1936 LaSalle Model 50 with Telltale Scotch-Plaid Hat

Dan was right all along. The following was taken from the pages of “The Legionary”, “The Fighting Man’s Magazine”. Published from Montreal, in June of 1943. Printed at the height of WW II, it was as true then as it is today. The magazine poses the following question: Is Canada’s excessive politeness a cover for something truly sinister?

Reasons to Fear Canada

• Ninety percent of Canada’s population is massed within a 100 miles of the US border
• Infiltration of the entertainment industry with comedians
• Consistently staying just below the cultural radar
• Seemingly endless supply of Tim Horton donuts and Scotch-plaid hats
• Keeps insisting it “has no designs on America” and “only wants peace”

This is of course just a joke. The joke is made funnier, because it is the Canadians making fun of themselves. The joke is told in a magazine dedicated to the Canadian Army, at the height of WW II. A placard quoting the “Legionary”, was taped to the window of the above pictured LaSalle. This LaSalle was built-in Ontario and was painted Army Green. Placing the Scotch-plaid hat in the car’s front seat is just icing on the cake. Another visitor of the Easter car show asked the owner if some general had used the car. He just laughed, said no, but did not elaborate any further.

After years of vacationing at the family cabin, on the shores of Lake Superior, about a mile from Ontario, Dan began to develop a distrust of Canada, or as he liked to refer to it as, Canadia. It was probably the reaction that he got from his parents that caused him to play up this mispronunciation, but he ran with it and began to embellish conspiracy theories. It now appears that he was not the first to do this.