Seven Wonders of Canada - Nominate your Pick Today!

The CBC has started a public nomination for "The Seven Wonders of Canada", where you can nominate and vote for any location in Canada that you believe is worth the honour. The winners will be featured on The National and Sounds Like Canada.

You have to get your nominations in by May 4th, and voting will commence on May 7th. There will also be a panel of judges to weigh in the nominations.

The criteria for evaluation includes:

- Essential 'Canadian-ness' - historically significant, character filled, valued
- Originality/uniqueness of the pitch and place
- Spectacular physical site or amazing human creation
- Ability to inspire
- Range within the final seven - diversity of location, type of wonder

That leaves it pretty wide open, with man-made and natural locations being eligible. My nomination was for Vancouver Island's 'West Coast Trail', which I believe is one of the most interesting places on the planet.

Iraq Vets speak out, Oliver Stone to help.

I recently ran across the story that Oliver Stone will directing a TV spot meant to help speed up the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. I guess the websites MoveOn.org and VoteVets.org have teamed up to create a project called Video Vets, where veterans of the Irag war can send in video tapes showing their viewpoints on the Iraq war. Oliver Stone is an astute choice due to his experiences as a veteran of another unpopular and questionable war in Viet Nam.

The objective is to show that despite what the current US administration asserts, being Anti-War is not the same as Anti-American or Anti-Troops.

At any rate, the videos up for viewing right now are personal, touching, and real. It's great when you get a 'inside' look at things without a media or political spin. No one is more qualified to speak about the situation in Iraq than those who have been there and participated in the war. Let's hear THEIR voice for a change. You can view all of the videos by clicking this link. It's maybe best to let them speak for themselves.

Celebrating the Life of June Callwood

June Callwood died on April 14th, 2007 after an ongoing fight with cancer at the age of 82. It is a sad day for all of Canada, and is an excellent opportunity to look at the life and acheivements of one of the Greatest Canadians.

June Callwood was an author and social activist that was often called "Canada's Conscience" due to her work in over 50 activist organizations having to do with everything from Civil Liberties, Homelessness, Racism, Gender Equality, and support for troubled teens, battered women, and people with HIV/AIDS. She is noted for having started Casey House, one of the world's first hospices for HIV/AIDS.

She was very much a renaissance woman of sorts. She was a TV personality from several CBC shows duting the 70's. She was a prominent author and journalist working for the Globe and Mail starting in the 40's, and later ghostwriting several autobiographies including Barbara Walters'. She had a valid pilot's license until the day she died. All that combined with her social work makes her one of the most important and influencial Canadians in recent history. She was awarded the Order of Canada in 1978.

Mrs. Callwood recently gave one of the most intimate and touching interviews that I've ever seen with George Strombolopolous on The Hour. I, like so many before, felt personally touched by her candour and wisdom. Her passing is a sad day for Canada, and I'm sure she will be remembered by the thousands of lives she touched. We can all learn from examples like hers to improve our own lives and the lives of those around us. That is June Callwood's legacy.

NHL uses CBC : Network feels dirty, needs shower.

Canadian Hockey fans everywhere should feel free to throw a temper tantrum. Why you ask? Well, in case you didn't know, the NHL just doesn't give a shit about you, and they just threw it in your face.

The Toronto Star had a great piece about this recent news. Here's the breakdown:

1. The CBC recently renewed their TV deal with the NHL to a hefty tune of roughly $100+ million dollars a year until 2014. This is the NHL's most lucrative deal. Richer than previous ABC or NBC deals.


2. The NHL sets the Round 1 playoff schedule. Now, the CBC had asked for and expected the first Saturday Night game of the playoffs on Hockey Night in Canada to feature the Ottawa Senators (the largest market in Canada that made the playoffs), and the Pittsburg Pengiuns featuring Canada's golden boy Sidney Crosby. INSTEAD, the NHL puts that game on in the afternoon to please NBC, and CBC gets to feature Tampa versus New Jersey. Uhhh, riiiight...


3. Not only that, but HNIC Saturday Night will only see one game featuring a Canadian team (Canucks - Stars), but ONLY if it goes 6 games!

Now, I know that the NHL values American fans more than Canadian fans, as evidenced by everything from the preference for exansion into the southern states to what I believe is a definate trend in biased reffing against Canadian teams. Montreal hockey sites have been bitching about this for awhile, but over the last 2 or 3 seasons, I believe I have seen an obvious trend of reffing against the interests of Canadian NHL teams (yes, I mean you Mick MacGeough). Mick Magoo is the most visible of the refs who habitually make horrible calls against Canadian teams in favour of American (and the bigger the market the better) teams. There is even a petition to fire his sorry ass!

This is just the latest slap in the face of Canadian fans. It seems that not only does the NHL not care about us, they actually DISDAIN us. If the league really wants to grow and have all of it's teams be successful, they should cater to their grassroots fans who made the game what it is today. And HEY GARY! There's a bunch of us north of the 49th parallel.

Vimy Ridge : 90 Years of Canadian Pride and Counting

This Easter marks the 90th anniversary of one of the proudest moments in Canada's history. Namely, the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which was a pivotal battle in WWI.

In very short form, Vimy Ridge was a line that was held for the majority of WWI by the Germans, and was deemed by British and other Allied forces to be untakable after something like 3 years of assualts. A more complete background and history is available here.

Several things make Vimy special for Canadians. Firstly, Canada was really only a fledgling nation, and it was one of the first times that we stood out on our own to the rest of the world. And the way that we stood out was something else! Basically, Canadian troops executing the tactics put forward by the Canadian military acheived in about 4 days what most of the other allies couldn't acheive in 3 years...and with a fraction of the troops. Finally, it was largely hailed as the first major victory for any of the allies in the entirety of the war.

Today, Canada's largest war memorial stands on the site of the battle, listing the names of some 11000+ troops who are known to have died in France during WWI, and as a memorial to the over 60000 troops who gave their lives in the whole of WWI.

An excellent photo gallery of the battle can be found here. I think it's very important to reflect upon these events, not only to remember the great deeds of our forefathers, but in the hope that such deeds never need to be achieved again.

Chad VanGaalen at Junos

I've written before about my buddy Chad VanGaalen from Calgary. He's been making it sort of big lately, having released 2 albums. First was Infiniheart in 2005, and then Skelliconnection in 2006 under the legendary SubPop label.

Well...Skelliconnection was good enough to nab Chad a Juno nomination for 'Alternative Album of the Year'. Unfortunately, he lost. But given that he lost to City and Colour (the solo project of alexisonfire frontman Dallas Green), I'm guessing he feels pretty good about the whole thing.

In the meantime, if you dig Indie Alt Singer Songwriter stuff that's tough to pigeon hole (think Beck meets Neil Young), please feel free to pick up one of Chad's albums. They are available at many music stores, and I know they are both on iTunes. It's not exactly a gravy train making music in Canada.

If you want to check out his stuff and how amazingly talented he is, check out his music videos on YouTube:

Flower Gardens from Skelliconnection

Red Hot Drops from Skelliconnection

Clinically Dead from Infiniheart

What's really amazing is that Chad did these 100% by himself, from writing to recording to animating. You have to respect that kind of artistry.