In a little more than a week, Canadians will be gathering to celebrate the 150th birthday of our wonderful country.
Many communities in the southeast will be hosting birthday bashes. There will be the annual Canada Day celebrations in Bienfait, with the parade and the fireworks, and the various festivities taking place throughout the day.
The Estevan Kinsmen and Kinettes Clubs will have their annual July 1 festivities at their playpark in the Hillside subdivision.
It鈥檚 great to see the City of Estevan getting in on the Canada Day celebrations as well, although their event will be held the day before July 1, in an effort to avoid competing with Bienfait. (We hope this won鈥檛 be a one-off event, either).
Our country will turn 150 just once. For some, it will be the first major Canadian birthday milestone they will experience. They weren鈥檛 born yet in 1992 when Canada celebrated its 125th birthday, or they were too young to celebrate or remember the milestone.
For others, they sadly won鈥檛 be around when Canada turns 175 in 25 years.
The last major provincial or national birthday we had to celebrate was Saskatchewan鈥檚 100th in 2005. What a celebration it was for so many communities. We hope the events on July 1 will surpass those of the Saskatchewan centennial bash of 12 years ago.
If you can attend a birthday bash in your community, a community that you鈥檙e visiting, or maybe just a community you鈥檙e passing through on your way to a destination for your summer vacation, we encourage you to do so.
By living in Canada, we have won the jackpot. We live in a country that is the envy of the world. We are admired globally for the quality of life we enjoy, and for the character and resiliency of our people.
There are elements of the country we might not like, or that we wish we could change, such as the federal, provincial or civic government. We should be grateful that we have a free and democratic vote to determine our government.
We might not be happy with the state of a residential road or a highway, but many of our crumbling roads are in terrific shape compared to the finest roads of many nations.
We might have concerns about healthcare, education, law enforcement or other services, but most around the world would love to have our hospitals, schools or law enforcement services.
We have the freedom to vote for who we want, to have the religion we want, to cheer for the sports team that we want, to appreciate the music and the films that we enjoy, and to do it all without reprisal, as long as it doesn鈥檛 harm others.
This is the Canada that we will be celebrating next week.
It鈥檚 also the Canada we should be celebrating every day.
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