Canadians really love their country

My appreciation for our neighbor to the north, Canada, goes way back. Back to when I was a Boy Scout and I had Canadian dreams.

Or when my dad, the hotel man, was once in consideration for a managing position at a hotel in Banff, Alberta, in the Canadian Rockies. A place where elk wandered around on the hotel grounds.

I thought of those deep forests, the huge lakes, the snow-capped mountains, the raging rivers, the seemingly endless lakes scattered everywhere, and much more.

And when I worked with a Canadian here in Clovis, I wasn’t even deterred that he wasn’t at all like I imagined Canadians to be.

We would often argue about politics.

The specifics aren’t important, just that we didn’t agree on some things.

My irritation was more that his words reminded me of talk radio, and a talk radio station I once worked for in Arizona.

One day, at the height of an argument, The Canadian paid me a backhanded compliment I rather enjoyed:

“You’re more Canadian than I am,” he shouted.

I smiled.

My Canadian dreams included canoeing down the mighty Mackenzie River, from its headwaters at the Great Slave Lake all the way to the Arctic Circle.

Life came along and just like the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” with George Bailey and his traveler’s suitcase never traveling, I never made a cross-Canadian trek.

Did you know the border between the United States and Canada is known as not only the longest land border in the world, but also the longest undefended border in the world?

One day a number of years ago when I had a radio job in Roswell, I had wandering thoughts about Canada.

I spoke my thoughts and got in a little bit of trouble.

Not too much trouble; what happened was I got a few letters aimed at “straightening me out.”

I suppose it was because I had seen a number of Canadian license plates around town.

Snowbirds, retirees in their RVs, had come to roost in Roswell.

“I see a number of you Canadian snowbirds have come to roost here in Roswell. I was just wondering why you guys don’t just join up with the United States. I mean the Revolutionary War is over and everything. Give me a call,” I said on the air.

I waited for phone calls.

None came.

Within a few days, though, letters started coming.

Not postcards.

Letters. Five of them.

As I read them I pondered if these Canadian folks were all hanging out at the same Roswell RV park.

I never found out.

I did find out these Canadians loved their country and took exception to my DJ chatter about Canada joining the USA.

“What would you think if we went about wondering why New Mexico doesn’t join Texas,” one writer penned.

“We love our Canada and we like it as it is,” another writer wrote.

The letters were each about the same: We love our country and see no sense why we would want to join the United States.

Except for that one guy who asked me why his “peaceful, fellow Canadians would ever want to join such an aggressive country.”

So maybe about a week after I brought the topic up on the air, I opened my microphone one morning and apologized.

I also thanked my letter-writing listeners.

As a radio guy I always thought it was neat when folks sent in those cards and letters.

Grant McGee writes for The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him:

[email protected]