The Current - What being Canadian means to Rick Mercer and Terri Clark

Episode Date: July 1, 2026

In honour of Canada Day, we’re highlighting some favourite conversations with prominent Canadians from the last season. Rick Mercer and country music icon Terri Clark talk to us about what it means to be Canadian today.

I am an actor, fresh out of theater school with big dreams and an even bigger drug habit. But things are pretty good. That is until my best friend is set up on a date with David Lee Roth. Yeah, from Van Halen. If you know, you know. From CBC's personally, this is Discount Dave and the Fix. The true-ish story about how a fake rock star led me to a real trial that held up a mirror to me. And okay, let's just say that not everyone in this story is who you think they are.

Personally, discount Dave and the Fix. Available now on CBC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. It's been a bit of a wild ride in this country since last Canada Day, and the pace certainly has not let up. Throughout this year, we've been talking to prominent Canadians about how they're feeling about our country

and how we as a people are relating to each other, and to the world. We just heard from Dr. Alika LaFontaine, former president of the Canadian Medical Association, about how he's trying to turn down the outrage. Well, now, in honor of Canada Day, two more Canadians with their thoughts on where we stand. And we'll start with Rick Mercer. Matt Galloway spoke with Rick at the very end of December after the comedian had finished his stand-up for Canada show that sold out theaters coast to coast. This has been a wild year. These are wild times. The news is unpredictable and overwhelming. How would you describe the feeling you get in your chest when you look at the news these days?

Well, if you're in my business, if you're talking about current events, it's a tricky time because every time you turned around or every time you woke up, the news changed. Everything used to be a 48 hours news cycle. Now it's sometimes it's a two or three hour news cycle. It's hard to keep track, but it has been a pretty wild year. Yes, I mean, never mind what's happening south of the border. Here we had an election where we had an incumbent that was – the liberal party were so far behind. I mean, it was an absolute fact that they were going to be – not that they were going to lose, but they were going to be destroyed.

We all knew it. We accepted it, and we all saw it coming. And then everything changed on a dime. It was a fascinating thing to watch. One of the things you say in the special – and I want to get to the Canadian news, but one of the things you say in the special is that there are a lot of people who avoid the news because it's just so terrible. They're hiding from the news in some ways. Do you understand that? Oh, 100%.

If something causes you anxiety and anguish, why would you bathe in it? And I found myself doing the same thing all my life because of, for professional reasons, I always watch the news. But I'm an avid news consumer. Those are the podcasts I like. That's what I like to listen to. And there's certain times where you just say I can't watch. I mean, just last week when there was an address from the president and there was speculation. in the media that, you know, Canada might be a subject matter.

I purposely avoided it. Normally, the old me would say, oh, well, I better watch that. So I totally understand that. At the same time, we can't have our head in the sand and ignore everything that's going on in the world. I mean, I would never prescribe that anyone do that. But, yeah, I think small doses, absolutely. The old you used to say on Twitter in your bio

that anger was your cardio. You going to the gym instead now? I was an angry young man. Now I have a potato patch, Matt. I spent time in the potato patch. I'm never angry in the potato patch. Melloed in our old age, all of us, I think. So, yeah, this time last year, I think a lot of us thought that Pierre Pauliev would be the prime minister.

How do you understand that turnaround? My own mini analysis, I'm Pierre Pauliev. He didn't want to be prime minister. He knew he was going to be prime minister. He knew in its heart of hearts that he was going to be prime minister. and he just kept hammering away at Trudeau. And then when Trudeau left, he just kept hammering away at Trudeau. And the narrative changed.

And Canadians became very, very concerned with what was happening south of the border. And I just don't think Pierre read the room. He just kept going from an old script. And you know what? I get it. I totally get this. And people in comedy get this. If you have lines that work, it's really hard to drop them.

Because when you're out there on stage, you go, this will work. And Pierre had a lot of red meat for his base, but it was all Trudeau based and it was all Canada's broken. And that's not what people wanted to hear because of what was going on south of the border. We were circling the wagons. And he just didn't read the room. And then we had someone shiny and new who seemed very much like an adult. I would say on election day, most people didn't really have a bead on Maricarious. Ernie, except that he felt like the adult in the room, and people felt that's what they wanted.

And I honestly, I would have laid any money, three months before the election, any money that the liberals would have been decimated. So, I mean, what do I know? Are you surprised at how hard the country went from Mark Carney? Yeah, yeah, I was. But then I also saw that, you know, this is one of the problems with electoral politics now in Canada. It's like, you know, these parties are very much reflections of the leader.

and the leader controls everything and sets the agenda. So the Liberal Party had pulled off this incredible trick where they've said, oh, all that stuff that we were for the last eight years, we're not that anymore because we've got this new guy. And he's thrown all that out. And he's adapting. He's cherry-picking every conservative policy that was polling well in the country. And the liberal party's very malleable organism.

They're proving it. So, yeah, surprising. but there's a reason why they were one of the most successful, you know, political parties in the history of democracy. Do you spare a thought for the old guy? I mean, not that he's old, but Justin Trudeau, who was, as we said, shown the door this time last year still wasn't sure whether he's going to be around or not. Well, talk about not reading the room when he was walking around going, I still might stick around. It's like literally nobody in the country wants you to stick around. Nobody, nobody.

But can you feel bad for me? If I was going to do a panel discussion, let's go find four people who think you should stick around. You'd be, you know, your producers would be looking for weeks. Do I feel bad for him? No. Why? Because he's tall and handsome and was born on Christmas Day and became the prime minister. No.

No. I mean, listen, I mean, I don't wish ill will on anyone. I think he's doing okay. I'm sure he'll land on his feet. He seems very happy with Katie Perry. Listen, I wish them the best. Nicely done. What struck you about the mood of Canadians when you were out touring the country talking?

to us coast to coast? You know, Matt, I haven't changed my act. My act, and I chose a long time ago, that I was going to take a lane that was very celebratory about Canada and it was going to celebrate Canada. This is not a special about dunking on the states because they're doing that themselves.

But I feel like Canadians have always responded to that, but I think Canadians want that now more than ever. I noticed, you know, in Newfoundland, we're not really flag waivers. We don't hang a lot of Canadian flags on the side of her house. And Flag Day last year, you know, the holiday that John Cretchen invented one morning, I don't think you would ever notice a flag day in St. John's Newfoundland.

And this year, I decided, for the first time ever, I thought, I'm going to hang a flag on the side of my house. I absolutely am. And I've never done that before. Just, you know, if you want to do it, fill your boots. I've just never done it. I had to go to three Canadian tire stores to find a Canadian flag. Like, that's just not normal. And the same in Victoria, British Columbia.

You know, I was there and it was like every second house. And I think there's a feeling there. And the buy Canadian thing. I think Canadians have always, always liked the idea of buying Canadian, but we're taking it to a whole new level. I found myself in the drugstore Googling, is there a Canadian toothpaste? And it's a direct result of the chaos south of the border. You found that Canadian toothpaste? Well, you have to watch the special because I've got a bit about toothpaste.

I have seen this. For you, I mean, that changed. is a personal thing. You were talking to our pal, Tom Power, and you were saying that when you were a Newfoundland nationalist. When did you become a Canadian nationalist? Well, I guess maybe when I visited Canada or when I went to the mainland. And, you know, I think it's like I mentioned earlier, I was an angry young man. And I think as an angry young man, and I'm talking 1819, and I was doing shows about the Meach Lake Accord, which was, you know, Newfoundland felt like we were getting shortchanged.

And I absolutely was a Newfoundland nationalist. But, you know, I came to realize that Canada is a great place to live. Canada is a great country. And I'm proud to be Canadian, and I became a Canadian nationalist as well as a Newfoundland nationalist. You know, I feel like you can be both. But, and Canada's given so much to me. Like, I mean, it's been my subject matter. for my entire professional career.

And, you know, I had a birthday. Actually, the night we taped the special was my birthday this year. And I don't normally pay any attention to birthdays. And, you know, I was side of the stage at a sold-out theater in St. John, New Brunswick. And I thought, what a privilege it is that I've reached this far in life.

And I've just managed to do this tour across the country and audiences in every part of the country are coming out. And I can remember the first time I performed off the island. and what I considered a Canadian audience responded to what I was doing. And that was a great, great day. And, you know, many, many, many years later, it was still happening.

So Canada's given me a lot, I got to say. Do you think this moment that we are in right now, the moment of nationalism where people are, yeah, not traveling to the United States because of talk from the president, but also that they want to spend their money here, that they want to support their own? Do you think that this will last? habits change. One of my favorite things in the world is to go to New York City and see shows, and I'm very lucky that I'm, you know, I have a life where I can do that. I haven't done that in many, many, many years. It's no longer a part of my life.

That used to be a part of my life. Twice a year. That was part of my life. It's just not. And you made that choice because? Listen, it's, well, because I'm not going to the United States as long as he's in the White House. And I'm, and that's just me.

I'm not telling anyone what they should do. And it's easy for me. I don't have immediate family in the States that I have to spend time with. I don't have to go there for work. And it's an easy choice for me to say, oh, what a sacrifice. I'm not going to see 12 angry men this year or Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross. What a sacrifice. It's no big deal.

But it's my decision and that's what I've decided. And I think a lot of people have. And, you know, everyone justifies their own narratives. I mean, she's down there in an RV park in Florida and she's saying, it's just one person. It's just one person. if it's like some guy on the radio in Cleveland is talking trash about Canada. No, it's not one person. It's the president and his entire administration. And I think for many Canadians, it was one thing that were in a trade war. That's fine. Those things happen. No, it's this 51st

state business. Once, you know, another country starts floating the idea that they're going to take you over, you have to take that very seriously. And then it's one thing to say, oh, he was joking, but then he came out and made it very clear. He was not joking. And this is something that he will return to time and time again. So, you know, obviously Canadians are going to respond to that. They're going to change their travel plans. They're going to change their shopping plans. That's just, you know, that's human nature. There might be a little bit of the angry young man still lurking somewhere within the... I was so calm when I came in this morning. Let's talk comedy, Matt. I got to let you go. We had Dave Bedini, another, somebody who loves Canada, was in our studio recently. And he was talking

about how the country is so big and complicated, you could spend your whole life learning about it and not really know it. Do you know what he's talking about there? Oh, well, it's, yes, of course. You know, people say, oh, I've been to Western Canada. It's like, well, there's about 40,000 places you have to visit before you really get a grasp on it. And the same with Atlantic Canada. Yeah, we're just a great big place. And, you know, Badini has to be traveling. He's probably traveled the country more than I have. And I can't say that about many people. He would know. It's like a project. There's a project to learn about Canada in some ways.

Oh, my God, yeah. Well, it's a life's work. You can spend all your life and doing it, and there's still plenty left. This is a special that, I mean, it feels like it was good for you, but it's good for us as well. We kind of need something like this after it's been this year. Well, listen, the last per minute ratio is extremely high. Just quickly let me tell you, I'm out on the road with three really, really funny young comedians. And that was great for the soul.

Sophie Bottle, Julie, Kim. and May Scaloney. These are great comedians. It's a very funny show. It's a very positive show. I laughed a lot. Rick, it's great to talk to you as always. Thank you. Rick Verser's Stand Up for Canada is available to stream on CBC Gem. He spoke with Matt Galloway back in December. We'll be right back with more of the current podcast. I am an actor, fresh out of theater school with big dreams and an even bigger drug habit. But things are pretty good. That is until my best friend is set up on a date with David, Lee Roth. Yeah, from Van Halen. If you know, you know. From CBC's personally, this is

Discount Dave and the Fix. The true-ish story about how a fake rock star led me to a real trial that held up a mirror to me. And okay, let's just say that not everyone in this story is who you think they are. Personally, Discount Dave and the Fix. Available now on CBC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, you know that song. It's one of the biggest country hits of the 1990. and that voice belongs to Terry Clark, the pride of Medicine Hat, Alberta. Terry is a member of the Grand Old Opry, the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and one of this year's inductees to the Order of Canada. Matt Galloway spoke with Terry Clark in January when she was newly appointed to the order.

Here's that conversation. You're bopping your head along to that tune. It's still a good tune, even to the person who wrote and is performing. That's great. That song was certainly a blessing when it came along. And I wrote it with a fellow's name Tom Shapiro and Chris Waters back when I was about 24 years old. And we knew we had something by the time we went to lunch that day. And we listened to the recording after we got back to the writing room and we're like, yeah, I think we have a hit here.

I think you do. And we were right. Hey, congratulations. The Order of Canada is a big deal. And I know that it means a lot to you, but it meant something to your mother as well. Right? I remember, you know, growing up in Medicine Hat and listening to the local radio station there and learning all the songs by the Judds and Rie Bacentire and Ricky Skaggs. And I really had my sight set on going to Nashville, going to the Grand Ole Opry, playing the Grand Ole Opry, never dreamed that I would become a member. And I wanted to win CMA Awards and all of that stuff, you know, that people go to Nashville dream of. And my mom instilled in us and instilled in me a sense of our Canadian pride and to never, ever forget. where I came from, who I am, and being Canadian is so much a part of my character and my resilience and what's, I think, contributed so much to my longevity in this business. So my mom back in

the day would say, you know, the pinnacle for you and for me would be if you ever got the order of Canada. I was like, Mom, what's the order of Canada? And she explained it to me. I never imagined that I would actually be appointed a member. So, this came out of nowhere and I started to cry on the phone call with the Governor General's office. They can attest to that. And it's just, it's been, it's an amazing honor. I have no other way to put it. You're in some great company as well. You've talked about this. I mean, people like Anne Murray and Katie Lang and Joni Mitchell, all members of the Order of Canada. And there you are as well. It's amazing to me to be alongside artists that not only helps shape music internationally,

but have for the most part, you know, had careers beyond country music or mainstream country music, like Anne Murray crossed over. She had the ability to just transcend those musical boundaries. To be an artist that really never crossed over is a tremendous honor to kind of represent that side of it. You talked about resilience in the fact that that helped you get through things and get to the place that you are. But, I mean, these dreams start when you're young, right? You've spoken before about your mom taking you to talent shows. And, you know, the guitar in the back trunk, it's like she was a hockey mom or something like that.

What were you dreaming about back then? I had big dreams, you know, and she would take me to talent competitions around Medicine Hat, and a lot of them took place in bars, and I was underage, and I wasn't allowed to actually go through the front door. So I had to wait in the alley, come through the backstage door that was right behind the stage and led to the alley and do my song and then go wait in the alley to see if I won or not. I wound up in a national contest. And it was in Calgary at the Jubilee. and I was the youngest contested in that one. And my mom and I were waiting side stage after everybody had told us in sound check

and all the band members and other contestants were telling me I was going to walk away with it, going to win it. And they started to announce the winners from third place on down. And I didn't place. I didn't win. It was absolutely heartbroken. We cried in the car all the way back to Medicine Hat. And I was just like, man, I guess I do I, do I, do I,

really have it or not. And my mom said, I'm going to take you to Nashville. And this is an interesting story because 10 years later, I was at the CCMA Awards and I was nominated for a bunch of awards because I'd got my record deal and I'd had a couple hits. And Tom Tompkins, who was the chairman of the CCMA, came up to me at the after party and he said, I need to share a story with you. And I said, what's that? And he said, 10 years ago, you were in a national contest in Calgary. I wanted to tell you I was a judge in that room and you did technically win that. And I said, what do you mean? And he said, we had to disqualify you because of your age and it was a Budwise sponsored event. Come on. But when you look at that, Matt, and if my mom hadn't been

ruffled enough and me heartbroken enough to say, we're just going to take it in Nashville. We're going to Nashville. Roll the dice there. Go for the big brass ring. If I'd have won that thing, I don't know what would have happened. My whole trajectory could have changed. So she knew. Your mom knew. She knew. And she also, you know, felt the order of Canada would have been the pinnacle for me.

And so when I say, you know, I had my dream set on Nashville. The order of Canada was so far in the distance to me. I never, I just, I thought, you know, they don't give this to country singers, let alone, you know, I just couldn't believe it. And that's why I said, you know, this one's for her because it meant so much to her that something like that could, could even be in the realm of possibility for me. Can I ask you about going to Nashville? I mean, the story is that you rolled across the border, your guitar in the backseat or in the trunk or something. And you told the border guard that you're going to go shopping and then you're going to go to the Grand Ole Opry. Yeah. Well, don't try this at home, but continue.

Don't try this at home. We had no intention of me coming back. My mom had about a week to get me settled in Nashville with some sort of a cash paying job. I had no idea what that was going to be because I didn't have a green card or immigration status at that time. And she had about a week because my little brother was five years old. She had to get back to Medicine Manhattan. So in a mad dash, you know, we looked for a place for me to live. And, you know, we wound up in Tootsie's Orkin Lounge and there was a guy sitting on a stool singing. And so my mom and her friend coaxed me into getting up and starting to sing.

And I took his guitar and hours. Later, they offered me a job playing for tips at Tutsi's Orkin Lounge because the place filled up. So did his tip jar. And Lower Broadway in Nashville was a dangerous place at the time. So I was forced to take the daytime shift because it wouldn't have been safe for me to be down there, you know, an 18-year-old girl playing Lower Broadway in 1987 in the dark. Didn't have a car. So I took a city bus down there. That was my beginning in Nashville. My mom went back home and there was some really rough, lonely, scary times back in the beginning, but I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

But you believed in yourself. Like you bet on yourself, right? You have to. You know, if you don't believe in yourself, who else is going to believe in you? Like, you have to be your first and foremost number one believer and have faith that God and the universe is going to take care of you and lead you in the right direction. And even if you hit roadblocks, find a way around it my entire career. Every time I think that a door closes or some portion of you, you know, you know,

my career is over, I get another opportunity to do something really cool or something like the Order of Canada happens. I'm like, oh my gosh. Can I ask you about being Canadian? I mean, you've had this huge career in the United States, but like literally on your shoulder is the Maple Leaf tattooed on your arm. What does it mean right now? These are weird times, right? It's tricky between our two countries. And there's a lot of tension and more. What does it mean for you to be Canadian right now? Well, all I can speak for is myself. Being Canadian, in it is a huge part of my identity, always has been. And I know when I came to Nashville and started making records,

I had been living here for eight years, was very young, and I was twanging right along with everybody. I was married to a guy who had a thick southern accent and going to bluegrass jams. But since my career first broke, about five years after that, I was able to afford to buy a second home back in Canada. So for the last 20 years, I've had part-time residents. back home in Canada. And now it's in southern Ontario and I drive up there from Nashville every summer.

And I can go back and forth. And it's my favorite place to be on the planet. I love being around fellow Canadians. I love being there. I love fishing. I've taken up a tremendously passionate hobby in that. It's just full circle. And being Canadian to me is being strong and assertive and determined yet polite, kind, humble. I was raised to be proud of who I am and where I'm from. And yes, I have the maple leaf tattooed on my shoulder. And I spend probably as much time that I'm off the road in Canada as I do in Nashville at this point. You spent some time on the road in Canada.

You did this tour with Paul Brandt, the homecoming 2.0. And again, this comes at a time when it's elbows up and the flags are out and people are feeling great about themselves. What was that like? It was amazing. You know, Paul and I did not try tried to stay away from anything polarizing or political. I mean, people come to shows to get away from that kind of stuff. We're dealing with so much of it in our regular life now and being tiptoeing around each other, walking on eggshells, like, what do I say around this person?

What if I say the wrong thing? And we wanted to take that off the table at the show. And I think the thing that we noticed the most was how great it was to see people sitting in that audience beside each other. And it didn't matter who they would vote for, who they wouldn't. vote for which side they were on. If there was a song in a moment that inspired them, the whole audience would just sing along together in unity.

And that was an inspiring thing to see. It's like everybody laid their differences aside and sang along. And they sang together. And that's one thing about music that is so magical. It can just erase that divide in a second. You still feel that magic when you play? I mean, from that, the young girl who's at the talent shows to being in front of a huge crowd of people. Do you still feel the hair on your arms kind of stand up when the crowd sings along with you?

Absolutely. 100%. Like, I've done, I don't know how many thousands of shows in my life at this point. And the reason I still do them is to bring people together and bring joy to people. It's not to feed my ego anymore or have another number one record. It's about at this point, it's bringing people back to a time in their life. You know, Trisha Yearwood had a song called The Song Remembers When. And to have songs that were a piece of the fabric in somebody's lifetime that takes them back to a memory, whether it's university or when they got married or when they broke up with this boyfriend, that song got them through it, when they were out parting with their girlfriends and doing karaoke to that song or singing with their mom in the car when they were going shopping.

Like, I hear all of these great stories. And some of them are new artists telling me these stories, which means it is. inspired somebody else to do what I'm doing. And those are the reasons. It's the joy bringing people together tying their past with their present. And I don't want to stop doing that. As long as I can do it well and I feel like I can, I will keep going as long as people keep showing up and they're wanting to be a part of that experience with me and have that conversation. I mean, I don't know where the people do karaoke to it. I bet they do. But they certainly sing along. Tell me a little bit. this is about growing up in Alberta. Tell me a little bit just quickly about Northern Girl.

Oh, Northern Girl was inspired, actually. When I bought my place in Ontario, I rented a cottage first in this area that I wanted to be in just to make sure, you know, that it was the right place for me. And I remember sitting in this cottage I was renting and the Canadian flag was blowing in the yard. And I just, I was inspired, you know, I was listening to a lot of Kathleen Edwards at the time in songs like hockey skates. And she's so Canadian, Anna, you know, so much, so much of her writing. And I was, I was inspired. I want my own anthem. I want to write my own anthem. So it kind of, it blends growing up in Alberta, driving on black ice. I remember leaving the parking break on when I took the minivan to school one day. And I was spinning in circles.

Spinning in circles. And I got home for my lunch break and the phone rang and my high school friends were like, did you figure out the parking break? I was so embarrassed. So embarrassed. But it's stories like that that inspire lines like, that in the song. And it's, you know, where I come from, what I'm made of who I want to be. You can take me out of Canada, but you can't take it out of me. You're one of our best. Lucky us to have you. And congratulations. This is a great recognition. And yeah, your mom would be really proud, but you should be really proud too. Thank you. Don't make me cry, Matt. Terry Clark is a country music star from Medicine Hat, Alberta, and one of the inductees to the

Order of Canada. Matt spoke with Terry Clark back in January. You've been listening to the current podcast. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you soon. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca slash podcasts.