Stephen Harper celebrated his first Canada Day as prime minister by offering a special salute to Canadians working outside the country, especially the Canadian Forces serving in Afghanistan.
At a sun-soaked party on Parliament Hill, Harper appeared thrilled to be marking Canada's 139th birthday, and made a point of citing by name and location some of the other events going on across the country, including a swearing in of new citizens in Markham, Ont.
He reserved his most heartfelt remarks for Canada's soldiers, diplomats and international aid workers. He praised them for sharing the peace, prosperity and freedom Canadians enjoy with those torn by war, poverty, disease and disaster elsewhere in the world.
"Our country, our way of life did not happen by accident," he said at one point, citing Canada's English and French roots and the waves of immigration as adding to its character. "Canada leads by example."
The nation got a fresh reminder of the dangers of the Afghanistan mission on the eve of Canada Day with news a Canadian soldier was seriously injured in a rocket attack at the main coalition base in Kandahar. A second Canadian soldier also was injured when two Taliban rockets exploded in a tent complex.
Harper was accompanied by his wife Laureen and son Ben and daughter Rachel, all of whom waved to the large crowd as they arrived on the hill. The Harpers were joined by Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean and her husband Jean-Daniel Lafond, and daughter Marie-Eden.
In her remarks, Jean also singled out the forces in Afghanistan for special thanks, telling the crowd they are battling "tyranny and oppression" that most affects the women and children of the country.
Jean urged Canadians to "rejoice in our good fortune," while not forgetting those elsewhere who live with hunger, misery and violence.
Earlier, there had been a 21-gun salute to Jean before she inspected the guard of honor, and a rousing rendition of O Canada before the famed Snow Birds staged a flypast over Parliament Hill.
The speeches kicked off an afternoon and evening of festivities on Parliament Hill and around Ottawa, which featured a wide range of Canadian musicians performing on a flag-festooned stage.
Thousands of cheering men, women and children, many armed with Canadian flags and dressed in red and white, began flooding to Parliament Hill early in the day. They had to navigate dozens of tractors and trucks parked in front of the hill as part of a peaceful protest by area farmers pressing the federal government to step up its planned national aid package of $775 million.
The morning began, however, on a more sombre note at the National War Memorial where a ceremony was held to mark the 90th anniversary of one the bloodiest battles in which Canadians have ever fought.
The First World War battle against the Germans in Beaumont-Hamel in northern France ended with more than 650 of the 800-man Royal Newfoundland Regiment dead or injured. The battle was the beginning of the Battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916.
It was the first time a ceremony to mark the Battles of the Somme and Beaumont-Hamel had been held in Ottawa. The day has long been one of mourning in Newfoundland.
The prime minister and governor general were both on hand for the tribute.
A remembrance also was held at Beaumont-Hamel in France, within sight of the trenches where many of the Canadians perished. An emotional Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams, who travelled to France to mark the anniversary, declared the men who fought in that battle "the best of the best."
