There have been many blessings bestowed upon Canada since Confederation was achieved on July 1, 1867, but even in the context of its past, 2010 is proving to be a memorable year, a year in which the momentum toward the fulfilment of the nation’s destiny has been plain for all to see. As Canadians join the Queen on Parliament Hill to celebrate Canada’s birthday, or participate in smaller celebrations elsewhere, it is worth reflecting on the achievements of 2010 – so far.
The storybook Vancouver Winter Olympics affirmed the rise of a brash new sporting Canada, unwilling to settle for personal bests, and which so memorably closed on Sidney Crosby’s overtime goal, clinching hockey gold for the men. That in turn matched the hockey gold won by the women’s team, and completed a Canadian gold medal haul that bettered any country in any Winter Olympics.
The 2010 G8 and G20 summits also showcased a brash Canada, a country unafraid of the exercise of international leadership, and a country at the forefront of the movement towards plurilateralism, the reassertion of the sovereign state in a world of complex interlinkages. The debate over security methodology should not take away from the success Prime Minister Stephen Harper enjoyed, from the important global commitment to maternal and child health, to steering through an agreement by leaders of the major developed economies to cut deficits in half by 2013, and then to stabilize or reduce debts as a percentage of GDP by 2016.
It has also been a year of astonishing individual accomplishment. K’naan’s Wavin’ Flag is the anthem of the World Cup, the greatest single sport spectacle in the world. Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney was chosen this week as the next chairman of the Committee on the Global Financial System. Drake’s Thank Me Later has topped the Billboard 200. Xavier Dolan won the Regards Jeunes prize for the second year in a row at Cannes, this time for Les Amours imaginaires. University of Toronto Professor Natalie Zemon Davis received the Holberg Prize, a prestigious international award within the arts, humanities, social sciences, law and theology. (Last year it was awarded to another Canadian, philosopher Ian Hacking.) Corporal Jeremy Pinchin received the Star of Military Valour, the second highest award for military valour in Canada after the Victoria Cross, for a selfless act of heroism that saved the life of a fellow soldier in Afghanistan. And on Wednesday, Marc Cardinal Ouellet was named chief of the Vatican’s powerful Congregations for Bishops.
These and many other individual achievements, together with the international leadership demonstrated at the 2010 summits and Vancouver Olympics, give cause for much Wavin’ Flag this day: When I get older I will be stronger/ They’ll call me freedom just like a wavin’ flag.