Eh! It's rochrox here with another edition of Eh! The Canada Column. Because this issue is the 10th issue of Eh!, I'm going to be looking back over the last 10 years of Canadian history.
1997 - Confederation Bridge opens! This bridge, the longest bridge over ice-covered waters (in the winter) in the world, connects the two provinces New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. On May 31, 1997, after 3 1/2 years of construction, the 12.9km (8.01 miles) bridge was open for traffic.
1998 - This is incredibly unorthadox and I'm probably going to get bashed in the BBS for my big "event" in 1998. But to tell you the truth, this is probably as interesting as Paul Martin making a balanced budget, even more interesting than that, in my humble opinion. In 1998, my favourite band of all time, the Barenaked Ladies, produced my favourite song by them, "One Week". The song made it to #1 on the US charts, #9 in Canada, #1, and to #5 in the UK. Not too shabby!
1999 - The maps of Canada must all be redone! Why? A new territory had joined! On April 1st, 1999, the North West Territories were split, forming a new territoy, Nunavut.
2000 - In Ottawa there is a war memorial for all Canadian soldiers who lost their lives to war. At the base of this memorial, there is a tomb, representing all those lost who remain unidentified. On May 25, 2000, the remains of an unidentified soldier who fought in World War 1 in France, were brought to Canada and burried in the tomb, known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
2001 - Canada is hugely impacted by everything that happens in the US. The September 11th attacks made some Canadians in the buildings lose their lives too. Right after the attacks, the Canadian government initiated two support programs: Operation Support, and Operation Yellow Ribbon, to help those who were in airplanes that needed to be re-routed.
2002 - Canada goes green! On December 16, 2002, Canada signed Keyoto!
2003 - August 14th, 2003 is a day I'll never forget. 10 million people in Ontario lost power for over 4 hours! I was at a friend's birthday party, and hadn't even noticed, but in big cities like Toronto, there was chaos! Commuters had to evacuate the subways through the tunnels, volunteers were out directing traffic, even Parliament Hill in Ottawa had to be evacuated! The problem originated in the US, and 8 states lost power too. Funny how us Canadians are so affected by what happens in the states. Did you even know Ontario lost power too? Post it in the BBS!
2004 - Canada helps out the countries affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake, the tsunami that hit India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia. The Canadian aid continued into 2005.
2005 - Adrienne Clarkson, the Canadian Govener General at the time, decided that she would create a special trophy for women's hockey. I'm sure most of you are framiliar with the Stanley Cup, well the Clarkson Cup would be the same type of deal, only for women's hockey.
2006 - Stephan Harper was elected Canada's 22nd Prime Minister. Stephan Harper is part of the Conservative party, and is our current Prime Minister.
2007 - Last year, Canada had a Census done. That's a full population survey! Census Canada found that Canada's population was 31,612,897. That's 9.5 times smaller than the US! Combined, the territories of Canada has a combined population of 100,000+! That's the highest ever!
Hopefully you enjoyed reading about some of Canada's more recent history. For some years, there was lot's to choose from, and for some years, not a lot happened (except for hockey and polotics), but hopefully the ones I selected have interested you a bit! I'm so excited to have published 10 issues of Eh! And there's plenty more to come, but you'll just have to wait to see them. Thanks for reading!
--rochrox
