Marc Kealey Online

This past Canada Day “weekend” was marked by several significant events that marked clearly the fact that Canada is a significant player on the world’s stage.

Consider that the reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II came to Canada to celebrate Canada Day at the same time that she is celebrating her 60th year as the Queen of the United Kingdom and Canada and to celebrate the 150th year of the running of the Queen’s Plate. Bravo Your Highness!

The recent G8 and G20 Summits were significant milestones for Canada. Despite the media’s propensity to report on the activities of a few zealots who wanted media attention by rampaging and then agitating further public enmity against law enforcement, the outcome for the Summit was nothing short of a slam dunk for the PM. Consider that the world’s failing economies, to wit, the United States and several other G20 nations, deemed it appropriate to tax major financial institutions to cover the costs of poor public policy our PM (love him or hate him) stood firm and almost single handedly against that onslaught to rail against a poor public policy decision and – beat them down. It was a pivotal moment to have the President of the USA publicly embrace his admiration for Stephen Harper. Forget this “fake lake” business, forget these black bloc hoodlums, why don’t we collectively take a breath and consider the achievement of Prime Minister Harper’s leadership on the world’s stage. A great Canadian moment.

This weekend also marked the annual Pride Day parade. It is an event that captures the world’s attention for one thing only – the rights and freedoms of people. Point Finale. Pride Day is a celebration for all people regardless of their sexual orientation, colour, religion or race. It is another example of how Canada is leading the world. I noted with my own personal pride that Americans and others from all over the world came to Canada to celebrate Pride Day – with over one million spectators – some even venturing to marry here because they are not allowed same sex marriage in their own state or country.

These are but a few examples of the Canada the world is coming to know better.

For those of us fortunate enough to have a family cottage at a lake – which appears to be many given the traffic this past weekend, another part of Canadiana played out this past weekend. The celebration of the family unit and children was a key part of our weekend. We celebrated the Canada Day holiday in the confines of our weekend retreat surrounded by family and friends, the droll of the waves on the shore, the cicadas, the loons , the sounds of a bottle of beer or can of pop opening, the ever present buzzing of a boat and watched the World Cup! We argued over what country would win – Germany, Argentina, Paraguay, Spain, Netherlands, Uruguay, Ghana … and none of us are from any of those countries. You gotta love Canada!