By Paul Esau (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: July 4, 2012
Canada day crept up on me this year, peeking out from between a friend’s wedding, the Euro 2012 final, and producing an issue of The Cascade. To be honest I might not have been out there with the masses on Clearbrook Road in Abbotsford waving flags at red-clad floats and dump trucks, but I did catch a little Delhi 2 Dublin action at Rotary Stadium. Who would’ve thought any group could claim to be “an energetic mash-up of Bhangra, Celtic, Dub, Reggae and Electronica with global rhythms and club beats” in one breath? But then again, what politically-astute event planner would pass up such an act?
Still, the moment which truly stole the show occurred after the genre-splicing Delhi-Dubliners had vacated the stage for (this was a hard swallow even on Canada day) Abbotsford Mayor Bruce Banman in a Calgary Flames jersey.
Now, in all fairness, there are worse ways to confront the Abbotsfordian public. One could sport a Chicago jersey for instance, or club a baby seal, or toss a football around in visible lingerie, or a mixture of all three (toss a jersey clad baby seal around while sporting stars n’ stripes lingerie). Yet a man in a Flames jersey on stage is still a disconcerting sight. The crowd shifted, mothers clutched their children tighter, hecklers began to arrange witty insults in fertile minds.
Obviously, this was not going to be one of Banman’s better performances. He tried to appeal to the patriotic fervour which unites all Canadians, yet found it a rather hard sell while draped in the colours of the enemy. Finally, flustered, he dropped the bomb he’d been selected to drop, squarely into the laps of a couple thousand bemused revellers.
The traditional Canada Day fireworks display had been financed by the Calgary Flames, in a cheerful gesture of comaradarie, friendship, and a not-so-subtle appeal to support their Abbotsford-based farm team. Banman had been selected, a baby lamb plunked into the barracuda tank, to embody that not-so-subtle appeal to remember that we’re all Canadians (right?), we all love hockey (right?), and we all love free fireworks displays (right?).
Right, but still wrong, my flame-kissed friend. Tying the Abbotsford Heat to the Flames is a disastrous idea, and has been from the beginning. In fact, simply naming our team the “Heat” was akin to a serious flirtation with the barracuda. Abbotsford does not want to be reminded that players from our home team are being trained for the enemy, and Abbotsford (at least on Sunday night) seemed rather insulted that the Flames brass thought we could be bought so easily. Granted, the Flames dumped $20,000 into this year’s display (it was a beautiful performance), but money alone does not buy hearts, souls, and season ticketholders.
As an additional embarrassment for Banman, the countdown in which he led the crowd failed to ignite any actual fireworks. Instead the show stuttered into being minutes later once the Flames jersey and its occupant were safely off the stage.
A misfire in an otherwise wonderful Canada day celebration, one that I hope won’t be repeated.
