Goldberg Variations"
• Gordon Lightfoot, "Canadian Railroad Trilogy"
• Gordon Lightfoot, "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"
• Great Big Sea, "Ordinary Day"
• Harmonium, "Pour un Instant"
• Ian & Sylvia, "Four Strong Winds"
• James Ehnes, "Barber Violin Concerto"
• Jesse Cook, "Mario Takes a Walk"
• Joni Mitchell, "Both Sides Now"
• Joni Mitchell, "A Case of You"
• Karkwa, "Oublie pas"
• k.d. lang, "Hallelujah"
• Leonard Cohen, "Democracy"
• Leonard Cohen, "Suzanne"
• Malajube, "Montréal -40°C"
• Marie-Jo Thério, "Évangeline"
• Marjan Mozetich, "Affairs of the Heart"
• Measha Brueggergosman, "I'm Going Up a Yonder"
• Mes Aïeux, "Dégénérations"
• Michael Bublé, "Home"
• Moe Koffman, "Swingin' Shepherd Blues"
• Neil Young, "Rockin' in the Free World"
• Neil Young, "Helpless"
• Oscar Peterson Trio, "Hymn to Freedom"
• Oscar Peterson, "Place St. Henri (from Canadiana Suite)"
• Parachute Club, "Rise Up"
• Raymond Lévesque, "Quand les hommes vivront d'amour"
• Rush, "Closer to the Heart"
• Sam Roberts, "The Canadian Dream"
• Shad, "Brother (Watching)"
• Stan Rogers, "Northwest Passage"
• Stompin' Tom Connors, "The Hockey Song"
• The Arrogant Worms, "Canada's Really Big"
• The Guess Who, "American Woman"
• The Rankin Family, "Rise Again"
• The Tragically Hip, "Wheat Kings"
• The Tragically Hip, "Bobcaygeon"
• The Weakerthans, "One Great City!"

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49 Songs
Published January 5, 2009 @ 14:11 in O Canada, Radio

I'm a sucker for all these Canadian music features the CBC like to throw at us every few years. The latest is from CBC Radio 2. Starting this morning, CBC Radio 2 is inviting us Canadians to help select the top “49 songs from north of the 49th parallel” that would best define our country to the incoming U.S. President Barack Obama.

It wasn't long ago CBC Radio One was choosing 50 Tracks, which inspired my Best Canadian Song Search.

I wanted to compile a list of the 100 definitive Canadian songs. I wonder how CBC's 49 Songs will compare with my list. It'll be fun finding out.

1. The Tragically Hip - New Orleans Is Sinking
2. Neil Young - Helpless
3. The Band - The Weight
4. Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi
5. Gordon Lightfoot - Canadian Railroad Trilogy
6. Stan Rogers - Northwest Passage
7. Sloan - Underwhelmed
8. The Guess Who - American Woman
9. Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
10. Neil Young - Heart of Gold
11. Blue Rodeo - Try
12. Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
13. The Tragically Hip - Courage
14. Barenaked Ladies - Brian Wilson
15. Cowboy Junkies - Misguided Angel
16. Arcade Fire - Wake Up
17. Gordon Lightfoot - Early Morning Rain
18. Neil Young - Rockin' In The Free World
19. Rush - The Spirit of Radio
20. The Guess Who - Share the Land
21. Blue Rodeo - Lost Together
22. Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights
23. Our Lady Peace - Naveed
24. Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
25. Blue Rodeo - Diamond Mine
26. Bruce Cockburn - Lovers in a Dangerous Time
27. Gordon Lightfoot - If You Could Read My Mind
28. Five Man Electical Band - Signs
29. Bachman Turner Overdrive - Takin' Care Of Business
30. Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown
31. The Guess Who - These Eyes
32. Blood, Sweat and Tears - Spinning Wheel
33. Hayden - Bad As They Seem
34. Neil Young - Cinnamon Girl
35. Ian and Sylvia - Four Strong Winds
36. Joni Mitchell - Woodstock
37. Rush - Closer to the Heart
38. Joni Mitchell - Both Sides, Now
39. Our Lady Peace - 4am
40. Maestro Fresh-Wes - Let Your Backbone Slide
41. k.d. lang - Constant Craving
42. The Tragically Hip - Bobcaygeon
43. Neil Young - Old Man
44. Dream Warriors - My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style
45. Sarah Harmer - Silver Road
46. Jeff Healey - Angel Eyes
47. The New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
48. I Mother Earth - So Gently We Go
49. Our Lady Peace - Clumsy
50. Joni Mitchell - The Circle Game
51. The Pursuit of Happiness - I'm An Adult Now
52. The Lowest of the Low - Henry Needs A New Pair of Shoes
53. Ashley MacIsaac - Sleepy Maggie
54. Robbie Robertson - Somewhere Down the Crazy River
55. Tom Cochrane - Big League
56. Rush - Tom Sawyer
57. Moist - Push
58. Billy Talent - Nothing To Lose
59. Rusty - Wake Me
60. The Northern Pikes - Teenland
61. Sarah Harmer - Basement Apartment
62. Sarah McLachlan - Hold On
63. The Tragically Hip - Wheat Kings
64. Sloan - Coax Me
65. Spirit of the West - Home For A Rest
66. Steppenwolf - Born To Be Wild
67. Crash Test Dummies - Superman's Song
68. Stars - Ageless Beauty
69. The Tragically Hip - Ahead By A Century
70. The Demics - New York City
71. Barenaked Ladies - If I Had $1,000,000
72. 54-40 - I Go Blind
73. Bryan Adams - Summer of '69
74. The New Pornographers - Use It
75. The Watchmen - All Uncovered
76. Treble Charger - Red
77. Sam Roberts - Brother Down
78. Randy Bachman - Prairie Town
79. Sarah McLachlan - Angel
80. Tom Cochrane - Boy Inside The Man
81. Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know
82. Skydiggers - I Will Give You Everything
83. Men Without Hats - Safety Dance
84. Rough Trade - High School Confidential
85. Hot Hot Heat - Bandages
86. Corey Hart - Sunglasses at Night
87. Loverboy - Working For The Weekend
88. Metric - Combat Baby
89. Rusty - Misogyny
90. k-os - Heaven Only Knows
91. Tokyo Police Club - Nature Of The Experiment
92. Stars - Your Ex-Lover Is Dead
93. Rheostatics - Record Body Count
94. Odds - Heterosexual Man
95. The Gandharvas - The First Day of Spring
96. The Diodes - Tired of Waking Up Tired
97. Feist - Mushaboom
98. Gowan - A Criminal Mind
99. Grapes Of Wrath - All The Things I Wasn't
100. Max Webster - A Million Vacations

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A Figurehead With Power
Published December 1, 2008 @ 21:26 in O Canada, Politics

When they taught us in primary school about our Governor General, they always referred to the position as symbolic and merely a figurehead with no actual power. Canada is, after all, a democratic nation, and the Governor General is merely a tip of the hat to the Queen of England... a bow to our nation's royal roots.

This crazy coalition government proposal is gaining steam, and it's looking like Governor General Michaëlle Jean is now a figurehead with actual power. The Liberals, NDP and Bloc have reached a deal that would make Stephane Dion our Prime Minister and put members of the NDP in cabinet positions. The Bloc won't vote against this coalition for at least 18 months. This means Dion will become PM without an election, even though he himself is stepping down in May as the Liberals appoint a new leader, who would then become our new Prime Minister.

Of course, it's all going to be up to Michaëlle Jean. She has the power to agree to this proposal or deny it, sending us back to the polls for yet another election. It's her call, this symbolic nod to our old British ties has teeth.

And if this coalition chatter has you feeling dizzy, don't feel bad. We're in unchartered waters here. We have a parliamentary system that's quite a bit more malleable than that cut and dry electoral-college-vote-for-president thingy down south.

You won't find me joining Facebook protest groups or rallying against it with others who feel it's undemocratic. It's parliamentary pandemonium and it's crazy enough to work.

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The Highway of Heroes
Published November 12, 2008 @ 20:53 in O Canada

Humble posted this today. It's a piece by NBC News on our Highway of Heroes.

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117,000 Reasons to Remember
Published November 11, 2008 @ 09:12 in O Canada

Veteran's Affairs Canada provides general statistics about Canada's participation in war, including numbers of casualties. It doesn't include our recent losses in Afghanistan, but the figures are still staggering for a country our size.

South Africa War (1899-1902)
Approximately 7,000 Canadians served; 267 of them gave their lives.

First World War (1914-1918)
Approximately 650,000 Canadians served, including members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, Canadians and Newfoundlanders who served with British forces (Newfoundland was a colony of Great Britain until 1949) and merchant mariners. Of this number, nearly 69,000 gave their lives.

Second World War (1939-1945)
More than one million Canadians and Newfoundlanders served in Canada's Armed Forces, in Allied forces or in the merchant navy; over 47,000 of them gave their lives.

Korean War (1950-1953)
26,791 Canadians served in the Canadian Army Special Force; 516 of them gave their lives.

Peacekeeping/Foreign Military Operations (as of March 2006)
Approximately 150,000 Canadians have served in peacekeeping missions/foreign military operations since 1947; more than 160 Canadians have given their lives in this service.

If you include the 97 Canadian soldiers who have died at war in Afghanistan, the number exceeds 117,000. That's 117,000 reasons to observe two minutes of silence at 11:00 this morning.

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Does VANOC Own Our National Anthem?
Published September 29, 2008 @ 21:35 in O Canada

Not only am I not an economist, but I'm also not a lawyer. As a non-lawyer, I find myself confused by copyright law.

This story says the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee has trademarked the line "With glowing hearts". That's right, they've trademarked a line from "O Canada", our national anthem.

VANOC would only challenge the commercial use of the mottoes if a business began using them to create a specific, unauthorized commercial association with the 2010 Winter Games, said the statement.

O Canada is over 100 years old and, according to the Department of Canadian Heritage, is in the public domain so may be used without permission from the government.

How can they trademark something that's in the public domain? How can they trademark something they didn't create or invent?

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O Canada, Vegas Style
Published July 31, 2008 @ 11:33 in O Canada

Vegas Geoff just sent this over.

I just came across this absolutely fantastic clip of our anthem being butchered during a Las Vegas Posse CFL game. Apparently, the story goes that this singer, Dennis "KC" Parks, had never heard the anthem before, so just tried to wing it. As you can tell, it didn't go so well.

This is "O Canada", Vegas style.

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