Canada Day from Chat GPT

• Confederation: On July 1, 1867, the Dominion of Canada was established through the passage of the British North America Act. This act united four provinces—Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia—into a single confederation, forming the foundation of modern Canada.
• Dominion Status: In 1867, Canada became a self-governing dominion within the British Empire. It had its own parliament and could make decisions on domestic matters, while matters such as foreign affairs were still handled by Britain.
• Autonomy and Expansion: Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Canada gained increased autonomy from Britain. It expanded its territory, adding new provinces and territories, including Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and others.
• Statute of Westminster: In 1931, the British Parliament passed the Statute of Westminster, granting full legal autonomy to Canada and other dominions. This statute recognized Canada's independence in matters of legislation and foreign affairs.
• Adoption of the Maple Leaf Flag: On February 15, 1965, Canada adopted the current national flag, commonly known as the Maple Leaf flag. This new design replaced the previous flag, which featured the Union Jack and the Canadian coat of arms. The new flag prominently features a red maple leaf on a white background.
• Adoption of "O Canada": On July 1, 1980, "O Canada" was officially adopted as the national anthem of Canada. The song, originally composed in 1880, gained popularity over the years and was used on various occasions before becoming the country's official anthem.
• Patriation of the Constitution: In 1982, Canada achieved another milestone towards full independence by patriating its constitution from Britain. The Constitution Act, 1982, transferred the authority to amend the country's constitution to Canada, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
• Modern Canada: Today, Canada is a fully independent and sovereign nation. While it retains the British monarch as the symbolic head of state, Canada exercises complete control over its domestic and foreign affairs, making decisions through its own elected government.

Made Up Issues with Canada

My birthday just happens to fall on Canada Day. But as you can see Canada’s national day does not quite match with timeline. It is a Downton Abbey somewhat fictional birthday. They never declared war against Britain or fought off some European power to gain Independence like every other country in North and South America. Mexico not only kicked they Spanish out they also fought off the French. Canada has independence by Parliament passing laws and they maintain the monarch as the head of state.

Even after this coronation Canada has to issue new passports and change things to “King” instead of “Queen”. How “Independent” or “Sovereign” is the country if their head of state lives in another hemisphere and is known as “The Sovereign” with a divine right to rule. My point being is that Canada has a history and national identity problem that us Americans don’t have.

Now if we examine this timeline a little closer we can discover some odd things about Canada. This is just some personal annoyances because Canada happens to share a birthday with me

1. Obviously back in 1867 Britain knew they lost the war of Independence to the USA . Even though Chat GPT says Canada was established that day, it wasn’t. The act which was negotiated with the help of the Earl who lived in the Downton Abbey Estate who introduced it to the House of Lords and Commons months earlier. The law was passed and signed off by the monarch in the Spring of 1867 but Britain decided that it would not go into effect until July 1. Britain picked that date on purpose to try to steal some of the USA 4th of July thunder, the British Parliament knew that the Continental Congress began their session on July 1 1776 and voted for Independence the next day and adopted the Declaration on the 4th. I don’t approve of this fake news birthday Canada celebrates.
   2. Even though they celebrate “Independence” from a date in 1867, it took another century for them to get the Union Jack off their flag and adopt a national symbol which they did in the 1960’s.
   3. The British Monarch picked Ottawa to be a Capital city in 1857. Even after they got “Independence” from Britain they didn’t bother moving their capital city. Also their Capital City is in the middle of a wooded area in part because it was a strategic location that would be difficult to attack by Americans if there was another hypothetical war between the Britain and the USA like there was in 1812. I find this to be a funny historical quirk of international relations and history.
   4. Even though the tune of the Star Spangled Banner is set to a British drinking song popularized by a social club who enjoyed drinking and singing in a pub. The song is about a war that was fought against the British and our flag triumphantly waving. Wheres Oh Canada is still set to the tune of the British National Anthem, God Save the King. Which is clearly not a song that celebrates the separation of Church and State because it doesn’t exist in Britain the head of state is also the head of their church.
   5. Americans like to say “We are a young nation” but we are nowhere near as young as Canada. America is either 90 years older than Canada (using the 1867 date) or 206 years (1982 date) older than Canada depending on who you are arguing about this with.
   6. Canada’s annoying Super Bowl Commercial highlights another annoyance about Canada. Even though I never really met any Canadians and have pretty much 0 real world experience of being in Canada other than being stuck on a tarmac in Montreal for 8 hours. I still find this passive aggressive stealing thunder from Americans thing that Canadians do highly annoying. That was 100% their Super Bowl Ad because they know that nobody in the USA has ever watched the Grey Cup.
      1. The guy who invented lithium batteries was born in Canada, but he lived most of his life in Ohio and worked for Procter and Gamble in Cincinnati, and made his invention in the USA while working for a USA company and he is buried in the USA. And everybody knows that it was Ben Franklin who discovered electricity and came up with the term “battery” as a storage device for electricity. So Canada claiming they invented “Batteries” during our Super Bowl is a passive aggressive attack on Ben Franklin. I don’t approve.
      2. See above for Naismith who invented the game of Basketball. Born in Canada yes, but used peach baskets as hoops during a YMCA game in Massachusetts and developed the game in Kansas. It’s an American game developed by an immigrant who left Canada for a better future in the USA.
      3. So then they list off all these other things like that, and at the end tell us to look up the invention of game of Football while chowing down on queso and wings and watching the Super Bowl and drowning in bud light…. The passive aggressive nature of that is bonkers. So I looked it up and here is what I found out.
         1. One school in Montreal played Harvard back when Canada was 6 years old in 1874 for a weekend and Harvard liked the rules of the game from Montreal. Back then many games had regional rules and it was difficult to figure out who did what first. Baseball is kind of like a version of cricket but not really and comes from city life of people hitting a ball with sticks and every town having different rules, until Alexander Cartwright began writing a rulebook in 1846. However, it is also somewhat possible that Japan invented the sport. Nobody really knows who was the first on first base. Football is kind of like this too.
         2. So then the next year Harvard began using some of the rules of the school from Montreal and then those rules became more popular and were adopted among colleges and normalized into what we know as American Football.
         3. Canadian football is not American Football and has different rules and play on a different field. But like I said no American really cares about who wins the Grey Cup. So Canadian Football is about as important as the WNBA or Cricket to 99.9999% of American Football Fans.
         4. So NO Canada did not invent Football. It was developed in the USA as a cross between Rugby and Football. One game played by a school in Montreal in 1874 against Harvard is not quite enough evidence to claim they invented the sport of Football in an ad during the Super Bowl. It took countless games between the colleges of the USA to grow the game of football into what it is today.
         5. But like I said it is a passive aggressive attitude that uses a half truth to try to steal some USA thunder that Canadians do that is seriously annoying.
         6. Also, California does this, we claim credit for things we have nothing to do with all the time. But then again we are a small part of land when compared to Canada, and we have a larger economy and the same amount of people. It’s acceptable for Californians to do this, we have Hollywood and Silicon Valley and we were settled by people wanting to be rob our land for gold and take advantage of suckers. Meaning there actually is a historical precedent for Californians to be like this, unlike Canada.