Happy Canada Day!!!

Wishing everyone a very happy Canada Day!

I noticed my last post was for a optimistic 2020....well...it has gone more like this...

Death of Guardian, "Alpha Flight" #12

Canada Day 2019

Happy Canada Day!

RIP Gord Downie

Gord Downie  1964-2017

Gone too soon. The front-man to Canada's band. So many iconic songs about what it is to be Canadian, but one of my favorites below. You will be missed.

Leonard Cohen 1934-2016

Sad to hear the news about the passing of Leonard Cohan yesterday. An extremely talented poet, songwriter and singer and a great Canadian. He will be missed.

Seemed appropriate for today.

and one of my favorite Leonard Cohen songs.

One Hundred and Forty Nine Years Young

Happy Canada Day!!

Hope everyone has a great and safe long weekend!

Au revoir...

I am not the biggest hockey fan. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy watching a game now and again, but I am not one of those hard core hockey fans that can't not watch. Most of the enjoyment I get out of watching hockey is from my dad's love of the game. And as a French Canadian of course there is only one team he could possibly cheer for when I was a kid. The Habs, or Montreal Canadians to those not in the know.

That is one of the reasons I was sad to hear about the passing of Jean Beliveau. Along with "Rocket" Richard part of the golden age of hockey and the Canadians with an incredible ten Stanley Cup wins in his career. Described by friends and acquaintances as kind, polite and modest, he was handsome and articulate as well as bi-lingual...everything Canada and Canadians are thought to be. A true gentleman and role model to us all. R.I.P. Monsieur Beliveau.

Jean Beliveau. August 31, 1931- December 2, 2014

"Go West Young Man...Go West"

Having grown up in the interior of British Columbia, in the heart of the Rocky Mountains a can say unequivocally that this is accurate.

No Mail for You

provided its not between the hours of 11:30-12:30

So, I go to mail a parcel to my son at about 11:40. I figure "I'll pop this in the mail, then grab some lunch and pick my other son up from work for lunch at noon". Now, you would think that the most common time to do mail would be like doing banking. If you have a 9 to 5 job that means over lunch. But wait...Canada Post is first and foremost a government agency, so of course they are closed from 11:30am till 12:30pm. Makes totally perfect business sense. What it really makes, is hard to feel sorry that you are struggling to stay in business with such lofty levels of customer service.

I do believe you asteroid is here, ya dinosaurs.

A Century Ago Today

One hundred years ago today the Great War (before we knew better than to start numbering them) began.  Twenty-eighth day of July, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia after they only met 8 of the 10 demands of the "July Ultimatum". The first act of aggression that would plunge much of the world into one of the deadliest conflicts in history.

British MkI Tank

German Tri-plane

The powers involved, both Allied and Central, were approaching the war from their old tactical methodology. The huge advances in technology, such as the machine gun, the aircraft and later the tank and the U-boat submarine as well as advances in artillery turned the war into trench warfare. A long slow slug-fest that would drag on for four years and cost the lives of over nine million combatants and many more injured. It also saw the creation and use of chemical weapons. The affects of them were so horrible the use of them has be banned by almost every nation on earth since the end of the war.

Union Jack of the British Empire

The Red Ensign of The Dominion of Canada

From the Canadian perspective, we had really just been a British colony up till that point. "The Great War" gave us a chance to shine, an opportunity "to show our quality". It was during this conflict that Canada really came into its own and became a country unto itself and not just an extension of the British Empire. We sent almost half a million personnel to Europe, in defence of Britain and France. For a country of just over 7 million at the time that was around 14% of our population.

Canadian Fighter Ace, Billy Bishop

I used to know a gentleman who fought in this war (as well as the Boar War). His name was Bill Clayton, and was a close friend of my family. Truth is he was originally a friend of my Great Grandparents, and as he had no family here in Canada, he was adopted into our family, and was always a staple at Sunday dinners and all family events. I spent quite a few evenings in my teens talking about his experiences during the war for history papers. And my Great Uncle, Charles Morrison, also fought in the war as a signal-man. One of the most dangerous jobs, you would crawl into no-mans-land and listen for enemy preparations and signal back to your trenches about imminent attacks. Yet made it through the war only being wounded once and died a few years later in a accident on the family farm. When your time is up, it's up.

All the vets of this war have passed into memory. Yet we still remember the end of the war every year on Remembrance Day. The Great War ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, in the year of our lord one thousand nine hundred eighteen. It has defined so much of our history and who we are over the last century. The end of an era and the start of the modern age.

Badges, We Don't Need No Stinkin' Badges.

I'm calling bullshit.

For years, people always joke about police pulling more people over to make quotas at the end of a month. The Media ask them during fluff pieces and the police always laugh and say, no, that's just a urban myth, we don't do that. So...bullshit.

Over the four, five minute trips taking my daughter to work and back today. Over the course of a day, in the very small town (population just under 9,000) that I live in. On this last weekend of the month, and only a few days left till August 1st. I have past six (6)...yes, SIX traffic stops to and from where my daughter works on the far side of town. It wasn't busier than any other weekend. But the number of RCMP and local Bylaw Officers was just insane. One or two stops, and I wouldn't even have noticed. Even three or maybe even four wouldn't have raise my notice. But SIX!! Three of those on the 5 min trip home from picking her up!

"No quota" my ass.

70th Anniversary D-Day

The 6th of June, 1944. Operation Overlord begins, a day late due to bad weather. The writing is on the wall for the Axis powers in control of Europe.

Such very much hinged on this one massive operation. The very success of  the war against Hitler, Germany, and the reign of Fascism in Europe rested on the young men of the United States, Great Britain and Canada as well as other allied nations. Amazing that even though all the official, carefully laid plans of the Generals had turned to chaos within minutes of the landing, that the Allied Forces prevailed that day. Once the beachheads were secured the liberation of Europe could begin, and the end of the Nazi nightmare was one big step nearer its inevitable end.

Canadian Troops landing on Juno Beach 6 June 1944

70 years have passed, and the number of WWII vets that are still around grows smaller every year. Just another reason to always remember the sacrifice given by those young men who never came home and those who did.