What makes July 1 different from any other day? Like all holidays, it's what we put into it.In Squamish, we can be very proud Canadians. The festivities all over downtown and Totem Hall right down to the fireworks at the end of the day made it clear we love our country here.The Downtown Business Improvement Association deserves our thanks and praise for organizing an amazing day downtown, as do the Squamish Nation and Squamish's faith communities for putting together another wonderful Multicultural Celebration.In all the fun and sun of Canada Day, there were only two dark patches, both of them centred around our most visible Canadian symbol - the flag at Stan Clarke Park - and both ended up being proud moments after all.The first moment of concern was the theft of the flag itself, discovered the morning of Canada Day. Thanks to the forward-thinking and preparation of district community parks foreperson Scott Lamont, who brought a backup flag, few ever knew there was a problem until they read it in today's Chief.We hope the idiot or idiots who stole the first one were truly disappointed that their stupid prank was foiled.The second moment was when the time came to raise that flag and sing our national anthem. As the parade congregated at the cenotaph there was a long, awkward period of silence when the parade's master of ceremonies asked if there were any dignitaries that wished to speak.As it slowly dawned on the crowd that not a single elected representative of the people was in attendance, Luc LeBlanc of the Black Tusk Caledonia Pipe Band bravely stepped into the breach.His quick thinking and brief but heartfelt words saved that part of Canada Day for those in attendance, and we thank him for taking the initiative. It's understandable, if regrettable, that our Member of Parliament and our Member of the Legislative Assembly weren't there - after all, they have multiple communities to cover and can't be everywhere at once. What's really unfortunate is that not one of our seven local elected officials was at the cenotaph.There seems to be a fair bit of confusion over whether or not they were invited and by whom, and we hope that this awkward moment will be remembered and corrected next year. But the best thing about our local flag flaps is that we now have two new local heroes. If there's nobody else willing to run for mayor against Greg Gardner by this fall, perhaps we can call on Mr. Lamont or Mr. LeBlanc to step up again
