There seems to be some actual fretting on our side of the border that Molsons from Canada and Coors from the USA are merging. Molsons has branded itself, at least in English Canada, under the slogan "I am Canadian" for years. Now it appears people have bought in to that brand so much that the infiltration of the corporation by an American (not to mention politically suspect) partner has people actually in a tizzy.

This non-event reminds me of the prospect of Prince Edward Islanders losing the constitutional fluke of their provincial status therefore dissipating any claim to a unique cultural community distinct from their homogenously neighbouring Maritimer provincial cohort. They few may tie themselves personally and inseparately to their government's marketing campaigns touting their tourisitic uniqueness (to some auslanders but mainly to themselves) but, surely to God, Canadians have more sense than mirror such slathering when faced with a mere corporate realignment. I suppose, as I hate the Habs and by connection their former but long time owners Molsons on a recreational basis, that I have found the entire "I am Canadian" tedious if not distasteful. Being a child of Scots, it amazes me that one's culture could be defined - or even definitively expressed - by a corporation or even one's government.

One thing Scots, Poles, Dutch, Americans, Newfoundlanders, Mohawk, Mi' kmaq and other cultures I have lived or worked among and love have in common is certainty in the validity of their individual or national cultural existence separate and distinct from any government, political party, boss or other branding entities efforts to contain or corner it. Each of these peoples know that God Himself dropped their promethean form into existence like a dollop of dough onto the hot pan eons ago. It is because it is - we are because we are. If we need a corporation or a government to validate ourselves as an "us", it is time to have a good hard look in the mirror.