On rainy 150th birthday, nation celebrates the meaning of Canada
The original meaning was straightforward, loyalty to the British crown. But what meaning can it be said to have now? I guess the US’s meaning would be greatest country on earth blah blah blah, city on a hill or whatever, the UK’s is definitely ‘anything but Europe’. But Canada, what’s that about?
If UK is ‘anything but Europe’, perhaps Canada is ‘just not America’?
No, seriously though, Canada is just less showy, but still all things awesome. And everyone in the world knows it, too! 
I would never have expected any nations to have meanings, whatever that’s supposed to mean (if you’ll forgive the redundancy). If the US’s meaning is “the greatest country on earth”, does that mean it had no meaning while it wasn’t?
There used to be a funny comedy-competition show called “Whose line is it, anyway?”, in which stand-up comics were told to act spontaneously with no previous preparation.
There were no prizes, no scorecard, no winners and no losers.
The host of the show would award points to the comedians at random, just for fun.
He once said: “the points in this show are unimportant Sure, it’s nice that they exist, but they are totally unnecessary and meaningless…sort of like Canada.”
The only thing I know about Canada is that their side of the Niagara Falls is nicer than the American side.
Oh–also, I have heard that among all the universities in the USA, there is has never been a single lecture offered on Canadian history.
(But I went to a nice wedding once in Montreal, so I guess it ain’t such a bad country after all. )
It doesn’t mean anything. That’s the beauty of it.
I honestly don’t know what you’re saying here.
Do you mean “brand identity”?
We’re nice.
The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) held a national competition to come up with a national simile in answer to “As American as apple pie.” The winner by a landslide was “As Canadian as possible under the circumstances.”
Prime Minister Pierre Eliot Trudeau: “There is no such thing as a model or ideal Canadian. What could be more absurd than the concept of an “all Canadian” boy or girl? A society which emphasizes uniformity is one which creates intolerance and hate.”
How about, “As Canadian as…Hockey Night in Canada…broadcast in Punjabi!”
Sounds about right!
Peace, Order and Good Government.
These days rare enough commodities in themselves, even scarcer in combination.
It’s from the indigenous word “kanata” which means “village” or "settlement. The story is Europeans misinterpreted their native guide and thought he was giving the proper name of one such settlement.
Now you know the true meaning of Canada.
That’s one damn big village!
You’ve honestly never heard the phrase in the US, “This is the greatest country on Earth”? It’s common in American politics and has been for a long time. (Dickens satirizes to great effect this sort of rhetoric in Martin Chuzzlewit.) Other phrases are the US as a shining city on a hill, also common. This one is biblical and Reagan used it in his farewell address in 1989 (Youtube video clip). The US has always thought of itself as a special nation. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, all countries do it to some extent, it’s just the US does it more than most.
The “city on the hill” thing is indeed Biblical, but it’s unlikely it would be used by other Americans if it hadn’t been used first by John Winthrop in 1630 in reference to the colony in what would become the state of MA.
I think it means the houses down there, the village.
Just a small nitpick but, like America, Canada is very large and it was mostly very sunny and warm everywhere yesterday into the 30s (high 80s in murkin).
I think the “meaning” of Canada is to not have “meaning”. We aren’t interested in being a super power (except hockey in which we mostly fail!) I think we just want peace in our lives and food on the table.
Just like anywhere there are loud-mouthed jerks who fight against equality and women’s rights but they are the exception rather than the norm.
My country isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty good and, though no doing of my own, I was fortunate enough to have been born here.
Agreed. It’s good to even have those as articulated aspirations, and it’s great indeed to achieve them most of the time.
I don’t have any words to define the “meaning” of Canada but I did get a sense of it watching (on TV) the celebrations yesterday on Parliament Hill. It was in the thousands who showed up to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday, many of them newcomers, who may not have used the words “peace, order, and good government” but in their own words was what they were all celebrating. It was in the youthful and progressive Prime Minister in the crowd, decked out in what looked like a stylish denim jacket. It was when the PM dropped in to the CBC broadcast pavilion to offer his best wishes to Peter Mansbridge on the occasion of his retirement. It was Peter himself, in my view the most genial and trusted news anchor anywhere, himself a kind of icon of Canada: a man who signed off for the last time saying he doesn’t like long goodbyes, the recipient of the Order of Canada, a dozen broadcast awards and a dozen honorary degrees who doesn’t like accolades, and who responded to cheering crowds chanting his name with the embarrassed humility of a little boy. It’s all so Canada.
