Let's count our many blessings on this special day and remember that there is still room for improvements!

Anything is possible if we pull together and work for it!

Happy Canada Day!

Well I am also proud to be a Canadian, a native of BC and PG. I am also damn proud to live in a country where we welcome other people and their cultures and allow these differences to mesh with our own so that we can continue to try and build the most open, caring, well rounded, compassionate and respected country in the world. We are unique in those regards and I consider it a great strength, not a weakness.

I also love hearing about other peoples experiences, learning about their cultures and I'm also glad that we allow people to retain that part of their fabric instead of forcing them to be confined by the preconceived notions of what we think a Canadian is or should be.

I love my Canada!

I'm rather ambivalent about the Canada I see nowadays. It's a country that still holds great promise, but also one that often seems to be ashamed of its heritage. One that wants to replace everything that ever really meant anything to many of us, including the original name of its national holiday, "Dominion" Day, with things that hold little or nothing of value to us. "Canada" Day seems sterile and utterly bland by comparison to its original name.

Oh sure, I can agree with certain aspects of the un-hyphenated patriotism that Ben is getting at, and I'm not at all indisposed to the concepts that NMG is advancing either. I think we can be proud of how people who make up our citizenry, wherever they've come from, can now be accepted as 'Canadians'. Where we know them as "individuals" first, and not just as members of some identifiable visible minority "group" first.

But I can still hardly be totally proud of a flag that was "forced" on us, without even allowing all of those who then supposedly represented us as MPs to have their say on it in a Parliamentary debate. Let alone ever have it approved by the people as a whole as a new national symbol by 'referendum'.

And I can't really totally respect a political entity whose national government once told us it's unifying our Armed Forces as a means of 'cost savings' and 'greater operational efficiency', when it turns out the only reason was to get rid of the word "Royal" in Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force. And deny the actual heritage that our forefathers risked, and often lost, their lives to preserve.

That's what I don't like about Canada, the gutlessness of politicians determined to foist on us through the back door things they'd never have ever chanced trying to get through the front one. We see it often today in the ongoing 'nit-picking' about the Royal family that surfaces because we still have the Queen as Head of State, and over other important traditions that have been inherited by us from Britian.

It diminishes us, not that we've preserved these parts of our long heritage thus far, but that those who'd change them to something else haven't the courage of their convictions, and openly spell out what they really want. If it's to be a 'carbon copy' of the USA, then say so. Or join them. But if we're to be what the Fathers of Confederation envisioned 142 years ago, a "Dominion of Canada" then lets embellish our actual heritage and build on that, and stop trying to re-write so much of the valuable parts of our history.

Its a fluke of nature really that we are not all speaking Russian, or Spanish, or be British subjects, or American citizens in these parts serving one empire or another as mere foreign resources to their 'Dominions'.

Instead we were probably the most dominant force to have altered and shaped the world we now live in today. There is no doubt that providence looked down favorably on the Canadian courage to take the path of right is might in leveraging our strengths.

From the time Alexander Mackenzie wandered through the mountains and claimed this vast territory for the Hudson Bay Company our tradition was hanging in the balance of fortune. Mackenzie (July 22 1793, Pacific) preceded the Lewis and Clark expedition by 12-years providing our strongest claim to the Pacific Coast.

The Russians were the first European to claim the Pacific Coast after Vitus Bering made the discover in 1741... followed by Spains Fernandas and Quadra explorations in the mid 1770'S... then the British made claim after James Cook visited Vancouver Island on March 29th 1778.

The British-American war of 1812 saw the British bluff the Americans through gun boat diplomacy in securing the Oregon territories for a time. In 1818 the 49th parallel was established by the British and Americans from the great lakes to the Rockies. The next year later Spain surrendered to the Americans all her claims from 42* north they claimed to 54-40* north (roughly where PG lies today)... even though Spain had not fully occupied its claims with established forts.

In 1821 the two British fur trading companies (Hudson Bay Company and the North West Company) were merged into one mega corp that would have a monopoly on all trade west of the Rockies based in Fort Astoria on the Columbia River. In 1825 they moved their new headquarters up river to the Fort Vancouver location (modern day Portland).

In 1824 the Russians unable to protect their west coast claims negotiated to recognize the American claim to the 54-40* north Spanish terms as the southern Russian limit. The following year Russia agreed with Britain to a 141* west meridian boarder in the North with the exception of the Alaska pan handle and the Pacific Coast.

In 1827 the British and the Americans agreed to jointly administer the areas west of the Rockies for a 10-year term. During that time 95% of the native population south of the 49* were wiped out by small pox spread by American traders who saw the natives as a deterrent to colonization.

In 1834 the Russians violated their agreements with a new trading post fort on the Stikine River with a gunboat blocking the rivers entrance.

By the 1840's Americans were settling in mass the Oregon territories, and president Polk was elected in America with the slogan 54-40 or fight. Hence the Hudson Bay Company moved its headquarters to a more defensible position at Fort Victoria in 1845. The following year Britain had 15 war ships on the west coast and France had 16 backing the British.. the Americans had 11... the British sent a bluff bulletin to the Americans that 30 additional warships were on the way. On April 27th 1846 the US Congress passed a resolution pulling out of joint control of territories with the British. On May 13'th 1846 the Americans declared war on Mexico and on the 21'st of the same month US president Polk signaled his intention to the British the Americans would agree to the 49'th extended to the Pacific, and give up any claims to Vancouver Island. In 1848 the Oregon Treaty was ratified marking our southern boarder.

In 1854 Britain declared war on Russia (shortly after the gold rush of 1852 Queen Charlotte Islands began on the west coast)... France joined on the British side shortly after striking Russia in its heart in the Crimea. An area the British and French navies could easily supply and cause maximum damage on Russian resources. That same year Britain suffered a humiliating defeat to the Russians in the Pacific at Petropavlovsk and the British lost 700 sailors with HMS President, Pique, and Viago retreating back to Esquimalt (Victoria)... which was basically undefended at the time. With the Crimea war causing huge loses for both sides, unmatched in modern warfare until WW1, Russia began negotiating its Pacific coast claims with the Americans in a shot gun sale... with their national resources weakened they gave Alaska to the Americans for $7.2 million dollars in 1868 ending Russia's 126-year claim to the region. The Americans agreed to honor Russia's original agreement with Britain of 1825 on the 141*west and the Alaska Panhandle.

In 1862 the Northern Stikine Territory was established that included the Nass, Stikine, and Peace River water basins. The following year the Stikine and Southern British Columbia colonies were joined into a single colony under BC's first governor Fredrick Seymour, and in 1866 Vancouver Island was brought on board making up what is modern day BC with its capital in New Westminister. Two years later the capital was moved to Victoria. Governor Seymour envisioned an independent colony and opposed BC joining the Canadian confederation. In 1869 Governor Seymour was poisoned, and his replacement Anthony Musgrave being a personal friend of Canada's first Prime Minister John A Macdonald, viewed it as his mission to win over those that opposed confederation. On March 9th 1870 the Legislative Council of BC convened for a debate on the subject of Confederation with Canada. (A very lively and amazingly accurate debate of what confederation would mean to this colony both pro and con I might add).

In November of 1870 BC held its colonial election with none of the candidates running as pro confederation. On January 5th 1871 the Legislative Council of BC convened to hear Governor Musgrave present the proposed terms of the union, and it was passed with a silent vote that had no public dissenters. A silent vote is when you are told what the legislation will be, and you don't actually vote unless you raise an objection to what you are told the legislation will be. The agreement went into effect July 20th 1871 (the real Confederation Day in BC).

Following this the imperialists (Rothschilds interest IMO) envisioned Canada becoming the center of a consolidated British Empire. The Canadian French influence opposed this view especially after Canada's involvement in the Boar war of 1899. Quebec wanted a bilingual Canada that was independent, but the imperialists felt the only way to national status was through maintaining our connection to the empire. The orange order also opposed imperialist policy.

In 1903 Britain was rightly accused of negotiating in her own interests in giving into American demands on the Alaska boundary dispute and the imperialist in Canada suffered a sever blow. Canada needed to have a sovereign foreign policy it was determined. With the horrors of WW1 Canada forced Britain to recognize all its colonies and dominions as sovereign and equal within a Commonwealth, rather than subjects of an Empire... Vimy Ridge solidified Canada claim as an equal saving both France and Britain from national disaster.

The world we live in today stems from those decisions Canada forced on Britain for our sacrifices during the 'great war'. Today we have a United Nations of sovereign and independent states, because Canada ended the age of empires and instituted a spirit of the global village of nations. Australia, India, China, and vast swaths of Africa among others can thank the British policy that enabled their future sovereignty to Canadian diplomacy in time of war. In WW1 British Columbia had the highest ratio of participation of any other jurisdiction in the world (including the European participants)... with one in six citizens of BC serving in that war. (ironic that BC is now the most demilitarized place in the world :)

Canada won the war at Vimy Ridge, and the Americans were able to come out from under our skirt after we won the war (vanquished the heart of Germany's fighting force), and thus the Americans came in with their huge resources to clean up a defeated force. WW1 was a war Britain almost lost if not for Canada... Canada got its Commonwealth, but made the grave mistake of allowing the zionist bankers to dictate the peace on the vanquished. WW2 was thus the planned result of WW1's conclusion. WW2 destroyed the British ability to maintain the pretense of an empire, and Canada had to chose between the imperialists (Britain is the mother country), the continentalists (America was our biggest trading partner), or multilateralism... Canada chose the later with its initiation of the original North Atlantic Treaty, and its participation in the founding of the UN, and later the concept of UN peace keeping.

Canada should be proud of these achievements as it was the genius of Canada that truly shaped the world we now live in today... more so on an ethical level, than any other country including the new imperialist United States could lay claim too.

That said multilateralism is one thing... multinationalism is entirely something else... one is about creating harmony through soft power of win-win negotiations, and the other is about creating divisions through promotion of differences. Sadly Canada has diminished in the former, and confused that with the later.