Severe weather forced organizers to pull the plug on Canada's national Canada Day show in Ottawa, washing out the capital's marquee celebration on the country's biggest patriotic day. Heavy rain and thunderstorms swept in and made it impossible to safely go ahead with the marquee event.
The day had begun on a promising note. According to those on the ground in Ottawa, it started off beautifully, only for the lightning and thunder to arrive later and transform the outlook, turning a bright holiday into a scramble to keep people safe.
The storms hit the capital hard. There were road closures and severe flooding across the city, and the weather was disruptive enough that planes were unable to take off, a sign of just how strong the system moving through Ottawa had become.
With conditions deteriorating, the decision was made to cancel the concert that had been planned for the evening. Organizers concluded it simply was not safe to proceed, and the national show that traditionally anchors Canada Day in Ottawa was called off.
The cancellation was a blow to the artists who had been due to take the stage. Among them was Paul Langlois, the former Tragically Hip guitarist turned solo act, who spoke of his disappointment at not being able to perform in front of the country on Canada Day.
Langlois said he had gotten privately emotional when he learned the show would not happen, not only for himself but for the many other artists, known and unknown, who had been handed a rare opportunity to play for the nation. He said a house band of about 10 musicians, many of them Quebec artists from Montreal, had rehearsed and sound-checked, and that Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies had been set to sing the Tragically Hip's Ahead by a Century.
Even as the capital's centerpiece was scrapped, Canadians across the country marked Canada Day in other ways, from citizenship ceremonies to local gatherings. In Ottawa, though, the message from those left waiting was blunt: you cannot fight the weather, and this time the weather won.