Joe Biden: Honourary Canadian

There are certain stereotypes that Canadians simply can't shake when it comes to the rest of the world's perception of us. Yes, there are likely too many Tim Hortons restaurants per capita, but we'd really like the chain to owned by a Canadian and not a Brazilian restaurant conglomerate. Yes, it's cold up here for long stretches of time, but we embrace winter as part of our identity. Yes, hockey is the national sport, but so is lacrosse and, no, not everyone plays one or both. Yes, French is a nationally-recognized official language, but not everyone can parlez-vous with the best of them.

For years, Canadians have been stereotypically-identified a numbers of ways - we apologize for everything, we're too polite, we say "eh" a lot, and we apparently pronounce words like "out" and "about" as "oot" and aboot" - and we're pretty accepting that this happens. However, if you really want to test someone's "Canadian-ness", all you have to do is crack a joke about the Toronto Maple Leafs!

If you've read this far, you likely know that the Toronto Maple Leafs are a polarizing team in that people either like them or hate them. There's not a lot of gray area in between, it seems, and the historical nature of this polarization extends back to the team's Original Six days for Canadian fans. Leafs fans will go out of their way to defend their beloved team while those who detest the Leafs will make that known in no uncertain terms as well.

Being that I am of the latter group - I live by the ABT mantra of "Anybody But Toronto" - hearing US President Joe Biden's comments today will speaking to the Canadian government brought a smile to my face. Here is Joe Biden's speech where he references the Leafs.
I'll give Biden a pass for referencing his wife's commitment to her hometown Philadelphia Flyers, but he could have just stopped at "except the Leafs". All jokes aside, Biden making the crack in Ottawa in front of sitting Members of Parliament from across Canada was a pretty fun moment during the political theatre to which Canada was treated over the last couple of days.

Because President Joe Biden took a shot at the Leafs on a very public stage today, he's earned himself an Honourary Canadian badge. That doesn't give him any additional rights or privileges, of course, but Joe Biden can now crack jokes about the Leafs at any time without Canadians giving him a puzzled look. Make a very public Leafs joke on Canadian soil? You too can earn yourself an Honourary Canadian badge! I feel like the low entry point for this badge might mean we're going to need a lot more badges made in a short time!

Like him or hate him, Joe Biden is welcome here at HBIC thanks to his membership to the Honourary Canadian club after cracking a great joke about the always-hated Leafs!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!