To Our Friends Up North

Happy Canada Day to our friends from the Great White North, eh! On this day in 1867, Queen Victoria gave the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia the right to form a confederation, which also split the colony of Canada into two provinces, Ontario and Quebec, and fixed Ottawa as the centre of government. Effectively, this spun Canada off as a nation independent from the United Kingdom.

Absolute political sovereignty did not come until 1982, however, with passage of the Constitution Act fully vesting political control of Canada in its own Parliament. The Queen remains the titular head of state since Canada remains a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, but neither she nor the British Parliament exercise even a vestige of political power in Canada -- whatever political power remains in the hands of the Queen is exercised by Canada's Governor-General, who is selected by Parliament.

So enjoy your barbeques and baseball and day off work and school, Canucks. We'll be having the same sort of fun this weekend to celebrate our own independence later this week.