International, Society

This Is Why I Love Canadians

I have often written about my love for traveling in Canada. This video reminds me why I love Canadians. At the November 18, 2014 Maple Leafs game against the Nashville Predators, the mic cut off during the singing of our national anthem so the Canadians finished singing the song for us.

Of course, this will not influence my loyalty when the Maple Leafs next play my Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks play the Calgary Flames tonight without rookie defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk who is injured. He is the he younger brother of Toronto Maple Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk. I will be watching tonight in full Hawks regalia.

72 thoughts on “This Is Why I Love Canadians”

  1. As a Canadian who happened upon this blog tonight and read the comments, I wanted to add a few of my own:

    First of all, Paul, if you are American, then God bless you for knowing something about our history as I’ve too often seen/heard Americans bashing us without even knowing our history.

    We were in both world wars from the beginning, our losses were so heavy in WWI that we basically lost an entire generation of men to the horror of trench warfare and chemical warfare (first time ever used was in World War I at Ypres)…Vimy, the Somme, Beaumont-Hamel, Ypres, etc. are all sacred places to me. And yes, we were the Shock Troops of the British Empire in WWI (along with the Australians) because they found that our troops would not give up no matter what! They would fight to the death. In fact at Ypres, when the Germans gassed the Allies for the first time ever in the history of warfare, our troops would not even break the line despite the fact that they had no protective gear because they knew if they did, that the Allies might not be able to recover. They had to use urine-soaked handkerchiefs over their faces to try to keep fighting but they did and they did not allow the Germans to break them. After fighting and winning some battles that they said couldn’t be won, they were later used as the spearhead of Allied invasions in WWI. Germans would prepare for the worst/bring in elite troops if they knew Canadian troops were in the area because they knew it would be a hard fight. The last 100 days of that war, they were undefeated in every battle they fought.

    In WWII, we were once again in the fight from the start… running over 25,000 perilous missions across the Atlantic, dodging German submarines to take food and supplies to England when Hitler tried to starve them out. We trained pilots from across the Commonwealth in Canada (and even some from the U.S. who enlisted with us,) we were there in the skies during the Battle of Britain, we stood guard in England, we fought and died in France and Belgium and the Netherlands and Italy and we stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day as well, our beach was Juno.

    So Isaac, I would really suggest that you think twice before calling Canada “gutless.” The fact is that we don’t like war and we don’t think going to war should be done lightly, that does not make us “gutless” as we have fought in the wars we found to be necessary. We also, by the way, fought in your Civil War (circa 65,000 Canadians,) we fought in Korea and we also have sent soldiers to many countries around the world for decades as peacekeepers when requested.

    If you doubt what I have said, I suggest you consult the Canadian War Museum online for histories of our involvement in the wars or the writings of Dr. Tim Cook who has exhaustively researched and written 2 very extensive histories of Canada in WWI (“At the Sharp End” and “Shock Troops.”)

    And by the way, a lot of Americans seem to be unaware that many of their own countrymen enlisted and served with us (and died with us) as the U.S. was not fighting for the first few years of both those wars. You can find out more about them online too or take a look at “Immigrants of War” (immigrantsofwar.blogspot.ca)

    Lastly, Jim, even if Quebec ever split from us, I don’t think English Canada would join the U.S. although we would still be your neighbours. I know it may seem like there are no differences between us, but once you scratch the surface, we do have some very real differences that would make it hard to agree on policies. 😉

    Silk

    1. Silk – it was nice of you to respond. Yes, you had shock troops, but you did not invent them and they were not Stormtroopers. As I said, my complaint is with the current wimpy governments of Canada.

      BTW, if Canada does split apart, at least two provinces will join the US. For 1 USD I will tell you which two.

  3. trooperyork – “What do you get when you put 32 Hockey fans in a room?

    A full set of teeth.”

    Since we are telling teeth jokes, what is 100 ft long and has one tooth?

    Front row of a Willie Nelson concert.

  4. Previous commenter said:

    “Renewable energy” is efficient. The only people who don’t know that are the evil, evil electricity utilities and their professionals and their scientists. What?

    Electricity utilities “refuse” to generate electricity deploying “renewable energy” sources because they “love” inefficiency and they are evil entities sent to earth by the Devil. The Devil made them NOT do it.

    The only people who “know” that “renewable energy” sources are efficient, turn out to be the environmentalist wacko, sky-is-falling, climate change, tree huggers.

    And then there is his Eminence, the Emperor, Obama.

    “Liberals Gone Wild”

    Does the Book of Revelations says that irrationality and incoherence will be the hallmarks of the end times?

  6. Jim 22

    You’re right Gretzky was a center. I got used to him being compared to Gordie Howe who was a right winger and considered a great defensive player. It is Sather not Slather but you’re wrong on the rest. Gretzky was head and shoulders above the rest for pure athletic skill and sportsmanlike behavior, something which is in short supply in hockey. One year 81/82 he broke all records, scoring 92 goals, then 83/84 87, He lead the league twice more. He lead the league in assists 12 years straight, the same years he lead in scoring. He fed the puck to the up and coming stars like Yari Kurri, Esa Tikkanen, and Mark Messier. It was generally accepted that this resulted in Edmonton getting more out of their players than if he simply had continued scoring. Statistically, Gretzky is in a league of his own. One may admire another player’s style and some specific attributes but Gretzky is the greatest hockey player to ever have played the game. Before him there was Gordie Howe, Rocket Ricard, Boom Boom Geoffrion, etc.

    It is hard to compare players from when their were only six teams, when I grew up with ‘Hockey Night in Canada’. Maurice Richard worked at a full time job and then played at night for the Canadians, less padding, more hockey. If you want to see the all time best hockey movie, rent ‘The Rocket’. His brother Henri was not bad either.

  7. Isaac pissed on both his legs saying Gretzky was a defenseman. That is a huge tell!

  10. I played hockey with a Canuck once and I was making fun of how he said “out” and he replied, “Ok, how do you say about?”

  11. What is the difference between Canadians and Americans?

    On says “ok” and the other says “eh”.

  13. Jim Rose:

    1. Worldwide demand is down. In the U.S. it’s down more than 10% from pre-recession levels, and we had started producing more oil before the fracking boom. In addition, other countries are moving much more quickly than the U.S. in developing alternative energy, I was in Germany several months ago and that country is now producing about 30% of its electricity from renewable energy sources. We could do that here, as well, but Congress lacks the political courage to take on an industry that lines its collective pockets.

    2. If the industry considered fracking safe, companies would not refuse to disclose the chemicals used in the fracking process,

    3. There have been a number of instances of groundwater contamination from fracking. That should surprise nobody.

    4. A Texas jury recently hit one company with a multi-million dollar verdict for damages from toxic air emissions. That, I am sure, is only the first of a number of such verdicts we can expect.

  14. Squeeky Fromm, Girl Reporter – “This is one reason I like Canada. It produces a whole lot of good musicians, like Lindi Ortega:”

    Couldn’t agree more…
    My favorite group.

  15. The best artillery regiment in the world (Winnepeg) ‘surrendered’ their weapons to the Americans to instead became fodder on the front lines during ‘WW-W/E’. From cruise missiles to ‘tar sands and cheaters’, this is a world-class colony for picking up good hockey players, and dumping dirty projects. Some may recall how ‘repatriating the constitution’ plus ‘free trade’ equalled ‘farewell economic sovereignty’. It’s one (corporate) world now. But let’s pretend U.S. power- lobbyists ‘don’t’ sit in our parliamentary gallery dictating policy on their laptops!

  16. If Canada ever breaks into two nations, the English speaking will eventually join the US.

  17. Tar Sand Oil goes into the total output supply in the US. If it is going to China, then where is the Oil China was buying previously going now?I t is staying in the US. The effect is the same. The supply has greatly increased, demand has not decreased.

    Also, just recently, the US passed Saudi Arabia as the worlds largest oil producer. Its the supply increase, not lack of demand.

    If the Obama EPA guy was not first, then he must of been second.

    The point is that video was plastered all over the Liberal Main Stream media as proof fracking was harmful to everyone. It was GRUBERISM plain and simple.

    Jim Rose

  18. Isaac, Gretzky was a center and did not play defense. At the time I can remember we used to wonder if “The Great One” even knew who his goalie was since in our opinion, he didn’t play both ends of the ice. I’m not saying he wasn’t any good, but he couldn’t deliver a hit and he was mostly an assist machine. Again, not a bad thing but if I had to pick an overall all time center it would be Mario Lemieux. Size, speed and agility. Hated him, but would have loved to have him. By the way it is Sather not Slather.

    I was never a Messier fan, especially with the freakin’ Rangers, but I always liked his comment at the end of the 83 cup finals. He said that they Edmonton players went by the Islanders locker after getting swept by them and they noticed that is wasn’t a huge party/celebration scene. The Islander players were exhausted and hurting. The Oiler’s realized then what it took to win the cup. Unfortunately they took that lesson to heart and stopped the “Strive Foe Five” the following year.

  19. Jim 22

    Gretzky was a defenseman and statistically proven to be so far out in front there isn’t even a second place in sight. He was by far the most intelligent player of his time. At his light weight he had to be. Glen Slather was the Billy Beane of Hockey and the reason for Edmonton’s success. Esa Tikanen was in the immigration office in the morning and on the ice in the second period. No one had any idea who he was. Slather got players for next to nothing and then Pocklington sold them for millions. LA Kings got Gretzky and that made LA a hockey town. Yari Kurri went to St. Louis. Messier and crew won the Stanley Cup for NY. Edmonton probably produced more super stars than any team since Montreal.

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