Bienvenue and welcome to Canada Day 2014. Today is the 147th anniversary of the British North America Act (now known as the Constitution Act) that united Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into a country.
This is the first Canada Day since I was in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and saw where those Confederation negotiations occurred.
On Canada Day, the Toronto Blue Jays are in first place in the American League East. The Blue Jays are on the MLB Network in the States this afternoon against Milwaukee. Great that Toronto is at home on Canada Day.
We had Canada Day and fête nationale du Québec celebrations where I live last week. But I will find some way to celebrate Canada Day: perhaps with a Canadian film or poutine or elk meat and poutine. Mmmmmmm.
Or a Molson beer, of course. The video above is the latest commercial around the Molson fridges. These don't open with a Canadian passport. They open if you can sing O Canada without messing up the words. This helps me because I can sing O Canada even without a passport. I still can't sing O Canada in French, but in the ad, the refrigerator only understands English.
As is tradition here at CanadianCrossing.com, we have some reflections of Canada on Canada Day.
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The shooting in Moncton last month was a horrible tragedy, where 3 RCMP officers were killed and 2 others were wounded.
I was very impressed with the recovery that the city was trying to make. The theme was consistent: we won't let this change the way we live. Remarkable.
The city was on shutdown while they searched for the gunman. Moncton did well under the dramatic consequences. And the alleged gunman was captured unarmed.
Moncton is a very cool city that I got to enjoy visiting last fall. I was only there for a few days but walked away with some lovely memories. The last two major news stories to hit New Brunswick that also hit the U.S. news wires were the fracking protests from last October and this shooting.
Previous coverage:
New Brunswick really doesn't like fracking
This happens in other parts of Canada, but you do hear some good stories that come out of there to achieve some sort of balance. New Brunswick and the Maritimes are a whole different world that you really have to experience to understand. And Moncton and New Brunswick are so much more than these random news events.
Colour me impressed with how Moncton is handling a horrible situation. But I'm not surprised. Here's hoping for a good news story from this part of Canada … and soon.
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The Pride Parade in Toronto is a very big deal every year, especially given how LGBTQ Toronto is. This year was extra special because Toronto got to host WorldPride, an international celebration with parades, festivals, and cultural activities.
Toronto is only the 4th city to host WorldPride, following Rome (2000), Jerusalem (2006), and London (2012).
To take a look at what went on in WorldPride Toronto, click here.
Rob Ford notoriously does not attend Pride Parade; in Ford's world, he picked a heck of a time to go to rehab. But he missed a hell of a party.
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Tim Wallach was steady on offense and defense at the hot corner for the Montréal Expos during the 1980s. Wallach led the class of 2014 for the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
"I was surprised and honored to receive the call. I enjoyed my time in Montréal and the Expos fans. While we did contend during my time there, it was disappointing that we never got to a World Series. As good as you might be, nothing is guaranteed in baseball," said Wallach.
The man who called the games Wallach played in is also now in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Dave Van Horne was also inducted into the hall.
"I really anticipated spending my entire career in Montréal broadcasting Expos baseball. For a variety of reasons, it didn't happen. I'm saddened by the loss of the team in Montréal, but I thought the attendance at the exhibition games there this past March was wonderful," Van Horne said.
Van Horne is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, winning the Ford C. Frick Award in 2011.
A New Brunswick native, Murray Cook was the first Canadian to work as a MLB GM. Cook worked in the role of general manager for the New York Yankees (1983-1984), Montreal Expos (1984-1987), and Cincinnati Reds (1988-1989). Cook made the most of a tough transition time in Montreal and came up with several key pieces of a Reds team that won the World Series the year after he left. Cook is now the East Coast regional cross checker for the Detroit Tigers.
Jim Ridley coached Team Canada at the Olympics, Pan Am Games and World Junior Baseball Championship. Ridley worked as a scout and coach starting in 1973 with the Tigers and moving to the Toronto Blue Jays in 1976. He passed away from cancer in 2008.
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We don't know if we are getting a Season 3 of Orphan Black. If we are, there will be some time before we see what that produces. We still need some time to process Season 2.
Without giving too much away from the finale of Season 2, the scene where the sisters Cosima and Alison finally meet Helena and the subsequent dancing scene with Sarah brought tears to my eyes. Tatiana Maslany, who plays all 4 characters plus a few others on the show, made us tear up over these incarnations of Maslany all on one screen at the same time. They really felt like 4 different people, even if they are all played by the same actress. We were so thrilled that they were in the same room at the same time. And watching Kira, Sarah's daughter, happily dancing along with her mother and new aunts, was joyous to watch.
The scene earlier in the show where Cosima teaches science to Kira was charming and also was a foreshadowing to a key plotline in the episode was a great example about why this show needs a Season 3.
We will keep you up to date on a potential Season 3 of Orphan Black.
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Alison Smith retired as the anchor of The World At Six on CBC Radio One last week. Smith has been the anchor of the program since 2009, but spent 37 years with CBC News.
The timing of the announcement looked bad given the cuts at CBC News. Hopefully, Smith is going out on her own terms.
I am an avid listener to the program as well as The World This Weekend. They help me keep up on what is happening in Canada during my commute.
In the latter years, Smith only anchored Monday-Thursday. Martina Fitzgerald has been anchoring on Fridays as well as the weekend shows.
We don't expect the CBC to announce a permanent replacement until the fall. Marcia Young is still considered the host of The World This Weekend, but we've only heard her once on either program in quite a few months.
If you missed any of our 3-part series on how to improve the programming on CBC TV, check out Part I, Part II, and Part III here.
CBC was suffering from funding cuts under the Liberals, but those cuts have been sped up under the Harper Government. The sports financial losses haven't helped, losing the CFL, some Olympics games, and now NHL revenue.
Feel free to add your own comments and suggestions in the 3-part series in the comments section on those stories or on this one.
video credit: Molson