The royal visit: So much more than a photo op
By John Fraser - Monday, July 11, 2011 - 0 Comments
William and Kate’s first great adventure as a married couple breathed new life into an old relationship
John Stillwell/Getty Images
Amongst the unbelievers of the Crown in Canada, you could almost touch the chagrin, from sea to sea, as the extraordinarily successful 2011 royal tour unfolded last week. William and Kate, the newly minted duke and duchess of Cambridge, the future king and queen of Canada, didn’t just come and see and conquer: they vamped us. They did it with warmth and charm and youthful sexiness, then topped it all with a reminder, unambiguous and impossible to ignore, that the ties that bound us “from days of yore” still have the power to renew something very important in our history.
“Will and Kate” are now part of the Canadian story. A big part. Those monarchists who have tried over the years, like Queen Elizabeth II herself, not to be “fair-weather friends” were almost as stunned as the unbelievers as they watched this beautiful and caring young couple walk into our tale and hearts with such aplomb and grace that they seem to have started a whole new chapter.
It was more than just a gesture that, on Canada Day, Catherine wore the maple-leaf-shaped diamond pin the Queen wears so often when she comes to Canada and that had been loaned to the future queen for this trip, the first great adventure in the couple’s married lives after their storybook wedding. The brooch was also a kind of talisman of the past joining them to the future.
-
Entertaining Will and Kate
By Paul Wells - Friday, July 8, 2011 at 11:00 AM - 16 Comments
WELLS: Picking the Canada Day lineup was a delicate task
Sean Kilpatrick/CP
From 2003 to 2006, Fox Television carried a strange TV comedy called Arrested Development. It featured a story arc involving a failed actor named Tobias Fünke who auditions for the theatre troupe Blue Man Group because he thinks it’s a support group for depressed men. For several episodes, Fünke wears blue body paint, which comes in handy when he realizes he can blend in with the blue parts of outdoor billboards, allowing him to spy on the rest of his family.
For a while, on July 1, I wondered whether Kate Middleton was inspired by Tobias Fünke when she decided to show up at the big Canada Day celebration on Parliament Hill dressed as a Canadian flag.
In a release to the Ottawa press rabble, “the Press Secretary to TRH the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge” described Kate’s outfit as “a cream dress by Reiss, with The Queen’s Maple Leaf brooch and a hat by Sylvia Fletcher at Lock and Co.” From any distance, however, the most striking thing about Kate’s outfit was that it was red at both ends—hat and pumps—and whitish through the middle, except for the reddish purse where the maple leaf would be if she were flapping sideways from a mast, not that I would ever advocate such a course of action.
-
Recipe: Canada Day Strawberry Shortcake
By Elaine Fritz - Monday, July 4, 2011 at 8:58 AM - 0 Comments
Don’t forget to sing O Canada!
Photograph by Andrew Tolson
Ingredients:
Cake
1 cup organic raw sugar
½ cup melted butter
3 organic eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups organic all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup organic filtered milkStrawberries
8 cups sliced fresh strawberries plus 1 cup organic raw sugar
1 package clear glaze powder (approximately 1 tbsp)Topping
1 pint whipping cream
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 tbsp icing sugar
few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 package whipping cream stabilizer (approximately 1 tbsp)Flag decoration
2 packages dried strawberry fruit strips (leather)Procedure: Continue…
-
‘A day of unity’
By Aaron Wherry - Friday, July 1, 2011 at 3:10 PM - 6 Comments
The prepared text of Prince William’s remarks on Parliament Hill.
Bonjour Ottawa! Bonjour Canada! Bonne fete Canada! Je suis tellement heureux d’être de retour au Canada – ce pays magnifique – et d’avoir la chance d’apprendre à mieux vous connaître.
I’m excited to be able to share this with Catherine because she has told me that she feels exactly the same way. She heard about Canada not from her parents, but from her grandfather, a wonderful man who passed away last year, but who held this country dear to his heart – for he trained in Alberta as a young pilot during the Second World War.
To be here on Canada Day – a day of unity, a day of coming together as families, and as a nation – is even more special for us.
-
‘There is something special about our country’
By Aaron Wherry - Friday, July 1, 2011 at 3:05 PM - 2 Comments
The prepared text of the Prime Minister’s statement at Canada Day ceremonies on Parliament Hill.
To Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, distinguished guests and my fellow Canadians here on Parliament Hill, across Canada and around the world, Happy Canada Day everybody. What a great day. What a great crowd. I thought we had a big crowd last year, but I think this is the biggest yet.
Today our Confederation, our country, is 144 years old. But, having just recently travelled all across this great land, I think it is more accurate to say that Canada is 144 years young. Our country is barely scratching the surface of its full potential, be it here at home or on the international scene.
-
10 reasons why there has never been a better time to be a Canadian
By macleans.ca - Friday, July 1, 2011 at 2:59 PM - 3 Comments
Canadians are healthier in most every sense than a long list of wealthy, developed nations
At 144, we are in better shape in most every sense than a long list of wealthy, developed nations. Our Canada Day special is a reminder that by many global measures we are a blessed bastion of privilege, peace, freedom–and big roomy houses. Read on to find out the ten reasons why there has never been a better time to be Canadian and be sure to check out the full story here.
-
A reminder, on Canada Day, of how far we have come
By From the editors - Friday, July 1, 2011 at 1:35 PM - 2 Comments
While we celebrate Canada Day, Maclean’s takes a look back
Courtesy of Bruce Bradford
The dapper newsie to your right is Bill Bradford. The year is 1934, and Bill is 12 or 13 years old. According to his son Bruce, who sent us this photo, the lifelong Brockville resident has just been officially proclaimed Maclean’s sales champion for eastern Ontario. If young Bill looks a little serious, even troubled, for a contest winner, it’s because his job was serious business. “As a representative of your company,” says Bruce, “he supported his impoverished parents and three younger siblings by working the streets to help them survive.”
Bill died on May 4, one summer’s span short of his 90th birthday. Maclean’s was just one of the ways he sustained his family through the worst of the Depression. With his father unable to hold down work and often altogether absent, young Bradford worked unceasingly, hauling luggage at the rail station and hustling tickets for Thousand Islands boat tours. He remembered stealing fuel from a local coal yard whose sympathetic proprietor would feign inattention. “He once asked me, ‘Bruce, do you think you’d steal to make sure your family was warm?’ ” Bruce recalls. “I said, ‘No, I don’t think so.’ He looked at me and said, ‘Yes. You would.’ ”
Bill trained for the infantry during the war but never got overseas. A younger brother died fighting in France. Later, at the outset of his 40-year career as a relay adjuster in Brockville’s Phillips Cable plant, Bill lost a young wife to breast cancer; Bruce was just six at the time. Bill’s humble station didn’t stop him from winning friends across the class spectrum. An energetic raconteur and a soft touch for charities, his social circle included everyone from senators to street kids. Most men pushing 90 have outlived most of their friends, but Bill Bradford’s funeral brought in a hundred mourners.
-
Happy Canada Day from Maclean’s staff (plus: our thoughts on strawberry shortcake)
By Claire Ward - Thursday, June 30, 2011 at 6:00 PM - 0 Comments
Jessica Allen polls the newsroom for shortcake memories
Shot & edited by Claire Ward
-
Maclean’s 3rd annual Toughest Canada Day Quiz Ever
By macleans.ca - Thursday, June 30, 2011 at 8:00 AM - 7 Comments
Think you know a lot about Canada? Think again.
And once you’ve completed this year’s edition, try your hand at 2010 edition and the 2009 edition. Don’t forget to let us know how you did in the comments!
-
'God bless Canada'
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 6:27 PM - 14 Comments
The text of the Queen’s remarks to the crowd on Parliament Hill this afternoon.
Prime Minister, Minister, distinguished guests, fellow Canadians.
Aujourd’hui, partout au pays, des Canadiens se réunissent pour célébrer l’histoire du Canada, son identité et ses réalisations. À mon avis, il n’y a pas meilleure raison de célébrer. Thank you for inviting Prince Philip and me to join you all on this special day.
During my lifetime, I have been a witness to this country for more than half its history since Confederation. I have watched with enormous admiration how Canada has grown and matured while remaining true to its history, its distinctive character and its values.
-
Toughest Canada Day Quiz Ever
By macleans.ca - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 5:58 PM - 33 Comments
Yes, it’s even tougher than last year’s
Toughest Canada Day Quiz Ever
-
Unravelling Canada's crazy quilt
By Colby Cosh - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 12:55 PM - 7 Comments
Our annual Canada Day survey pits province v. province
Kate LeBlanc/TORONTO STAR
Two years ago, our annual Canada Day special report compared Canada with its bête noire and sibling to the south, and we liked, and were sometimes surprised, by what we found. Last year, we tested Canada against the wider world and again performed impressively. In this edition, we turn inward, using the same evolving array of studies, surveys, and census information to compare the provinces to each other on various economic, social, and medical metrics.
The differences, in many cases, are jarring. We have grown accustomed to startling economic disparities among the provinces: the survey confirms, for example, that Alberta has the country’s highest labour-force participation and its highest weekly wage, though it serves to add the valuable caveats that Albertans spend the second most amount of time at work and are the least likely of all Canadians to have a pension plan. What’s perhaps more interesting is the subtler ways in which the basic texture of life differs between provinces (and the territories, by no means forgotten, but left aside from our charts, with regret, because their small populations and unique socio-economic structures produce volatile, extreme data).
-
Work: who’s the boss?
By macleans.ca - Monday, June 28, 2010 at 11:00 AM - 0 Comments
Canada Day Special 2010
GETTY IMAGES
Albertans take home the healthiest weekly paycheques, but when it comes to entrepreneurial spirit, nobody measures up to British Columbians, where one in five is his or her own boss.
HIGHESTLOWESTAre you employed? Alberta – 68.3% Newfoundland: 52.6% Are you unemployed? Newfoundland: 13.8% Saskatchewan: 5.0% Hours spent at work per week Newfoundland: 38.2 hours Quebec: 35.2 hours Earnings per week Alberta: $905 P.E.I.: $632 Do you have a pension plan at work? Saskatchewan: 47.7% Alberta: 33.6% Are you self-employed? % of all workers B.C.: 19.7% Newfoundland: 9.6% Source: employment, unemployment (% of population aged 15+ who are working or not working, May), hours working (average weekly for full-time and part-time workers, aged 15+, 2009), weekly earnings (2008), self-employment (% of workers, 2009): StatsCan’s Labour Force Survey; pension (% of employees covered by employer or union-sponsored registered pension plan, 2008): StatsCan’s Pension Plan in Canada and Labour Force Survey -
Crime: Steal Town
By macleans.ca - Monday, June 28, 2010 at 11:00 AM - 0 Comments
Canada Day Special 2010
ROBERT LABERGE/AFP/Getty Images
Overall, crime has been declining steadily. Auto theft, for instance, was down 15 per cent in 2008. Even Winnipeg enjoyed a 44 per cent drop—but it remained Canada’s auto-theft capital.
HIGHESTLOWESTMurders per 100,000 population Manitoba: 4.5 New Brunswick: 0.4 Breaking and entering per 100,000 population Saskatchewan: 972.9 Ontario: 446.5 Auto theft per 100,000 population Manitoba: 746.1 Newfoundland: 85.2 Motor-vehicle deaths per 100,000 population Saskatchewan: 14.3 P.E.I.: 5.8 Source: Murder, breaking and entering, auto theft (all 2008): StatsCan; vehicle deaths (as a result of a reported traffic collision within eight days of its occurrence in Quebec and 30 days for the rest of Canada, 2007): Transport Canada -
Money: giving till it hurts
By macleans.ca - Monday, June 28, 2010 at 11:00 AM - 2 Comments
Canada Day Special 2010
istock
Even though Prince Edward Islanders have shallower pockets than most Canadians—P.E.I. has the lowest disposable incomes—nobody digs deeper to help those in need.
HIGHESTLOWESTFamily income Alberta $129,421 Newfoundland: $73,629 Disposable income per capita Alberta: $38,298 P.E.I.: $24,613 Mortgage-free? % of households Newfoundland: 44.1% Quebec: 25.4% Did you contribute to your RRSP? % of all tax filers Alberta: 29.8% Newfoundland: 16.4% Median charitable donation P.E.I.: $370 Quebec: $130 Source: Family income (average cash income, families with two or more individuals, 2010 estimate): Fraser Institute; disposable income (2010 estimate): Conference Board of Canada; mortgage (2008): StatsCan’s Survey of Household Spending; RRSP (2008), charitable donation (by tax filers, 2008): StatsCan -
Life: now that's a full house
By macleans.ca - Monday, June 28, 2010 at 11:00 AM - 0 Comments
Canada Day Special 2010
Thomas Northcut/Compassionate Eye Foundation/GETTY IMAGES
While British Columbians enjoy the most square footage, one could argue Newfoundlanders are the most in need of the extra space—more than half of young adults still live under a parent’s roof.
HIGHESTLOWESTNew house size B.C.: 2,500 sq. feet Quebec: 1,300 sq. feet Existing house prices B.C.: $497,371 P.E.I.: $145,113 Have you bought a new car recently? % of the total population Newfoundland: 1.2% Manitoba: 0.74% Adult children living at a parent’s home % of those aged 20-29 Newfoundland: 52.2% Saskatchewan: 31.7% Holders of gun licences as a % of total population Newfoundland 14% Ontario: 3% Sources: House sizes (2010, single detached): Canadian Home Builders’ Assoc.; house prices (Average sale price of existing houses, May 2010): Canadian Real Estate Assoc.; vehicle sales (Jan.-March 2010): Statistics Canada; Adult child at home (2006): StatsCan census; Valid gun licences (March 2010): RCMP’s Canadian Firearms Program, StatsCAN -
Health: what's up, doc?
By macleans.ca - Monday, June 28, 2010 at 11:00 AM - 1 Comment
Canada Day Special 2010
Adnan Abidi/Reuters
Where you live affects your well-being, say experts. In fact, those in Canada’s poorest neighbourhoods are 37 per cent more likely to suffer a heart attack than those in affluent areas.
HIGHESTLOWESTLife expectancy in years – Women B.C.: 84 Nfld.: 81 Life expectancy in years – Men Ontario and B.C.: 79 Nfld.: 76 Do you have a family doctor? B.C.: 94% Quebec: 75% Cancer incidences rate per 100,000 population – Women Nova Scotia: 388 Nfld.: 313 Cancer incidences rate per 100,000 population – Men Nova Scotia: 550 B.C.: 418 Obesity % of household adult population Newfoundland: 27.4% B.C.: 13.5% Daily smokers % of population Newfoundland: 18.5% B.C.: 12.3% Heart attacks needing hospitalization rate per 100,000 population Newfoundland: 347 B.C.: 169 Source: life expectancy (at birth, 2005-07): StatsCan; family doctor (June 2009): Harris/Decima poll; cancer estimates (2008): Public Health Agency of Canada; obesity (aged 18+, 2008), smoking (aged 12+, 2009): StatsCan’s Canadian Community Health Survey; heart attacks (age standardized, 2008): Canadian Institute for Health Information -
This Canadian life: battle of the provinces
By macleans.ca - Monday, June 28, 2010 at 11:00 AM - 1 Comment
Canada Day Special: Who’s got the biggest house? Who drinks the most? We’ve crunched the numbers.
CP Images
Click below for the provincial leaders and basement-dwellers in each of the following categories:
-
Leisure: look who's tuned in
By macleans.ca - Monday, June 28, 2010 at 11:00 AM - 0 Comments
Canada Day Special 2010
Robert Kent/Compassionate Eye Foundation/GETTY IMAGES
Quebecers spend less time on the Web than the rest of us, but are more apt to watch TV—supporting a homegrown star system that has long been the envy of English Canada.
HIGHESTLOWESTPhysical activity reported by % of population B.C.: 60.3% Newfoundland: 41.7% Do you spend 10 or more hours a week online at home? Ontario: 30.8% Quebec: 24.5% Watching TV daily Quebec: 40% Atlantic Canada: 31% Alcohol expenditures per capita Newfoundland: $865.10 Manitoba: $627.50 Volunteering annual hours Nova Scotia: 183 Saskatchewan and P.E.I.: 147 Sources: Physical activity (ages 12+, 2008), alcohol (annual amount, 2009): StatsCan; Online (aged 16+, 2009): StatsCan’s Canadian Internet Use Survey; volunteering (average hours for ages 15+, 2007): StatsCan’s Canadian Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating; TV watching (average daily audience aged 2+ between Sept. 21, 2009-June 13, 2010 watching from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., as a per cent of population): BBM Canada via CTV The full province-by-province breakdown:
Physical activity (reported by % of population) B.C. 60.3%Alberta 56.5%Manitoba 53.0%P.E.I. 52.4%Saskatchewan 51.9%Nova Scotia 51.8%Ontario 50.7%Quebec 50.0%New Brunswick 49.3%Newfoundland and Labrador 47.1%Do you spend 10 or more hours a week online at home? Newfoundland & Labrador 24.5% P.E.I. 25.5% British Columbia 27.4% Alberta 28.0% Saskatchewan 28.2% Manitoba 28.8% Ontario 29.3% Quebec 29.8% New Brunswick 30.6% Nova Scotia 30.8% Watching TV daily Atlantic Canada 31.5% Manitoba/Saskatchewan 33.4% B.C. 34.5% Alberta 36.0% Ontario 36.5% Quebec 40.5% Alcohol expenditures (per capita) Manitoba $627.50 Ontario $627.70 Saskatchewan $649.30 New Brunswick $656.50 P.E.I. $676.10 Alberta $712.80 Nova Scotia $749.40 Quebec $757.30 B.C. $790.00 Newfoundland and Labrador $865.10 Volunteering (annual hours) Nova Scotia 183 Newfoundland and Labrador 176 New Brunswick 175 Alberta 172 B.C. 172 Ontario 164 Quebec 162 Manitoba 159 Saskatchewan 147 P.E.I. 147 -
Stand and salute (II)
By Aaron Wherry - Friday, July 3, 2009 at 5:02 PM - 59 Comments
The Torch tries to sort out whether or not the Prime Minister should have received that salute. Various acronyms ensue.
Of course, Prime Ministers are entitled to a salute … just not the same salute to which Governor Generals are entitled. So that’s the question: did the PM take a salute to which he wasn’t entitled? I don’t know for sure. But it looked to me like there were more than fifty soldiers in that honour guard.
If the PM is abrogating this longstanding Commonwealth military tradition, somebody within the chain of command should have the guts to tell him to stop. Ideally that would be the Governor General herself. But if she isn’t willing to step up, the CDS should, with the same tone that an RSM would take with his or her CO – respectful, but not completely deferential.
-
Stand and salute
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 5:18 PM - 57 Comments
Dale Smith notes the Prime Minister received a salute from the governor general’s guard at yesterday’s Canada Day festivities. Susan Delacourt points to Global TV, which, via Heritage Minister James Moore, seems to confirm it was at the PM’s request.
-
From the mouths of musicians
By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 4:50 PM - 10 Comments
CBC.ca asks several dozen Canadians to say nice things about the country. Andrew Whiteman doesn’t play along.
Canada is an experiment in possibility. And as any gambler will tell you, don’t bet on potential. At least not while we seem to lack the political heave-ho to put vision into practice.
-
Our very own Optimus Prime
By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 11:52 AM - 16 Comments
On the 142nd anniversary of our country’s birth, the Toronto Star asks an important question: why don’t the kids want to play with John A. Macdonald?
They’re giants who saved Canada, so why aren’t their action figures taking the country by storm?
Andrew and Sonia Nafekh have made it a crusade to educate Canadians with the action figures of Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir Isaac Brock and Sir Wilfrid Laurier they design and sell. But their company, Nafekh Technologies Inc., has yet to turn a profit on the venture, after years of trying.
-
Some Canada Day TV Moments
By Jaime Weinman - Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 6:13 PM - 3 Comments
First of all, let me say that I actually approve of the name “Canada Day.” Well, “approve” may not be the right word. Let’s say I like it better than the original; one of my earliest memories is hearing the term “Dominion Day” and wondering why we were celebrating a holiday based on the supermarket. When they changed it to Canada Day, I remember thinking: Oh, that makes sense. Maybe it could have a cooler name, but it’s fine the way it is.
I was asked in comments about the best and worst Canada Day specials, but I have to say, I really don’t know what they are. Because, unlike our Southern neighbour, we never made a clean break from the British Empire (and I’m certainly not saying we should have), it’s hard to construct a spectacular narrative for our independence day, and Canada Day is really more of a celebration of being Canadian and creating an identity that was distinct from Britain. That’s great, but it means that a Canada Day special is often indistinguishable from a pro-Canada special from any other time of the year — or at least, that’s the way it used to seem to me.
But here are some clips I found demonstrating how Canada Day has been promoted on television in the past 20 years — for as you know, an event does not exist until it’s promoted on television.
YTV, back when it was new and kind of cool, celebrates Canada Day in 1990:
A 1992 music-n’-montage commercial celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Big C:
1996: The Toronto Blue Jays, consisting almost entirely of Americans, promote Canada Day by lip-synching to a Canadian-specific parody of “This Land Is Your Land.”
-
The best place on earth
By Jonathon Gatehouse - Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 5:05 PM - 35 Comments
We’re wealthier than the Americans, live longer than the Swedes and even have more lovers than the Italians
Let’s not sugarcoat it—it’s been a bad, bad year. Plunging markets have siphoned an estimated $300 billion out of the pensions and retirement savings of Canadians. A huge wave of job losses—400,000 and counting—has pushed the unemployment rate to an 11-year high. Add in the billions spent on corporate bailouts, and the $100 billion-plus in projected federal and provincial deficits predicted for the coming years, and the economic gloom can seem overwhelming.But Canadians might want to stop and take a deep breath before googling up the local chapter of the Hemlock Society. As we gather at the cottage, beach or in the backyard to celebrate our nation’s 142nd birthday, there is much to be thankful for. Things beyond the usual July 1 paeans to our scenic wonders, abundant natural resources, diversity, and stable politics. Continue…
