Let me get this straight. 1605 + 400 = 2008? This is the math according to this morning's Globe and Mail:

On the eve of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City and the arrival of the French language and culture in North America, Quebec Premier Jean Charest praised bilingualism yesterday for offering Canadians more freedom and opportunity...

Don't get me wrong. I think its a bit of a farce that the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec is being so little celebrated in Canada. Kind of like the failure to note the 400th anniversary of the founding of Acadia and the arrival of the French language and culture in North America three years ago. Being a Maritimer this is no small thing as the relations between Quebec and Acadia somewhat parallel the history of footnotery the entire eastern Canadian experience plays in the rest of the nation. Influence sometimes seems to play as much a role in history as fact in the free north strong and free. But it's hard to miss, what with being down the road from both Grand Pre and Port Royal when I was a kid, spending many school trips going over the facts, the first settlement in 1605, learning about the Order of Good Cheer as well as the explusions of 1775. I also cooked Acadian food with my neighbours for festival crowds when I lived in Rustico, PEI, all decendants of returnees.

Maybe it's because a city never grew where Louisbourg fell. Maybe it's because Acadians have a bit of a greater world view that looks to France as well as Louisiana. But they were here first and are still here.