BlackLiberalBoomer

Betcha didn’t know that today is a holiday in Canada! Yep, right in the middle of summer, between Canada Day (July 1) and Labour Day (which began in Toronto in 1872, before it started in America), Canadians have a holiday just to take the day off and relax and have fun! In Toronto, where the holiday originated, it is called “Simcoe Day” in honor of John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. Among other accomplishments, Simcoe abolished slavery in Ontario and created Yonge Street in Toronto (which he called “York”, Toronto’s original name) in the 18th century.

 So what does this Canadian holiday have to do with Detroit? Well, as I said in an earlier post, we here in Detroit, love Canada…and Detroit is the only place in the USA where one goes south to Canada! Plus, lots of Detroiters go to Toronto for vacation; it’s only about 4 hours up the King’s Highway 401!

So join me in wishing our Canadian friends and neighbours a “Happy Civic Day”; and if you have a dealings with businesses today, it would be best to wait until tomorrow…everyone’s at Wasaga Beach, the world’s longest fresh-water beach (including John Simcoe, as you can see in the above pic)!

Shamesless Plug: please read my husband’s blog The “D” Spot…

OK, if you’ve lived in Detroit long enough, you know that one of our “bragging rights” is that Detroit is the only place in the USA where you go south to Canada! Windsor, Ontario is right across the Detroit River…we wave at each other!

Of course, this year, we here in Detroit can also brag about the eleven-time Stanley Cup Champions…the Detroit Red Wings!!

So, since we here in Detroit, USA, are the Champions of “Canada’s Game”, I thought you’d like to know how ELSE you can tell if someone is a Canadian:
(Thanks to Canadian Ian McKenzie of Ian’s Messy Desk)

1. You understand the phrase “Could you pass me a serviette, I just dropped my poutine on the chesterfield.”
2. You eat chocolate bars, not candy bars.
3. You drink Pop, not Soda.
4. You know that a Mickey and 2-4’s mean, “party at the camp, eh!”
5. You don’t care about the fuss with Cuba. It’s a cheap place to go for your holidays, with good cigars and no Americans.
6. You know that a pike is a type of fish, not part of a highway.
7. You have Canadian Tire money in your kitchen drawers.
8. You know that Casey and Finnegan were not part of a Celtic musical group.
9. You brag to Americans that: Shania Twain, Jim Carrey, Celine Dion,
   Michael J. Fox, John Candy, William Shatner, Tom Green, Matthew Perry,
   Mike Myers, Neve Campbell and Pamela Anderson are all Canadians.
10. You design your Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
11. You know that the last letter of the English alphabet is pronounced “Zed”.
12. Your local newspaper covers national news on 2 pages, but requires 6 pages for hockey.
13. You know that when it’s 25 degrees outside, it’s a warm day.
14. You know how to pronounce and spell “Saskatchewan”.
15. You perk up when you hear the theme song from ‘Hockey Night in Canada’.
16. “Eh?” is a very important part of your vocabulary, and is more polite than, “Huh?”
17. Your Beer Case handles Are Big Enough To Fit Your Mitts
18. You know that we don’t all live in igloos and ride polar bears to work.
19. Every murder is reported.
20. You froze your tongue to something metal and survived to tell about it.

Canada is a beautiful country; Ontario is a great Province; and Windsor is a fun and interesting city to visit! Sometime soon, take a trip to our “neighbors to the north”; but remember, to get to Canada from Detroit: go south, young man!