"O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command..."

Today is Canada's birthday, for all of us arrogant Yankees who pay little attention to our good neighbors to the North.

It was on the 20th of June 20, 1868, when the Governor General of Canada, Lord Monck, called upon his countrymen to join in celebrating the first anniversary of the union of all provinces, in what was known before as "British North America," under the name of "Canada" (from an Iroquois word meaning "village"), on July 1st. The holiday was known as "Dominion Day" until 1982.

Recently, a reporter for the Toronto Star went roaming amidst the streets of that city, posing as a friendly American tourist. The natives were not quite so friendly:

"They brag too much, don't they? They boast. They have this and they have that. (If they spent less) time doing that, they'd just get their problems solved, eh?"

Then again, he might have a point.