A true patriot broil for this Canada Day

Peterborough’s Canada Day theme this year is Summer in the City.

Can anyone say, “Be careful what you wish for?” The long weekend is promising not just summer, but a broil fest.

Environment Canada pegged the temperatures at 34 C today and Canada Day and 33 on the holiday Monday.

Humidex horribilis? Of course, topping 40 C all three days with a max of 44.

So, do we turn up the air conditioning, ignore the parade and Del Crary Park multicultural festival and wait for things to cool down?

Of course not.

For one thing, relief won’t arrive for at least a week. This could be the nastiest heat wave since a scorcher in August 1953 fried Ontario for 10 straight days.

More to the point, hot, sultry weather is baked into Southern Ontario summers. Why deny our environmental heritage?

We can prove our Canadian bona fides by exhibiting the (supposed, or are they sufficiently documented to be engraved in stone on Parliament Hill?) national traits of stoicism, grace under pressure and politeness no matter how much sweat is pouring down our backsides.

Line up along George Street Sunday at noon. Wear lots of red. Wave a paper flag, or a real one.

Head down to Crary Park for the food, music, dancing and celebrations. Catch the alt-Inuktitut throat singing band in the evening and the traditional fireworks.

Be Canadian and proud of it: whoever you are, whatever else you believe is important and wherever your family roots might have originated.

And next week, when the great outdoors is still hot as a barbecue grill and sweaty as cutting the lawn, remember those core Canadian traits. And remember to be careful what you wish for.

Too often there is a tendency to wish only for what want – and that the we get it at the expense of the “other guy” who wants something else.

Consider Ontario’s political scene.

Some would say voters wished away the Kathleen Wynne Liberals and woke up to a populist yet meanspirited government that will crack the foundation of progressive social services Ontario has prospered under.

Others would say Ontario wished too long for a Grandma state that tried and failed to do everything for everyone, causing nothing but big debts and floundering social services.

The divide is deep.

That’s not to say those choose to live on one of side of the divide or the other should stop being critical. Voicing concern and indignation is a freedom democracy relies on.

But criticism doesn’t have to be caustic, or spiteful, or hateful. Unfortunately, we seem to be seeing too much of all three, particularly when social media provides such a broad and easy platform to shout from.

It is tempting to point south to our U.S. neighbours and say: But look, we aren’t that divided. Canadians would never turn on each other to degree.

Maybe not. Maybe stoic and polite will always win the day over spitefulness.

But current trends suggest we can’t rely on that happening automatically. Civility requires effort, and Canadians have a well-deserved reputation for making the effort.

What better time to remind ourselves of that than a scorching hot Canada Day.

Smile through the irritation and celebrate together, then let that spirit carry on.