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The hot potato
Today, November 16, 2016, is the day the big recommendation will be made public. What big recommendation? Well, Canada does not have a national bird. It has a national animal, the beaver. And it has a national tree, the maple. But no national bird.
A couple of years ago, Canadian Geographic magazine decided to change that. It put the choice of a national bird out to the public for nominations, and drew up a shortlist of the five most popular candidates. Then, just like the Canada Reads and The County Reads book-touting events, an advocate spoke a few weeks ago on behalf of each finalist at an event hosted by the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. The Society will choose a winner and announce that choice today, which it will then recommend to the federal government. Bigly.
So what are the five finalists? Topping the polls is the common loon, which garnered substantially more votes than its nearest rival, the snowy owl. Also in the hunt are the gray jay (or whisky jack or Canada jay); the Canada goose, and the black-capped chickadee. Left to reflect that “I could have been a contender” are such vote-getting stalwarts as the common raven, the blue jay, the great blue heron, the Atlantic puffin and the redtailed hawk. But now that it’s down to the five finalists, the popular vote means nothing—as Hillary Clinton has also recently learned.
What do the contenders have going for them? Well, the common loon, according to the contest’s website (nationalbird.canadiangeographic. ca), breeds in every province and territory, and is already the official bird of the province of Ontario. The bird is already iconic in light of the lucrative deal to let its likeness appear on coinage issued by the Royal Canadian Mint. The snowy owl lives year-round in the lower Arctic and in the winter in all provinces and territories. It is the official bird of the province of Quebec. The gray jay (or whisky jack or Canada jay) lives year-round in the pan-Canadian boreal forest and is a bird with “a trusting nature.” The Canada goose can be found in rivers and freshwater bodies across the country, although it tends to winter in southern North America. It is also known for its endorsement of a line of made-in-Canada winter clothing. The black-capped chickadee likes deciduous forests and open woodlands and, in winter, backyards. It is the official bird of New Brunswick.
So how do we sort them, and which horse, or rather bird, shall we put our money on? The crowd favourite is obviously the loon. But a constitutional question arises. Ontario got there first and chose the loon, a fair and sensible step. What if the feds decide they want to make it Canada’s national bird as well? Will Ontario have to choose another bird symbol and let the feds just wrench the loon away from them? Other provinces may well argue that this just proves what they have said all along, that the federal government has always favoured Ontario. Admittedly, the feds may take the contrary view, and think that a true national symbol can’t somehow graduate from being a provincial symbol. But if we are eliminating the loon for constitutional reasons, then by the same logic we have to eliminate the snowy owl and the black-capped chickadee. Sorry, fellas: have a nice flight home.
That leaves the Canada goose and the gray jay (or whisky jack or Canada jay). I admit that the Canada goose looks and sounds magnificent when it forms flying Vs with its buddies and honks its way over Wellington, but let’s call a spade a spade. This bird is a pain in the neck. Just ask anyone who owns grass on West Lake. Do we really want a pain in the neck to be our national bird? We already have the beaver: one pain in the neck national symbol is enough!
That leaves us with the gray jay (or whisky jack or Canada jay)—the one with the “trusting nature” that will land on your hand if you hold it out and stand still. That quality sounds appropriately Canadian. The only possible disadvantage is that it might be taken as a slap at Toronto and its Blue Jays. But hey: it’s not my fault that the blue jay didn’t make the shortlist, and slapping Toronto is one of our unifying national pastimes.
So my vote goes to the gray jay (or whisky jack or Canada jay). But I’m not holding my breath that the feds will act on the big recommendation. If I can conjure up some constitutional concerns, just imagine what issues Justin Trudeau and his cabinet may bring to the table. Choosing a new national bird may be just as fraught as selecting a new fighter jet or Supreme Court justice. A national bird may just be too hot a potato.
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