The other week I surprised myself.

I was watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, and along with the constant stream of mocking commentary that accompanies any such viewing in our household, I felt a curious welling up of… what?!? National pride?

Yes, the VANOC managed to pull off a show that overcame the intense grinchiness I ususally maintain for that type of production, and actually had me reflecting on what a great place we live in.

Now before any Olympic grinches jump down my throat (I know, I know… I’m also getting a bit tired of hearing about them and we’ve got almost a week left to go) let me explain the real reason for this post. Today in the car, the good old CBC gave me two more reasons to be proud to be Canadian.

First: We’re rolling back libel laws to allow journalists (that includes bloggers, btw) greater freedom and protection when reporting on anything in the public interest.

This actually happened in December (see some details here) but I heard very little about it in the media. Considering how rarely we hear anything positive about state of the media, free speech and democracy, I think this is fantastic news. Basically, anyone reporting on an issue “of public interest” no longer has to meet the near impossible standards of court-endorsed truthiness that they had to under previous interpretations of the law in Canada.

Now, as long as you can prove you did your homework and made an informed assesment that something is true, you can say it in public without threat of prosecution. Here’s hoping this leads to more and better stories about our politicians, police, rich folk… anyone of a class that has been used to hiding from journalists behind the threat of libel suits.

Second: Our track record in foreign affairs isn’t perfect, but at least when we screw up, we do something about it. Ahmad El Maati El Maati, a Toronto truck driver, was arrested in 2001 while in Damascus to attend his wedding. He was later transferred to Egypt, where he spent 26 months in prison. Today I heard this guy describe his experience being tortured. (See video link off this article.)

Am I dismayed that CSIS was playing sleazy with their foreign counterparts? Of course, but that’s what spy agencies do. The more important angle for me in this is that we live in a country where a) this kind of thing actually gets investigated; and b) we actually get to hear the results of the investigation in public.

So for all the crap we may get wrong (inaction on climate change, failing to fund education properly…) this country is still a fan-frickin-tastic place to live. I wonder if anyone at that Iacobucci press conference had their face painted?