[R-G] Harper: Canada blessed by God

[Anthony Fenton]

Copyright 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks  
Publications Inc.
All Rights Reserved
The Daily Gleaner (New Brunswick)

July 2, 2007 Monday

SECTION: NEWS;NEWS; Pg. A6

LENGTH: 873 words

HEADLINE: Harper: Canada blessed by God

BYLINE: The Canadian Press

BODY:


As the nation celebrated its 140th birthday at parties across the  
country, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told revellers on Parliament  
Hill that Canada is once again a player on the world stage.

He delivered a brief state-of-the-nation address whose cheerful tone  
was in stark contrast to the sombre, overcast skies that loomed  
overhead as he took the stage before 35,000 people.

Canada has resumed its role as a world leader by contributing to the  
security of Aghanistan and Haiti, and by becoming an energy and  
resources superpower, he said.

"The news is spreading throughout the world: Canada's back," Harper  
told the crowd Sunday.

His upbeat message was heard by thousands who braved the unseasonably  
cool weather and the threat of rain to take in the milestone birthday  
celebration in the nation's capital.

He said Canada has been blessed by God -- with its wealth of natural  
resources -- and been blessed by the presence of its dynamic people.

"From the natural wealth of the land that God created to the talents,  
energy and imagination of people drawn from all nations of the  
Earth," he said, "we are a country that has been truly blessed."

Harper delivered that message after arriving on the hill with his  
wife and children, as a 21-gun military salute opened a noontime show  
under a dark and cool 14C sky.

Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean arrived by horse-drawn landau and inspected  
a military honour guard after swearing in 49 new Canadians at a  
citizenship ceremony at Rideau Hall.

She reminded the crowd of her own immigration from Haiti and her  
lifelong appreciation for what Canada represents: hope and freedom.  
She lauded Canadian soldiers seeking to spread those same values in  
Afghanistan.

Jean fled Haiti as a refugee after her father was badly beaten by the  
Duvalier regime.

"I know the value of this liberty," Jean said.

"We should never take for granted how lucky we are to be able to  
think, to say, to choose, to act, to live in complete liberty while  
barbarism and misery afflict so many other countries."

At roughly the same moment, a Rwandan refugee was among 99 people  
preparing to become a Canadian at a citizenship ceremony in Edmonton.

Pauline Mukashema described fleeing her home to the sound of gunshots  
and gangs approaching, as her native country degenerated into a wave  
of genocidal violence in 1994.

All she brought with her were five photographs and some clothing.  
After years living in other African countries, she moved with her  
parents and siblings to Canada in 2003.

"It was a dream to come to Canada," said Mukashema, now 25.

"The one thing that always (stopped) me is, 'You don't have an  
identity. You're a refugee, you don't have anything.' ... Now that  
I'm a Canadian, I'm able to travel, I'm able to vote, I'm able to  
really make things happen."

"It's home now."

In Ottawa, Jean and the prime minister worked the crowd, with the  
governor general warmly clasping hands and exchanging words with  
dozens of audience members.

Harper's speech drew polite applause.

The biggest crowd reaction came when the Canadian Forces' flying  
Snowbirds fanned out across the sky above the Peace Tower in perfect  
synchronicity with the dramatic final notes of O Canada.

While those skies were mostly grey, there was a considerable amount  
of blue on stage.

The traditional red and white could be seen everywhere -- on flags,  
as part of peoples' clothing, and on a giant stage set up beneath the  
Peace Tower as the centrepoint of the festivities.

But an Ottawa radio station called for a boycott of the festivities  
in protest against the Conservative party colours being plastered on  
the giant "Canada" sign above the main stage.

"Show your support for Canada by avoiding Parliament Hill and its  
festivities," said an online statement by station Hot 89-9.

"There are hundreds of things to do besides attending this bizarre  
display of 'patriotism.' If you do attend, you'll be left feeling blue."

A competing radio personality did not mince his words in criticizing  
the proposed boycott.

"How stupid is that," said Lowell Green, a conservative talk show  
host at competing CFRA.

"What, are we going to boycott the blue of the skies, too? There's  
red there, too (on the stage). There's as much red as there is blue."

"What the hell are they talking about?"

There was also plenty of blue on the periphery of Parliament Hill --  
in the police uniforms visible everywhere as the security presence  
had been visibly stepped up.

At least three RCMP officers stood guard at each entrance point to  
the hill, checking purses, bags and backpacks as revellers made their  
way to the lawns in front of the Centre Block.

There were also police officers and security cameras installed around  
the nearby War Memorial with its Tomb of the Unkown Soldier.

Young party-goers ignited a national scandal by urinating on the  
monument during last year's event.

In Montreal, thousands lined the streets for a parade Sunday that  
featured a multicultural celebration and even a political statement.

This political statement, however, had nothing to do with the decades- 
old nationalist tug-of-war between Quebec and Canada.

It had to do with the Atlantic seal hunt.

Draped only in Canadian flags, a man and woman from Concordia  
University who denounced the hunt were invited to join the parade.