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William Watson: Our discontent is about freedom

If Canadians are feeling glummer this Canada Day than in previous decades, it's because governments are treading less lightly on our lives

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I learn from Wikipedia, a magical resource I hope children will still be able to use even after we’ve banned them from “social” media, that in 1958 the Diefenbaker government allocated $14,000 to what were then still Dominion Day celebrations. (Canada Day didn’t become Canada Day until 1982, when 12 MPs snuck a private member’s bill through the House of Commons — a cultural coup whose most astonishing aspect was that it took place eight days after that year’s Dominion Day. Attendance was clearly low but the Commons was actually in session in mid-summer.)

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