Canada Day
One of the really weird things about being Canadian (and it's kind of traitorous to be talking about this) is how awkward we can sometimes be made to feel by the kind of media article that strives to make us feel proud of being Canadian. To do this, these articles trot out a roster of mostly actors and athletes who've done well... in the United States. There's not a whiff of irony. I mean, good for these people for doing well wherever, but even they must feel a bit like ageing East German gymnasts ball-and-chained to the annual May Day parade float.
It's weirdly prescient, because this weekend Canada.com (part of the CanWest chain, which includes NP, the Southam newspapers and practically the rest of the Canadian media as well) published one of those articles. Among the 135 reasons why it's great to be Canadian, are Pamela Anderson, William Shatner and Todd McFarlane. I don't see Pam Anderson as a reason to be proud to be Canadian so much as a reason to be happy some Canadians move south more or less permanently.
So anyway. I picked up the Coupland piece with a sturdy determination. I would not like it. I would find in it more evidence that Coupland just lacks depth. The stubby, the small beer bottle that appears on Souvenirs of Canada (and which a few brewers are using for nostalgia's sake, since it's mainly long-necks around here), has graced every Canadian paper this weekend like it's the new symbol of confederation. The repetition of that image, and through it the promotion of the latest Coupland venture before the first review had been written, stoked my bad attitude.
But, hey, I was wrong. Those Souvenirs of Canada excerpts were funny, humble, bang-on in places, maybe a little provincial in others, but genuinely entertaining. There might be more Canada in Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe, but I think I can appreciate where Coupland's coming from with this book (not like my opinion matters).
One of the aforementioned bang-on parts was on our legislated culture:
Look at Norway, with a population one-seventh of Canada's. They probably don't spend billions of dollars annually promoting Norway-osity, but then they don't need to, because they are indisputably a country. Canada has to crank out enough Canada-osity to justify our existence as a full-blown country. It's work.
Happy Canada-osity Day, too.
