Germany invades Canada

1. Much greater use of the term "birthday party".
2. Inviting the British Commonwealth states to participate.
3. Reverence for the Union Jack, Queen Victoria and the British House of Commons. Imagining an American invoking the Union Jack on the 4th of July is just hilarious, since it represents "our enemy" rather than "our protector". However, Canadians seem to be even more gung-ho about the Union Jack than the Brits are. Must be a nostalgia thing....
4. Inviting "our NATO allies" to participate. Americans generally see NATO as a European affair and sometimes wonder why the US doesn't just pull out of it, whereas Canada is so serious about being peacekeepers with "our NATO allies". (Indeed, when I asked a Canadian a year ago why Canada has an army (since the world's biggest army next door is not about to let anybody invade Canada), he said, "Because of our NATO commitment.")

However, Canadian patriotism does assert itself in surprising ways. After the Tattoo did a big reenactment of the British House of Commons at the time Queen Victoria invented the Victoria Cross as a military award "for valor" (cf. the purple heart), the announcer then focused on the 81 Canadians who had earned the Victoria cross. He read them all by name, said the last one was awarded during WWII, and hoped there would never be another war to award one in again.

Anyway, NATO Allies France, Germany and Switzerland sent in troops/troupes (and the US sent an admiral to watch), and the other countries did a tribute to Germany. All brass bands played Beethoven's 9th ("Freude!"), and also "Eins, Zwei, Gsuffa!", which is actually a drinking song! ("En München steht ein Hofbräuhaus. Eins, zwei, g'suffa!" => "In Munich there's a beer hall. One, two, cheers!") Maybe it was to poke fun at Germany....

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada -- 30-Jun-2001