Thursday, July 1, 2010

Oh Canada

This lovely pair of ladies is celebrating Canada Day, Canada's birthday, and it seems the opportune time to clear a few things up.  First, what's with the Queen? If she's still  the Queen, why celebrate bloody independence, eh? Did somebody not tell the royalty?  This week the Queen's in Halifax, inspecting the Canadian navy, as well as reviewing a pageant of warships from other nations, on the occasion of the Canadian Navy's 100th anniversary  Then she'll buzz off to Ottowa and Toronto, where the newpapers will likewise report on her hat, her coat, her dress and the sapphire brooch from her Mum, along with proper etiquette should you meet her.

I asked the "What's with the Queen" question of waitresses and information centers for several days but got no further than "Well, because she's the Queen."  Then a Cape Breton local on my guided tour of Fort Louisbourg stepped up to the technical side of the Queen question.  Elizabeth is the Queen because Canada is a constitutional monarchy.  She's the nominal head of state, just like in England. 

So, if Canada is technically part of the British empire, albeit loosely, what's with all the French?  Simple. They were here before the British.  Here in Nova Scotia, French influence is abundant.  Fort Louisbourg is a great place to brush up on some Francophile facts.  The French wanted colonies here for the same reason as the Brits:  money.  There was even more money in cod fishing in Louisbourg than there was in the fur trade in Quebec.  The French built Fort Louisbourg to protect their territory.  Over the years, the Brits continued to lay siege to the Fort which guarded the St. Lawrence waterway to Quebec.  Eventually, the French lost all of North America.  The Brits did their best to expel the French settlers, the Acadians, giving Longfellow a story line for his poetic epic Evangeline and relocating some fine Cajun food to Louisiana.

Happy Birthday Canada, long live the Queen, and laissez les bon temps roulez!

Disclaimer:  All the facts in this blog are pure hearsay, opinions are just opinions and there's no distinction between them.  I have glossed over the latin name Nova Scotia, New Scotland, and perhaps I will get a heresay explanation for the bi-lingual Gaelic road signs sometime on my journey around Cape Breton Island. There's still more questions than answers.

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