Well, not that I'm complaining since it is a stat holiday but why are we dedicating a day to a dead English monarch? Shouldn't we just change it to PM Day?
It does seem odd to be celebrating the birthday of someone who hasn't been around since 1901. And what did she do for us anyway? I wonder if the holiday is kept alive just to piss off the Quebecois? At any rate, once a stat comes into existence, we're never going to give it up, that's for sure. As for changing the name, that would piss off a lot of elderly British expats, who have nothing to lose and are not to be trifled with. I don't know much about her...she was probably a jolly old sort, but isn't it enough that we named a road after her?
She was Queen when Canada became a country.
They've been celebrating her birthday since long before Confederation. It could be put down to Canuckish sentimentality I suppose. I mean, sure, she signed the BNA Act, but she was just doing her job.
The strange thing about all this is that the English don't have any sort of national day
[img height=475 alt="" src="vny!://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/72/Queenvictoria.jpg" width=349 border=0]
Sportsdude wrote:
[img height=475 alt="" src="vny!://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/72/Queenvictoria.jpg" width=349 border=0]
May God bless her, and all who sail in her.
[A href="vny!://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZNxdm824DFCA" target=_blank][img alt=ROTFL src="vny!://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_11_6.gif[/img][/A] Thank you for that one!
[A href="vny!://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb068_ZNxdm824DFCA" target=_blank][img]vny!://discoverseattle.net/source/spacer.gif?pc=ZSzeb068&pp=ZNxdm824DFCA" border=0][/A]
Damn Gopher. lol. (//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/12.gif)
The English are pretty amazing in that we are one of the least defined people on Earth, while yet managing to be so distinctive.
We have no constitution.
We have no national day (well, we do, but no one cares about it)
We have a royal family that is supposed to represent the concept of "the nation", yet precisely because of Vickie Hanover, they're a bunch of Germans.
We rely upon common law as a legal code.
In one sense it's the perfect zen polity. Things simply are, no need to state them.
Just for info, it's now called Journée des patriotes in Québec, hence commemorating the fighters of 1837-1838.