OTTAWA (CP) -- Trailing plumes of Maple Leaf-red smoke, the Skyhawks sky-diving team floated over Parliament Hill as thousands of Canada Day revellers clapped, cheered and tried to get a glimpse of the prime minister wandering through the crowd Saturday.
"The first of July is a fantastic day to be prime minister," Jean Chretien said as he walked to the main stage with his wife Aline and shook hands with the pressing crowd.
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The Snowbirds acrobatic aerial team fly over the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill during Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa on Saturday July 1, 2000. (CP PHOTO/The Ottawa Sun-Jeff Bassett).
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"Steve Mongrain and Sylvie Durrand drove more than 41/2 hours from Val d'Or, Que., to celebrate the day in Ottawa.
"We came to shake the prime minister's hand," said Mongrain, who added he was very excited when it happened.
Mina MacAuley-Abdelwahab wasn't as lucky. The 10-year old from Nepean, Ont., just west of Ottawa, was disappointed that the prime minister took a different path through the crowd and missed her.
"I still had fun," she said. "He shook (my hand) last year."
In an interview, Chretien said Canada has a bright future and pointed out that for the seventh year in a row the country was chosen by the United Nations as the best place to live.
"We have to celebrate that," he said.
The hot day in the nation's capital drew about 100,000 people, including Joe Canadian, star of Molson's popular I AM Canadian ad, who gave his rant on the street across from the Hill a few hours before the ceremonies began.
Canadian Alliance leader contender Preston Manning and Conservative Leader Joe Clark celebrated Canada Day on the Hill, while Stockwell Day, frontrunner in the Canadian Alliance race, spent July 1 in Red Deer, Alta.
Day looked relaxed in his first appearance on home turf since taking the leadership lead last weekend. Wearing khakis and a T-shirt emblazoned with a Maple Leaf, he strolled through large crowds enjoying entertainment and ethnic food at a popular city park.
When asked if he would consider running outside his home province for a seat if he becomes leader, he said his heart is in Alberta.
"My roots are here," he said. "It would be tough to think of running somewhere else."
Some have suggested he would have to run in Ontario to broaden the party's appeal outside the West.
In Montreal, thousands converged on Dominion Square, the site of a giant rally often cited by federalists for helping them win a slim majority in the 1995 sovereignty referendum.
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Prime Minister Jean Chretien shakes hands with people as he leaves the formal Canada Day celebrations which took place on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Saturday, July 1, 2000.(CP Photo/Jonathan Hayward)
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Behind a backdrop of dancers, marching bands and about 4,000 participants in Montreal's largest-ever Canada Day parade, Finance Minister Paul Martin recalled the 1995 rally, pointing to the spot where he watched Canadian history unfold.
"Quebecers are looking forward to building, not destroying, this great country," Martin told The Canadian Press.
"Canadians from coast to coast understand that we live in a borderless world and it's time to erase boundaries, not create them."
Martin helped cut a red and white cake, a 1,000-pound behemoth large enough to serve 2,000 people.
Don Menard, a retired army captain standing near Dominion Square marvelled at the turnout for the parade and subsequent party, pegged by organizers at 100,000.
"We fought for this country to be free," said the Second World War veteran who had participated in the ill-fated raid on Dieppe, France, in 1942, when more than 900 Canadians died.
"I'm wearing all my army medals today for the friends I lost at Dieppe," he said. "Every Canada Day, more and more people seem to be participating and honouring their country. This is wonderful."
In Newfoundland, revellers got a jump on the rest of the country, celebrating Canada Day with a sunrise ceremony at Signal Hill in St. John's, where the crowd enthusiastically sang O Canada and Happy Birthday.
In Halifax, a solar car racing team chose Canada Day to launch its cross-country tour to demonstrate the potential of solar power.
Alexa McDonough, federal NDP Leader, saw the Queen's University Suntrek team off with a reminder that they will also link the country while pursuing a world record for distance travelled by a solar-powered car.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy, enjoying festivities in his home province of Manitoba, couldn't help but compare Canada to Peru, which he visited last week.
"Just a couple of days ago I was surrounded by 4,000 armed troops and driving around in an armoured car," he told revellers. "Here ... I can stand in the street and talk with people with no problems.
"That's one of the great things about Canada."
A traditional pow-wow attracted a crowd to Winnipeg's Thunderbird House, while music lovers flocked to The Forks to enjoy a free evening concert by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.
Canada with Canada Day was also a time for announcements and citizenship ceremonies.
In Toronto, the Royal Canadian Mint unveiled its redesigned $2 coin. The polar bear design on the back now features a mother with two cubs.
The Mint says the bear family was chosen as a powerful symbol of sharing, learning together and family.
More than 5,000 people who received citizenship certificates Saturday were given the coin as a gift from the Mint.
Meanwhile, in the largest single citizenship ceremony in Canadian history, 2,100 new Canadians were sworn in at a north Toronto park that was once a military base.
At Pier 21 in Halifax, the site where thousands of new immigrants arrived in Canada over the years, 104 new citizens were sworn in.
Presiding Judge Donald Tremaine told them they should not forget their roots, but should think of themselves as Canadians from now on.
"A hyphen is small on a computer but as a divider of people, it looms large," he said.
In Vancouver, 100 people became citizens, while others swore allegiance in Edmonton and Winnipeg.
In Calgary, two people born 99 years apart celebrated their mutual birthday on Canada Day.
One-year-old Kyle Scoville and Rose Lengyel, who at 100 is 33 years younger than Canada, celebrated the occasion with flags and cake.
"All year all she can talk about is when Canada Day is coming," said Anne Molnar, Lengyel's daughter.
Corra Scoville, Kyle's mother, said July 1 is a very special day for her family.
"My sister was the first visitor who came to the hospital and she brought (Kyle) a little Canada flag," said Scoville of her son's birth last year.
"We've still got it."
Thousands of other Calgarians packed Prince's Island Park to soak up sunshine, listen to live music and feast on a wide range of treats.
In Regina, the Royal Saskatchewan Museum celebrated by opening a sparkling new gallery that allows people to "visit" major geographic areas of the province without leaving the museum. The new Life Sciences Gallery displays animal and plant life found in the province.
Celebrations were "hands on" in Edmonton where a giant billboard with a map of Canada was erected. People dipped their hands in red paint and placed them on the map to show where friends and family live in other parts of the country.
A 21-gun salute at the legislature grounds, the Silly Summer parade through the trendy Old Strathcona district and a free western-style pancake breakfast for early birds rounded out activities in the Alberta capital.
In Vancouver, grey skies didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd that gathered downtown at Canada Place to celebrate.
It was the perfect day to begin the recreation of an historic Canadian Maritime achievement. A crowd gathered at the waterfront to watch the "St Roch II" begin its voyage to retrace the journey that the RCMP ship took in 1944. It was the first vessel to sail the Northwest Passage in both directions.
Today RCMP Commissioner Philip Murray addressed the four-member crew of the new vessel, a former RCMP ship.
Organizers hope the voyage will raise funds to save the original, wooden-hulled St. Roch, which is in drydock at the Vancouver Maritime Museum and is being ravaged by dry dock.
The Canada Place celebrations culminated with a half-hour fireworks spectacle at 10:30 p.m.
Canadians around the world also celebrated their country's 133rd birthday.
Canadian beer flowed in Moscow at the Canadian Embassy, where more than 200 guests, many clad in red and white, played volleyball and ping-pong.
In London, England, hundreds of celebrants spilled from a pub in Covent Garden, climbed to the roof and milled about singing O Canada.
In New York City, thousands of people showed up for a free concert in Central Park featuring Canadian rock band the Tragically Hip. Most of the crowd wore red and white and sported the maple leaf.
"There are Canadians galore," said Renee Beaumont of Vancouver, adding she enjoyed being reminded of home.
"It's a part of who I am despite the fact that I don't live there."
