OTTAWA — It wasn’t a political speech or a visionary manifesto that galvanized Canadian nationalism near the start of this century, just a few years after a close-call separation referendum in Quebec and during a period of endless debate about national identity.
It was a 60-second television beer commercial that captured the Canadian soul, or at least the English-speaking part of it. The Molson Canadian ad, officially called “The Rant,” offered a new, updated and self-effacing version of how Canadians view themselves.
