We interrupt our regularly scheduled July 4th programming to honour another patriotic holiday, Canada Day. Nearly one-hundred years after the United States gained independence from the British, the Constitution Act of 1867 united three colonies into a single country called Canada (within the British Empire of course). When one thinks of Canada, Tim Hortons, hockey and the word ‘a-boot’ come to mind as well as good music (Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, The Band) and bad music (Nickelback, Avril Lavigne and Justin Bieber). Another stereotype is that moose are frickin’ everywhere, which is not true, but the country is home to the world’s largest moose. Towering over the surrounding flat earth at 32 feet tall (or 10 meters), Mac the Moose is an important and popular tourist attraction to the town of Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan. His main purpose in life is to lure visitors into the city and he does just that. Job well done! Mac was born in 1984, which makes him 30 years old, older than “Call Me Maybe” singer Carly Rae Jepson but younger than big band crooner Michael Bublé. Mac was the creation of a local artist named Don Foulds, who used a steel frame covered with metal mesh and completed with 4 coats of cement. Although the sculpture has been vandalised many times (it was once painted blue and had its jaw broken, which is ironic for a town called Moose Jaw), it still stands tall. So here’s to Canada and Mac the Moose!
Mac the Moose, Canada
