"Woman of Labrador" by Figgy Duff

Music on Sunday @ The Reaction

By Richard K. Barry

In a little less than two weeks I will be on my way to Labrador, which is, of course, a part of Newfoundland and Labrador. If you are in the U.S. and don't know a great deal about Canadian geography, get a map, go to the east coast of Canada, find the island of Newfoundland and then go more or less north until you hit Labrador.

My wife was born in a small town in Newfoundland and then relocated to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador as a child. Her father worked at the U.S. military base there, which may be the only reason I had ever heard of the place growing up in the U.S. It was a stop along the way for American soldiers who had to cross the Atlantic Ocean and in that context I'm fairly sure I'd heard it mentioned now and again.

So, I will be there soon. I am assured it is a beautiful place with breathtaking landscapes. I'm sure that's true. My wife will arrive a week before me for what they call a come home week, which should be pretty self-explanatory. I'm looking forward to it.

The song featured below is called "Woman of Labrador," which is an absolutely haunting tune written by Andy Vine. I know very little about him except that he is still working as a musician on the west coast of Canada and is best known for having written this song.

The performance is by a legendary Newfoundland group called Figgy Duff, with Pamela Morgan on vocals.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

Canada Day 2011

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Happy Birthday, Canada!!!

We're 144 years old today.

To all my Canadian friends and family, have a safe and happy day. And to everyone else, to all of you from around the world, take a bit of time today to think of us. This is pretty wonderful country.

I posted this clip three years ago, and last year, and I'll post it again. It's one of the most stirring renditions of our national anthem I've ever heard, sung by the fans at Edmonton's Rexall Place before Game 3 of the NHL Western Conference playoff series between the Oilers and the Anaheim Ducks on May 23, 2006 (the Oilers won the series in five games before losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in the finals, 4-3).

The Stanley Cup finals, the Vancouver Canucks, and hockey in Canada

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I grew up in Montreal and, as you might imagine (if you know anything about hockey), am a Habs fan, but when it comes to this year's Stanley Cup finals between Boston and Vancouver, the choice for me is clear. It's the Canucks all the way. Partly it's ABB -- Anyone But Boston. I despise the Bruins. But it would also be nice for a Canadian team to win the Cup. It hasn't happened since the Canadiens won for the 24th time in 1993.

As you may have heard, if you didn't see the game, Vancouver won the series opener 1-0 last night with the deciding goal scored late in the third period -- actually, with just 18.5 second left.

Actually, these are extremely good times for hockey in Canada. (And it's about time.) We won the men's and women's Olympic gold medals in Vancouver last year. We have the Canucks. And now we also have a new team, the Winnipeg somethings (Jets?), with the announcement just this week that the Atlanta Thrashers, struggling in a virtually non-existent hockey market, had been sold and would move to Manitoba.

The NHL's -- and specifically commissioner Gary Bettman's -- ridiculous expansion plan into non-hockey markets in the U.S., all to secure revenue (mostly from a TV deal) that hasn't come, has been, for the most part, an embarrassing failure. While some franchises have done fairly well, like Dallas, others have struggled badly, like Atlanta, Phoenix, Nashville, and the two Florida teams. (To be fair, other franchises even in major markets have struggled as well, like the Islanders, on Long Island.)

Instead of trying to make it where hockey barely registers, it would be far better for the NHL to focus on traditional hockey markets with committed fan bases. Winnipeg is a start, but Quebec City should have a team again (the Nordiques became the Colorado Avalanche, just as the Winnipeg Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes) and the Toronto area, the most important hockey market in the world, should have a second team, either in Hamilton, a city roughly halfway between Toronto and Buffalo, or somewhere even closer to Toronto. We could certainly sustain both the Maple Leafs and another team.

Other than Toronto/Hamilton, these Canadian cities, like Winnipeg and Quebec City, may be smaller than Atlanta and Phoenix, but it's not the size of the city or metropolitan area, it's the commitment to hockey. And we have it. Oh, do we have it.

But back to the game...

I have one team and one team only: the Montreal Canadiens. I grew up with them, I idolized Lafleur and Robinson and Dryden and the rest of the players on those great teams of the '70s, and I was there with my dad, at the old Forum, when they won the Cup against the Rangers in 1979. We've won the Cup twice since then, but it's been a challenging time in recent years for the greatest, most glorious franchise in the history of hockey.

I don't always root for the Canadian teams next -- I also despise the Maple Leafs, for example, and I wouldn't always go for the Canadian team over the American -- but this year I really do hope we get the Cup back. Go Canucks!

(photo)

Photo of the Day: Royal Wedding insanity 2

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Following up on my PotD post from yesterday...

The wedding is done. Over. But it's been hard to escape it today.

Even in Canada...

We have a federal election on Monday and yet our media have been swept up in the insanity across the pond, and all because this country is too pathetically servile, too disrespectful of our liberty, to cast off the British Monarchy for good, to toss it in the dustbin of our history, where it belongs. Even our most prominent journalist, CBC news anchor Peter Mansbridge, has been reporting from London. I find it all utterly revolting.

You can find photos all over the place. (Or you can just turn on the TV.) But here's another pre-wedding one. The insanity is palpable.

(Photo from The Globe and Mail: "Royal fans wait outside Westminster Abbey Thursday. The marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton takes place Friday in London, England.)

I'm embarrassed today even to have anything to do with Britain, even though my family lives there and I'm a British (and Canadian) citizen. It's a wonderful place, in many ways, a country I love.

And yet...

Photo of the Day: Royal Wedding insanity

By Michael J.W. Stickings

(We're going to try to make this a regular feature. So check back daily for Photo of the Day posts, usually around this time.)

Photo from The Globe and Mail: "A royal wedding fan prepares his overnight position on the pavement outside Westminster Abbey in London."

Have I mentioned, with so much attention on William & Kate and their impending nuptials, that I'm more ashamed than ever to be, as both a Canadian and British citizen, a "subject" of Her Majesty, and to be associated, even by nationality, with the masses of people who are obsessed with this stupid wedding?

And have I mentioned that I despise both the British Monarchy and monarchy generally?

And that, when it comes to Canada, the country I call my own, I'm a republican? It's truly shameful that our head of state is essentially a foreign monarch and that we kowtow, figuratively speaking (because we should never accept such submission), before an utterly ridiculous institution and an equally ridiculous family that has done nothing to deserve its position of privilege?

Well, there you go. Needless to say, I will not be watching the wedding on TV.

Sarah Harmer: singer-songwriter and activist

Music on Sunday @ The Reaction

By R.K. Barry

A few years back I was involved in organizing a fundraiser for a candidate running for the Canadian Parliament from a riding (district) in Toronto. The candidate in question was my lovely wife, Marilyn Churley, who by then had already had a distinguished political career as a member of provincial parliament in Ontario over a couple of decades and as a cabinet minister for a part of that stretch.

Marilyn decided it was time for a change, and although the campaign was ultimately unsuccessful for a number of reasons I won't bother to go into here, it was quite a ride.

The fundraiser was billed as a celebration of Marilyn's 20 years of public service. A number of Canadian celebrities were on the program, including politicians, journalists, musicians, and actors (such as Shirley Douglas, a famous Canadian actress who is the mother of actor Keifer Sutherland and the daughter of Tommy Douglas, the man considered to be the father of Canada's wildly popular government health-care system -- all information for any American who might be reading this).

A highlight of the evening was a few songs offered by celebrated singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer, who had done some important environmental work with Marilyn and was supporting her in the campaign. Unfortunately, the videographer was not able to patch into the soundboard, so the audio is from an open-air microphone. Still sounds pretty good.

I love Sarah Harmer's music. Beautiful voice, beautifully crafted songs.

At one point, the camera breaks away from the stage to take some audience shots. Marilyn is the one in the orange dress at about the 2:25 mark. As an added point of interest, a few moments later the camera is on Jack Layton, leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada (a left-wing social democratic party), which, if polls hold, might have an electoral breakthrough on May 2nd, the day of the upcoming federal vote. In this case a breakthrough would mean supplanting the Liberal Party of Canada as official opposition, still behind what is likely to be a continuing conservative government. Jack is the one in the dark jacket and white shirt at about the 7:30 mark. Again, all Canadians would know this, but Americans are, alas, less likely to follow the exciting world of politics north of their border.

Not that you were asking, but you won't see me in any of the shots because I was in the shadows stage managing, which is typically where I like to be.

Anyway, back to the music. Sarah did a great job, as always. Some of you will notice that the MC is Jian Ghomeshi, formerly of the singing group Moxy Früvous and more recently of CBC Radio's Q.

Here's Sarah on stage that night:

(Cross-posted at Music Across the 49th)

The Province of Florida

By Mustang Bobby.

NPR's Greg Allen had a report on Friday's All Things Considered about how Canadians are snapping up Florida real estate in record numbers thanks to the housing crash here and the strong economy in Canada.

The cars in a parking lot at Walmart in Hallandale Beach, near Fort Lauderdale, tell the tale. About 1 of out every 10 vehicles is from Canada. It's February; the weather is warm in Florida, so many are visiting tourists. But other Canadians are putting down roots.

One recent transplant, Doug Flood says, "If there ever was an 11th [Canadian] province, it probably would be Florida."

That got me thinking; with the U.S. economy in trouble and people from other countries willing to invest here, maybe Mr. Flood is on to something.  In order to balance the books, maybe we could do what a lot of people do when they're in financial straits: sell off property.  So maybe we could put out feelers to Ottawa: how much would they pay to buy Florida?
 
It would take a couple of appraisals, but I'm willing to bet that it would go for at least $10 trillion.  That would put a big dent in the deficit, and it would save the U.S. a lot of money in the future by not having to defend the southern border against flotillas of boat people coming from Haiti and drug smugglers coming in from other places.  And since Canada has full diplomatic relations with Cuba, the exile community here could travel back and forth to see their friends and families any time they wish instead of having to jump through all the ridiculous hoops that the State Department and Treasury make them go through just to get their abuelita a cell phone.

Going Canadian has some other advantages.  Their economy is stable, thanks to strong banking regulations that would have prevented the housing crash.  Their Charter of Rights and Freedoms is just as strong as the Bill of Rights.  For the liberals, Canada is a paradise with marriage equality for all people, strong gun-control provisions, and a foreign policy that basically says, "Hey, we're a big country but we're not obnoxious about it."  And for conservatives, there's a long tradition of hunting and fishing for the rednecks, and for the country-clubbers there's that link to the British heritage that still makes a big deal about class differences.  Canada is a part of the Commonwealth, and Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Canada.  Most Republicans are secretly monarchists, anyway; they've always believed in the divine right of elderly white people with lots of property being in charge of the masses.  And when Fantasy Fest rolls around in Key West, we could invite the Queen to participate in the festivities; a Queen among queens, as it were.

Canadian politics are generally more liberal than they are here; the farthest right-winger up there would be a moderate Republican here, and they have such things as single-payer healthcare administered by the provinces (which amounts to Medicare for all, regardless of age), along with private doctors and insurance, too, so there's the best of both worlds.  They also have a parliamentary system.  It's a lot like our system, with a lower house elected by the people and a senate (although their senators are appointed by the government and basically do nothing), but in their case the leader of the political party with the most seats is the Prime Minister, and he or she can be voted out any time by a vote of No Confidence.  Imagine doing that to John Boehner.

Other good points: the Canadian national anthem is much more singable and the lyrics are pretty easy.  The flag is simple: red and white with the maple leaf in the middle.  (The Florida provincial flag could have a palm frond.)  Both English and French are the official languages, but I'm sure we could work Spanish in there somehow.  They have different holidays than we do, but they're close to ours; Canada Day -- their Fourth of July -- is July 1, and instead of Memorial Day in May, they have Victoria Day around the same time.  They have Labour Day when we do, and their Thanksgiving is in October instead of November.  Retailers would love that; it adds six weeks to the Christmas shopping season.  Their money is the same as ours with dollars and cents, and their bank notes are very colourful.  The only thing we'd have to get used to is calling the dollar coin a "loonie," named for the bird on the back of the coin.  (The two-dollar coin is called, naturally, the "toonie.")  They have a form of football like we do; in fact, a lot of Americans have played in the Canadian Football League.  The rules are a little different -- three downs instead of four and 110 yards instead of 100 -- but it's football, not soccer, so the Dolphins, Buccaneers, and Jaguars could easily adapt, and they might even win a few games.  For those of us who love the arts, Canadians have always been strong supporters of theatre, art, and music.  Oh, and they do know how to make really good beer and whiskey.  As for technology, Waterloo, Ontario, is the home of the company that came up with the BlackBerry.  (But we won't hold that against them, I suppose.)

There are some downsides:  Canada uses the metric system, so there would be a lot of confusion for those who still don't know a meter (or a metre) from their foot.  Taxes are higher, depending on the province.  But I'm sure we could work things out; most of our cars already have metric speedometers (look at the little numbers inside the gauge) and buying gas by the litre wouldn't change how big your gas tank is.  You could also go 100 on the Palmetto Expressway in Miami...assuming you know that it's only 62 mph, and assuming the traffic isn't bumper-to-bumper.

But the really big question is whether or not Canada would take us.  Sure, they're buying up all the land and vacant homes and shopping at Wal-Mart and we provide a winter refuge for most of the provinces of Ontario and Quebec; in Hollywood, Florida, you see as many signs that say Ici on parle français as you do Se habla español.  But would they want to buy this distressed property?  It's a nice place to visit, but it's a real fixer-upper if you're going to buy.

Cross-posted from Bark Bark Woof Woof.

Have I mentioned I don't much care for the British Monarchy?

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Yes, I know the Queen's on our coins. And, yes, as both a Canadian and British citizen, I know I'm supposedly a "subject" of "Her Majesty."

And I'm not quite sure what the alternative should be in Canada. (We need a "head of state," after all, not just a prime minister. An elected "president," as in Germany?)

But, honestly, I can't stand them.

(Actually, Charles is the only one I like. Sort of.)

And the whole William-Kate wedding saga is just irritating. As if we should care. (About Diana's/Kate's ring, about Kate's engagement dress, about what Kate will be called, about any of it.)

It's bad enough in Britain. It's worse when Canadians bow before such nonsense.

Are we really so pathetic a nation that we need the British Monarchy above us?

Photo from The Globe and Mail: "Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall visit Australia House to mark Australia Day, in central London January 26, 2011."