CANADA DAY 2026

This once-a-trip-around-the-sun post is only tangentially related to trains. Tangent track, no, a rather circuitous route around the topic of trains, yet a journey straight to the heart of why we love this country, why we should be proud of it, why we should truly be The True North Strong and Free, not to mention a land of the free and the home of the brave. (Copyright 11th Province, used without permission). 

I recently attended a concert by Kingston's own The Arrogant Worms. Some say that the Kingston's other own Tragically Hip are some sort of Phantom Power, that they Live Between Us, that they are Canada's only soundtrack, to which I reply a polite, "Road Apples!"

The US is the eagle, Russia is the bear

Australia is the kangaroo, cause they're kind of weird down there

Yeah, India is the tiger, that stands so proud and tall

But Canada is the greatest of them all

We are the beaver, we're furry and we're free

Yeah, we are the beaver, we got two big front teeth

Yeah, we are the beaver, we can chew right through small trees

We are the beaver, we are the beaver, we are the beaver

You might think a rodent is a pretty lame choice

For a national animal, but don't you listen to that voice

No, cause all them birds and preditors, just take from the land

But the beaver, always gives a dam!

The concert began with the above ode to the Most Influential Canadian Animal. The only animal that can alter and engineer* its own environment. Capable of not just building a nice nest, a lovely lair, lining a cave with its own fur and excrement. NO! An ingenious system of canals, dams, AND a cozy lodge complete with large screen TV and recliner, and yes, excrement. The mighty and greasy-looking but all too ingenious indigenous Canadian beaver! How, though deemed to be our national symbol just over half a century ago, did the name become co-opted like the Gulf of America to be called the North American Beaver? Dam, that's just not right. Let's go Latin, bringing to life that dead (and buried and good riddance to ya) language. Castor canadensis it says. Not just because it's absolutely alliterative, but it puts the beaver right where it belongs...in Canada...and where it gets along just swimmingly slapping its tail at the sign of danger. Sadly hunted to near-extinction from 400 million fur one reason only, but resurgent to a current population as high as 12 million it paddles placidly and peripatetically. *The Canadian Army's Engineer branch's crest atop the Latin (again?) motto Ubique, meaning everywhere!

The second song was a sing-along ode to our Mighty Land's natural features. Of which there are three. Ride VIA's Canadian (there we go again, trains!) and you'll see exactly what the song fondly and pondly pertains to. And guess what's along the periphery of some of those lakes. No, not bald-eagle bed-and-breakfasts, beaver lodges, by golly!

The third song (and I can only remember three things, see also my Trip to the Supermarket), was an ode to a creature even more fearsome than the bitchiest beaver, the most gruff of groundhogs, the peskiest prairie dog or the surliest skink or skunk. An ode to The Hockey Mom. Forget Soccer Moms and their minivans, you don't want a puck with Hockey Mom!

After that, the rest of the concert was a blur. I do remember vague references to various songs about Canada Geese, Hawaiian Pizza and the highest level of Wormiana: I Am Cow and The Last Saskatchewan Pirate. Most were from the Worms' latest album (we forgot we had to do another one after our last one eight years ago!) entitled 'Canadian Famous' also the title of a National Film Board movie about Eric Peterson. There are not that many Erics in Canada, "Is that spelled with a C or a K?" I often hear, but there are A LOT of Daves. "Hey, you're from Canada, do you know...Dave?". 

Canadians don't stage fights on the lawns of our government buildings. That's what we have the House of Commons for! We have them inside due to inclement weather. And we don't want to make A Scene. We welcome immigrants, because aside from the indigenous peoples, that's what we all are. As Paul put it, Knowledge alone makes people arrogant, but love that unselfishly seeks the best for others builds up and encourages others to grow in wisdom. Corinthians or Canadians, it's a very meaningful ABC: Arrogance as in worms, Building as in beavers, encouraging as in Canadians?

Don't ask me why Canadians are soooo funny, but leaving the concert leaves one feeling good about being Canadian. We are so used to...

• eating our young (culturally, not cuisinally and figuratively, not foragingly)
• having to go abroad to achieve celebrity
• being so terribly sorry all the time (or as Wayne and Garth put it, "We're Not Worthy!") and
• comparing ourselves to other nations that...

...we forget the immensity of our country we neglect its potential and that of its people. Oh sure, I think I'm going a l-o-o-o-n-g way when I drive to Wal-Mart, forgetting it is ONE THOUSAND TIMES that far to reach Ellesmere Island, one of the most northerly points in Canada.

 It's where there are only have Rocks, no Trees.

We really do trump all the other countries!

Happy Canada Day to all Trackside Treasure readers!

If you're in the U.S. add HST and three days, your turn's coming...

--Eric