On Sunday, March 16, 2014 Canada Patriot Executive Director Mike Buckle and Marketing Director Paul Wylezol  attended the Royal Canadian Legion Zone F-2 Spring Conference in Bewdley, Ontario.

They were invited by F-2 Commander Don Ramsay to speak about Canada Patriot’s mission to promote Canadian heritage and patriotism through the Canadian Flag.

Mike and Paul told the assembled Ontario Zone F-2 branch presidents and executive committees about the new Patriot Partnership with Legion Branch 30 in Port Hope, and encouraged other branches to join the partnership.

They also discussed the Raise Your Flag initiative in Port Hope, which is supported by the local town council.  It will encourage local residents and merchants to fly the Canadian flag above their homes and businesses.  Like the Patriot Partnership, it is hoped the initiative will spread across Ontario and the country, beginning this 50th year of the Canadian Flag and 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War One.

Mike and Paul finished their address to the Legion F-2 Spring Conference by presenting the zone with an antique book printed in 1915 about the first year of World War One.

Canada Patriot’s Mike Buckle Presents WW1 book to F-2 Commander Don Ramsay

On Saturday, February 15 – National Flag of Canada Day – Canada Patriot and the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 30 in Port Hope, Ontario launched a Patriot Partnership to promote Canadian heritage and patriotism. 

(Left to Right) Mike Buckle, Executive Director of Canada Patriot, Jeff Gilmer, Deputy Mayor of Port Hope, Al Wilson, President of Branch 30, and Don Ramsay, Commander of Ontario Zone F-2, Royal Canadian Legion

The event took place at Branch 30 and was attended by a patriotic group of Royal Canadian Legion members and area residents.

During the event, Port Hope Deputy Mayor Jeff Gilmer announced a community “Raise your Flag” initiative to encourage Port Hope residents and businesses to display their patriotism by flying the Canadian Flag.  

Stopping by Branch 30 to mark the occasion was Pete Fisher, well-known Canadian patriot and journalist, who is author of the book “Highway of Heroes”.

(Left to Right) Pete Fisher, author of “Highway of Heroes”, Al Wilson, President of Branch 30, and Mike Buckle, Executive Director of Canada Patriot

As a reminder to all Canadian residents and businesses, “Raise your Flag” this year in preparation for National Flag of Canada Day 2015, which will mark the 50th anniversary of the Canadian Flag!

The Father of the Canadian Flag passed away in Kingston, Ontario on December 27, 2013 at the age of 96. Under the direction of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, John Matheson, then an MP in the Ontario riding of Leeds, was a member of the committee that helped bring a new flag to Canada.  Matheson is credited for establishing the concept and symbolism for the flag and as an ardent supporter of the eventual design.

The timing could not have been worse when, in 1964, then prime minister Lester B. Pearson convened a committee tasked with designing a new Canadian flag.

The forces of Western Alienation, Quebec Separatism and aboriginal nationalism, among others, were just beginning to kick into high gear, and the divided committee was soon overwhelmed with designs of monstrous compromise: Hideous mish-mashes of fleur-de-lys, Union Jacks, crowns, beavers and wheat.

The seemingly innocuous task had become, in the unironic words of one CBC anchor, “the most emotion-packed issue of our time.”

Despite it all, one man, a young lawyer once left for dead on an Italian battlefield, was able to conjure a design of such simplicity and elegance that the country has never looked back.

On Friday, that man, John Matheson, died at the age of 96 in Kingston, Ont.

Source: National Post

“If you don’t believe your country should come before yourself, you can better serve your country by living somewhere else.” — Stompin’ Tom Connors

He was Canadian through and through. He was “Bud the Spud from the bright red mud,” raised in Skinners Pond P.E.I., and now with no more highway left to run.

He’d been everywhere, man. “Tomagany, New Liskert, Hillbury, Cobalt, Timmins, Ansenville, Kirkland Lake, Cohran, Capuscasing, Hearst, Deralden,” and that’s the way he spelled them.

He sent his six Junos back in 1978 because the awards were getting too Americanized and “should be for people who are living in Canada.” The award with true meaning was his 1996 Order of Canada.

When the CBC decided against running a live-concert music special that Stompin’ Tom produced at his own cost in 2005, he wrote off a letter telling them where they could put it.

“As far as I am concerned,” he wrote, “if the CBC, our own public network, will not reconsider their refusal to air a Stompin’ Tom special, they can take their wonderful offer of letting me sing a song on some other program and shove it.” Music to the ears.

Stompin’ Tom Connors has no more Sudbury Saturday Nights left, and no more “bar hoppin’ sprees back in Sault St. Marie.” He was a Jack of Many Trades, which is why his back still hurt when he heard the word, Tillsonburg.

He is the last of the life-lived troubadours.

Canada was his Stompin’ Grounds, whether he was out meeting Muk Tuk Annie, or was on Tragedy Trail, or at the Gumboot Cloggero. These were his Roads of Life.

No one was tougher, except maybe Big Joe Mufferaw, who had “paddled all the way to Mattawa from Ottawa … in just one day.” There the music lives on, but no longer the man himself.

No doubt, therefore, they’ll be bashing the plywood thump board in Peterborough, Ont. on Wednesday evening, and raising the roof of the local hockey rink in memorial tribute to Stompin’ Tom.

They’ll play Canada’s unofficial national anthem no doubt, too. The Hockey Song.

“Hello out there, we’re on the air …”

R.I.P. Stompin’ Tom Connors.

Patriot.

RCMP Honour Guard carry the casket of Stompin’ Tom Connors during a tribute to to the Canadian legend on Wednesday, Mar. 13, 2013 at the Memorial Centre in Peterborough. (Clifford Skarstedt/Peterborough Examiner/QMI AGENCY)

Source:  Toronto Sun

On December 19, 2012, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield lifted off above the barren plains of Kazakhstan en route to the International Space Station (ISS). He’ll make the sprawling orbital laboratory his home for five months, working alongside eight American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts as they conduct science experiments, test new technologies, berth commercial re-supply craft with Canadarm2 and carry out spacewalks.

Hadfield, who has earned distinctions as the first Canadian to operate the Space Shuttle’s Canadarm in space and the nation’s first to walk in space, will also serve as the first Canadian commander of the ISS. During the launch and two-day trip to the Space Station, Hadfield will strap into a Russian Soyuz capsule, just to the left of spacecraft skipper Roman Romanenko and National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Tom Marshburn. As the “left seater,” Hadfield will back up Romanenko, ready to shoulder the Soyuz piloting role if circumstances warrant—a demanding responsibility that Hadfield began to train for a decade ago.

Hadfield became fluent in Russian in order to achieve proficiency in multiple variants of the recently upgraded Soyuz capsule.  As the newcomers dock with the Station, they will be greeted by Expedition 34 commander Kevin Ford, of NASA, and Russians Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin. Hadfield will serve as a Station flight engineer until Ford’s crew departs in March 2013, signaling the start of Expedition 35.

As one of his most important tasks, Hadfield will use Canadarm2 to capture at least one of the new US commercial cargo capsules slated for launch. The success of NASA’s strategy to rely upon unpiloted supply craft depends on the skills of the astronauts trained to reach out with Canadarm2 to grab and berth the new Dragon and Cygnus vehicles—a skill referred to as “track and capture”. Hadfield will be prepared to assist Ford with the capture of a SpaceX Dragon capsule within weeks of his arrival. In April, Hadfield will lead the capture.

Hadfield will also head one and possibly two scheduled spacewalks—one of which to equip an aging external radiator with grapple beams. The grapple beams would permit astronauts inside the Station to remove and replace a failed radiator with Canadarm2 rather than undertake a hasty spacewalk. During the second outing, the spacewalkers would stretch data cabling from the Station’s US segment to the docking port for a new Russian science module. In addition, Hadfield will be the Systems Lead for the Station’s European and Japanese science modules and work on science experiments on behalf of Canadian scientists.

As an accomplished rhythm guitarist and vocalist who regularly performs with two astronaut bands, Hadfield has ambitious plans for his leisure moments as well. He even chose the shape of a guitar pick for his official Canadian patch.

When time permits, Hadfield intends to retreat to the cupola, the Station’s domed observation deck with a Canadian Larrivee guitar and production gear, already stowed aboard the outpost. Hadfield plans to record songs composed with his brother Dave, a musician in his own right. Along with the Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson, he will also co-write the official song for Music Monday 2013 to celebrate music education. This initiative is part of a new partnership between CBC Music, the Coalition for Music Education and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) that will literally take the annual Music Monday celebration to new heights.

Source:  Canadian Space Agency