Canuck Quotes
Dan Ackroyd
"If it hadn't been for Carleton [University], The Blues Brothers movie would never have been made."
"I never wanted to be a solo act. My strength is in collaboration, and I feel a kinship with an ensemble to make a project whole."
"As soon as we met there was an instant rapport. It was like Stanley meeting Livingstone."
"Funny us going out like this, killed by a 100 foot marshmallow man"
"We love you Trudeau,
We think you're really neat-o
You could fall into a barrel of shit
And come out smelling sweet-o"
Margaret Atwood
"I was born on November 18, 1939, in the Ottawa General Hospital, two and a half months after the beginning of the Second World War. Being born at the beginning of the war gave me a substratum of anxiety and dread to draw on, which is very useful to a poet. It also meant that I was malnourished. This is why I am short. If it hadn't been for food rationing, I would have been six feet tall."
"Writers were dead and English, or else extremely elderly and American; they were not sixteen years old and Canadian."
"For a while there, you were made to feel that, if a poet and female, you could not really be serious about it unless you'd made at least one suicide attempt. So I felt I was running out of time."
"This first book of poems was called The Circle Game; I designed the cover myself, using stick-on dots-- we were very cost-effective in those days -- and to everyone's surprise, especially mine, it won a prize called The Governor General's Award, which in Canada was the big one to win."
"I don’t think biographies of living people should be written. I am not dead yet. Oddly enough, you can’t stop anyone from writing a biography of you.”
Al Capone
"I don't even know what street Canada is on."
Jackie Chan
(not Canadian) speaking about receiving the key to Toronto in thanks for his fundraising event benefiting the Hospital for Sick Children
"The key of the city is not important for me.
You give to me, I'm happy, you don't give to me, I do the same thing."
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien
"What impressed me is the courage of the people that we've met. Those who didn't know if they had lost their house. Others that had just learned a few minutes before about the loss of their home."
"We saw firefighters coming from all over Canada, soldiers coming from Atlantic Canada were here and willing to help."
"...we must renew our commitment to work together to realize the full potential of our place in the world and our place in history. For Canadians are never complacent. We are nourished by hopes and dreams and the belief that the best days are always to come - there is always more to do to make our nation even better with a quality of life second to none."
"A prime minister has a unique duty to preserve the integrity of the office. It is not about power. It is about responsibility."
"The art of politics is learning to walk with your back to the wall, your elbows high, and a smile on your face. It's a survival game played under the glare of lights. If you don't learn that you're quickly finished. It's damn tough and you can't complain; you just have to take it and give it back. The press wants to get you. The opposition wants to get you. Even some of the bureaucrats want to get you. They all may have an interest in making you look bad and they all have ambitions of their own."
"We will be working very closely in North America with the new administrations of President Bush and President Fox. The United States is our most important trading partner. Our closest ally. I will be travelling to Washington next week to meet with President Bush. To reaffirm the importance of our relationship."
"... last fall after the death of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Canadians were moved to reflect and discuss not only the Trudeau legacy but the meaning of Canada and our attachment to it. His vision was of a mature and confident Canada shaping its own destiny, tied together by a common citizenship based on shared rights and mutual responsibility. A bilingual Canada in which citizens could enjoy and benefit from our rich French and English heritage. A country respectful of the special place of aboriginal people. A multi-cultural Canada, open to the world and fully seized of its global responsibilities. A just Canada in which opportunity is truly equal. We will take steps to commemorate his legacy in a way which both reflects and furthers these values."
"And as for me, .... I've been fighting for Canada all my life ... and I'm just getting warmed up."
"Do not despair, you are not alone. We are with you. The whole world is with you. The great Martin Luther King, in describing times of trial and tribulation, once said that, 'In the end, it is not the words of your enemies that you remember, it is the silence of your friends.'
Mr. Ambassador, as your fellow Americans grieve and rebuild, there will be no silence from Canada."
The Rt. Hon Adrienne Clarkson
"But what we call home is more than a place name on a map. It is our belonging to a community of ideas and ideals; it is the knowledge that we can say something and be listened to, and the conviction that we can respect, rely upon and help each other."
Bruce Cockburn
"When the Sept.11 thing happened and all that's followed it, I felt first of all what good are songs in a context like this? Everything I'd written to that point seemed kind of meaningless. But then better judgement took hold and I realized that now more than ever we need to engage in the sharing of human experience."
"On some level--you may be staring at your demons or staring at angels, or you may be making mud pies, I suppose--- but you're still looking something in the eye in order to create anything of value."
"There is that invisible motion that's central to existence. And it might even be true to say that is what God is."
Celine Dion
"There's still a lot more that I want do in music and I have many more goals and dreams which I hope to pursue in time."
Don Ferguson
as 'Dave the Cabbie' during a Royal Canadian Air Farce skit
"Canada is now on Osama Bin Laden's hit list, let's hope it's Ontario Hydro."
as the character 'Confused Philosopher
'"Instead of using F18 fighter jets in the Persian Gulf, couldn't the coalition just send in Manitoba mosquitoes?"
Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon
in an 1827 letter
"The weather on the 22nd day of June, 1813 was very hot, and Mrs. Secord, whose person was slight and delicate, appeared to have been and no doubt was very much exhausted by the exertion she made in coming to me, and I have ever since held myself personally indebted to her for her conduct upon that occasion..."
Flannel Quotes
True North Strong & Plaid
April 2002, Gayle Macdonald of The Globe & Mail approached the Canadiana Connection for opinions on why plaid has had such an enduring appeal to Canadians. We contacted our list of subscribers, and many replied.
Deborah Knight, one of our readers, and expatriate Canadian, was quoted extensively.
Here are her comments reprinted in their original form:
"Flannel is an integral part of our national heritage. It's -- literally -- the fabric that binds us together. From the tunderin' coast of Newfoundland to the groovy waves of B.C., it's THE Canadian fashion statement. Flannel screams, "It's cold. It's f-ing cold. And I'm not gonna die!"
To hell with the Yves St. Laurent silk chiffon evening gown. Damn that Hugo Boss tuxedo. Canadians wear flannel to the opera. We wear flannel flannel to church. We even wear flannel on our wedding night!
As a matter of fact, I buy flannel pajamas because my cat -- who was never weaned properly -- likes to suck on my flannel-covered shoulder while I sleep. (Okay...so maybe that part's a little weird.)
Not only is flannel the ultimate Canadian fabric, the ultimate of ultimates is...plaid flannel! It's so perfectly, non-committally Canadian . It isn't blue. It isn't red. It isn't black. It isn't white. It's red AND blue AND black AND white. It's the most politically correct fabric money can buy! And the stripes don't simply go up and down or side to side. They go every which way imaginable...just because they can. That unbridled wanderlust is Canadian!
And worn with blue jeans...nobody knows if you're from Forest Hill or Regent Park. It's the great North American equalizer. Is it Eddie Bauer or is it Bi-Way? Who knows? Who cares? We're all the same in our flannel. We're all created equal...except maybe those guys whose plaid shirt pockets have been precisely matched to the plaid front of the shirt. To be truly equal, the plaid on the pocket MUST be running diagonally. We don't want any smarmy Harry Rosen type of flannel. It's got to be manly and rugged...just like the women who wear it!
Flannel keeps us warm. Flannel keeps us equal. Flannel keeps us constantly aware that we aren't basking in the warmth of a southern ocean breeze.
And that's why flannel is the enduring Canadian fabric.
Well...that's what I think."
Deborah Knight,Ohio
Click here to read the article - perhaps Deb should
have received a little more credit!
Katrina Somers was also quoted:
"I love flannel. I wish I could wear it year-round; I welcome winter because it allows me to wear flannel pajamas and have flannel sheets on my bed. There's something so smugly satisfying about encasing yourself in fuzzy cotton-ness and defying the cold, and I think that defiance may be part of the flannel appeal: Canadians don't like winter; rather, we like feeling proof against it, and flannel is to us in winter what chain mail was to a medieval warrior."
Katrina Somers
More thoughts on flannel:
"Being up in the Great White North There are many things that our Flannel is used for... Seeing each other in the white snowy grounds of Canada, the symbol of Lumberjacks, the TRUE Canadian jacket that no one wants to copy cause they think it looks silly, if it was long johns we wear instead it would look plain and bland... and tacky, but I feel the true reason why we wear it cause WE ARE CANADIAN!!"
Dan Crocker, Calgary, Alberta
"Whaaaaaaat? The ongoing Canadian obsession with flannel!?! National costume? I'm laughing out loud right now. Yes, the guy from the Red Green Show sports a flannel, but one fictitional character's wardrobe is not an adequate basis for sweeping generalizations on national dress. I watched Frasier last night - and my sneaking suspicion that Americans are obsessed with tweed was confirmed...
Considering our latitude, it's probably safe to say that the average Canadian owns a few items of warm clothing. But please, do not portray all Canadians as "flannel-obsessed." It will confuse everyone that pictures us in mounty uniforms..."
Meg Houghton
"What other reason do you need to wear flannel, I mean
6+ months of Winter..."
MR
Michael J. Fox
"Growing up, I was considered a bit strange. When I moved to the States I was celebrated for everything I was ostracized and ridiculed for at home. I felt like 'Wow, I'm onto something. Whatever I couldn't do at home, I do here and they give me money.'"
David Frum
"It's true that you can get in a car at Anchorage and drive diagonally southeast until you hit Miami and speak the same language, use the same credit card, pump gas the same way. I think you'd be struck much more by the similarities than the differences. And the places where you would notice the dissimilarities would not match the border."
Great Big Sea
from their CD's "Turn" and "Road Rage"
"And it's true I must be goin',
But I swear I won't be long.
There isn't that much ocean
Between Boston and St. John's."
Tom Green
of The Tom Green Show
"I don't think there's one reason why we have this large amount of successful Canadian comedians. I think there are lots of reasons, including the national-insecurity angle of growing up next to this huge country and feeling, 'Hey, look at me. We're over here too.' That might go into people's individual psyche and make them act a little more extroverted."
.
Lorne Gunter
The Edmonton Journal Columnist in regard to 4 Canadian troops killed in Afghanistan by an errant American bomb
"One national paper tried to make it sound like we're all infuriated by America's incompetence. Most people understand these tragedies happen in the middle of war."
by Canadian author Elizabeth Hay
(from Captivity Tales)
"It's not that one place spoils the other, but that it becomes easier to hold a place in your mind if you're living somewhere else,
and it becomes more important to hold the place in your mind than to be there."
Simon Hoggart
British columnist and journalist
"Canada is not so much a country as a clothesline nearly 4000 miles long. St. John's in Newfoundland is closer to Milan, Italy, than it is to Vancouver!"
Monte Hummel
"This...is about getting to know a place so well that it becomes a part of you. The boundary between self and place dissolves. Some kind of life force or shared blood supply flows evenly through you both without the slightest hesitation. You feel entirely and deeply comfortable saying, 'I am of this place; I am this place.' "
from the book,
'Wintergreen: Reflections from Loon Lake
Ashton Kutcher
"There is prejudism everywhere, except Canada.
They don't make generalizations about people because they're too busy playing hockey, getting drunk or putting maple syrup on their ham."
Allan Lamport
(former mayor of Toronto)
"It's hard to make predictions — especially those about the future."
Jay Leno
"In a national anthem survey, 79% of Americans know the first line of the 'Star-Spangled Banner', but only 37% of Canadians know the first line to 'Oh, Canada', which is really pathetic considering the first line of 'Oh, Canada' is 'Oh, Canada'."
Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie
"However narrow and inexperienced Mackenzie may be, I imagine he is a thoroughly upright, well-principled, and well-meaning man."
"I have always held those political opinions which point to the universal brotherhood of man, no matter in what rank of life he may have taken his origin."
"But I refer to it now merely to say this: that the Reformers of this country will remember -- those who were not alive at that time by reading, and those who were alive by having been in the midst of these events -- with gratitude that it was the great leaders of the Reform party who first gave perfect civil and religious rights to the people of Canada "
Natalie MacMaster
Canadian Fiddler
"Music on paper doesn't have personality. You have to put it in your own expression and give it personality."
John Manley
Canadian Deputy Prime Minister
"Public complacency can turn into public anxiety in a second if something happens.
Then the demand will be, 'why didn't you people learn from Sept. 11 and protect us?' "
Rick Mercer
This Hour Has 22 Minutes
"Most Canadians freak out if the boss asks them to work late. Imagine getting the call, to drop everything, get on a plane, cause you are going to the worst place on earth for Canada. And don't worry, you'll still get paid crap. Oh yah, a lot of our Peace Keepers will make, including danger pay, $20,000 a year before taxes. And if they do a good job we all get the credit and if a few of them screw up, they take the blame. Not a bad idea for the 25 million of us staying here - but the ones that are going there - maybe they deserve just a bit of a raise."
Lorne Michaels
(created and produced Saturday Night Live)
"In terms of things that are considered serious, I think Canadians always felt proud that they could more than hold their own-and still do. In popular entertainment, however, the country was ambivalent about it, particularly the state-sponsored CBC. Doing something popular and funny? Well-behaved was much better. The idea that you were going to pay good money to people who were just going to misbehave just wasn't going to happen."
Kim Mitchell
from the lyrics of "Crossroads"
"If you come back to town I'll be standing like a national treasure and I'll have nothing on but a glow."
Rick Moranis
"My brother and I used to say that drowning in beer was like heaven, eh? Now he's not here and I got two soakers, this isn't heaven, this sucks!"
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
1984
"If I were President of the United States, I'd wake up in the morning and probably look at the events around the world - Americans under attack here, acts of terrorism and violence - I'd look at all that and I'd look up at Canada and say, 'Thank God I have Canada for a neighbour. Now what can I do for Canada today?'"
Rex Murphy
excerpt from a commentary on The National 12-22-00 in reference to the success of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'
"It's Christmas again, which as far as I can tell from reading the newspapers and watching TV, is the season people the world over celebrate the birth of Jim Carrey."
"The National, December 22, 2000
"Despite what I said at the beginning Toronto is a good place to celebrate Christmas. It gets more peaceful here each year. For example, there have been at least two snowfalls already in this city and no one yet has called in the army."
P.J. O'Rourke
"Very little is known of the Canadian country since it is rarely visited by anyone but the Queen and illiterate sport fishermen."
Julie Payette
"You can imagine that when you are ten, twelve years old and you're growing up in a town in Canada and you're French Canadian and you're telling everybody "Hey, I'd like to be an astronaut one day." Then people pat you on the back, smile a little bit and say "Yeah, sure." And they hope that you're going to change your mind and find a more down-to-earth job, which is what I did eventually."
"I also remember Toronto as a place where I was able to pursue many of my personal interests, ranging from sports to cultural activities. One of my most marking memories (besides participating in the annual climbing of the CN Tower stairs) was the privilege of singing with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra throughout my entire stay."
"A given step, however small it may appear to one, may represent a great deal to another. Every hurdle one surpasses makes one grow. I am just glad I was given the opportunity, resources, and support to surpass the hurdles that came my way."
"Success is a mixture of skills, competence, luck and hard work: with a bit of effort, I believe the world can be at our feet."
David Pelletier
(in reaction to he and Jamie Salé receiving the silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics)
"Our own gold medal is winning the hearts of everybody. When you have the respect from your peers, this is worth more than anything else."
Brian Pettipas
Repatriated Canadian
"It is not easy to leave your home and immerse yourself in another culture. To all of you who have taken the plunge, I hope you realize just how courageous you are and also how lucky you are to have the opportunity. Make the most of it - I know you will. And rest assured Canada will always be there for you when you're ready to come home."
Written by a U.S. journalist at the end of WWI
about Canadian born Mary Pickford
"If all the world were gathered in one huge, darkened auditorium and a portrait were to be flashed upon the screen which would be recognized by the greatest numbers, whose would it be?
Would it be the picture of Woodrow Wilson, of Lloyd George, or even of the late Kaiser?
No, indeed.
It would be wee Mary Pickford...for world popularity, she is the greatest American, the greatest world citizen."
Royal Canadian Air Farce
from the skit 'Grumpy Old Politically Incorrect Women'
"What is the world coming to when a talk show host with more money than a Swiss bank can tell us what to read?
I don't see too many books titled, 'How to think for yourself' on her flippin' little Oprah list!"
George Santayana
(1863-1952)
"A man's feet should be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world."
George Bernard Shaw
(1856-1950)
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it."
Martin Short
"Sometimes between film takes, I'll spin to disorient myself. I'll get myself almost dizzy. Sometimes you have to shake yourself up to make it seem like it's happening for the first time, or to make it all seem fresh. I'll use any trick to get there."
Britney Spears
"The good thing about being on tour is getting to go overseas to places like Canada."
Tragically Hip
from the song "Thirty-Eight Years Old""Twelve men broke loose in seventy-three
From Millhaven Maximum Security
Twelve pictures lined up, across the front page
Seems the Mounties had a summertime war to wage"
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
RE: Gordon Sinclair:
"Gordon Sinclair's death ends one of the longest and most remarkable careers in Canadian Journalism. His wit, irreverence, bluntness and off-beat views have been part of the media landscape for so long that many Canadians had come to believe he would always be there."
"We love you Trudeau,
We think you're really neat-o
You could fall into a barrel of shit
And come out smelling sweet-o"
Barb Wahl
"Had there been attention paid and protective measures put in place we might have been able to avoid that illness and death."
Randy White
Canadian Alliance Party
"Should Canada go ahead with legalisation of marijuana, there is going to be some significant problems with the Americans and we shouldn't underestimate that."