A love letter to Canada

One of the best things about having these Olympics in Canada, while we live here, is learning even more about the relationship between our two countries. This report from Tom Brokaw is a great reminder. Or, as one Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reporter said, "A Love Letter to Canada." In this story Brokaw tries to explain Canada to Americans.


In response to the video, the CBC reporter wrote the following story and included an old video from  Canadian perspective.
From the CBC...
A new video is getting a lot of airplay on both YouTube and Twitter today, and it's one that's got normally reserved Canucks feeling more than a little chuffed and patriotic.


The clip, entitled "Tom Brokaw Explains Canada to Americans," was originally prepared by the revered former anchor of the NBC Nightly News as part of that network's Olympics coverage, and aired before the Olympic opening ceremonies on February 12.


What's got Canadians so excited is Brokaw's reverent tone throughout the video, in which he praises our country for being very neighbourly - a nation always willing to share natural resources, open its borders to immigrants, export its homegrown talent (Jim Carrey, anyone?) and loyally stand by other nations in times of political crisis and war. Some are calling Brokaw's Canadian shout-out's a "love letter" to our country, and with the clip's soaring score and loving close ups of our breathtaking geography, it's hard to disagree.


Though Brokaw's spontaneous show of affection for Canada should definitely earn him some kind of honorary national treasure status, it's interesting to note that he's not the first journalist to give this type of impassioned, border-busting shout-out.


Way back in 1973, Canadian journalist (and Front Page Challenge panelist) Gordon Sinclair constructed his own passionate tribute to the U.S. The stirring speech, called "The Americans," and playing out to the strains of the The Battle Hymn of the Republic, was so popular with our neighbours south of the border, the clip eventually rose all the way to no. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100:




Now...back to Curling and the Olympics...