Reasons to love Canada and Niagara this weekend

For two weeks in August, Niagara will be the focus for Canada’s best amateur athletes. Who knows how many future Olympians will compete right on our doorstep

Happy Canada Day long weekend, everyone!

With all its flaws and personality tics and quirkiness, and even with so many serious issues it still needs to work through, Canada remains a wonderful country to live in. The best in the world, we believe, and it deserves to be celebrated.

That has been difficult lately, though.

Two years ago, it was the first summer of COVID-19; last year, Canada Day was more for reflection than festivities after it was learned hundreds of unmarked children’s graves had been discovered at the sites of former residential schools.

The despair those schools caused and the young lives that were lost or forever damaged because of horrible government policy and criminal mistreatment by some of those in authority can’t be undone.

The flags aren’t at half-staff now, as they were on July 1, 2021, but we can never forget. Reconciliation is the only path, and it can’t be slowed or stalled but must keep moving forward.

Still, on this Canada Day there are plenty of reasons to be glad to be a Canadian, and especially to be living in Niagara.

Here are a few causes for celebration, in no particular order:

Entertainment We count at least five top-flight venues for live entertainment — two at the Fallsview casino (including the 5,000seat venue that has to open eventually), the Niagara Falls Convention Centre, and in St. Catharines the Meridian Centre and Firstontario Performing Arts Centre are the big ones. Plus some wineries and most of the region’s communities offer live music or plays;

Traffic Yes, we have traffic jams like everywhere else. But isn’t it nice that when you travel on long weekends, the heavy traffic is always coming as you are going, and if you return to Niagara that night the worst traffic is again going the other way on the QEW;

Niagara Parks Commission The agency has taken heat in recent years for some of its new attractions, but its new hydro-themed venue — including the historic tunnel just opened to tourists — is a winner. And the NPC still maintains some of the most beautiful green space around;

Canada Summer Games For two weeks in August, Niagara will be the focus for Canada’s best amateur athletes. Who knows how many future Olympians will compete right on our doorstep, and the local benefits include brilliant new sports facilities and a timely boost for Niagara’s tourism industry;

The border If you think Canada is wrestling with some issues right now, just look across the Niagara River and feel better about our prospects. Yes, our American neighbour can be loud, demanding, imposing and sometimes downright scary. But it’s also fascinating, beautiful and unpredictable. Here in Niagara, it’s good that the U.S. is close but yet not too close;

Growth It took a while, but people are discovering Niagara as a nice place to live and work. That’s creating a lot of opportunity here as commercial and industrial areas and residential neighbourhoods keep growing. But many people are being left behind by high housing costs, and there’s a growing demand on our ability to provide social services. Progress does bring challenges;

Local history This is all Indigenous land, but over the centuries it has witnessed historic military battles, has been a key stop on the Underground Railroad helping Black Americans to freedom, and the land itself is blessed with one of the world’s greatest natural wonders in Niagara Falls and some of the nicest green lands to be found. Face it, Niagara is one of the coolest places in Canada.

Canada, and Niagara, aren’t perfect; no place on Earth is. But they’re home, they’re places to love. Go, Canada!