Who knew?  We now have a flagpole and are proudly flying a Canadian flag outside our home.  Which until a few months ago, was the last thing on our minds.  Indeed, the last time a flagpole was part of my life dates to my early childhood.  My parents, who had emigrated from England to Canada shortly after the Second World War, felt it important to plant one and fly Canada’s flag (the Canadian Red Ensign).  That action likely tied back to being proud new Canadian citizens.

The hostile events of the past few months flowing directly and predictably from the United States elections, have jolted us wide awake from the happy existential slumber induced by living in a wonderful and peaceful country with friendly neighbours to the south.  So much for that.  Grrrrr.

While the nation-level stuff gets handled by the nice elected and civil servant Canadians in both Ottawa and in provincial capitals across the country, a call to action for individual Canadians to buy anything but US stuff has quickly caught hold as we raise the Canadian flag and give the bully and his cadre of self-interested handlers in Washington a middle finger salute.  There is a larger question around why the majority of American voters would choose such a path, but another time for that.

In our own quiet world, a planned road trip through the Atlantic provinces to the tip of Newfoundland has been tweaked to return through Canada rather than through Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.  Lettuce from the US stays in the store.  Canadian potatoes rule the day.  Menu choices are mediated by the availability of Canadian or non-US sourced ingredients.  Consumables of all kinds are subject to a new level of scrutiny.  An app has quickly popped that helps us identify country of origin and non-US alternatives.  And it is not difficult to feel passionate about this.

All of which leads to buying a telescopic flagpole (made in China) and Canadian flags (made in Canada by Flags Unlimited).  Fortunately, we have a stupid looking black fence (never thought that phrase would be a thing) that we can strap the pole to in the middle of our Canadian winter.  Mission accomplished.  Our dog now wears a maple leaf scarf.  We added a small flag to this site’s logo. Now, what else can we do.