Happy 400, Quebec City!

French explorer Samuel de Champlain landed in what is now la vieille capitale on July 3, 1608.

To mark the historic occasion, Quebec is throwing what organizers are calling the biggest party on the continent.

More than 200,000 people are expected to attend various events, including the prime ministers of Canada, France, Quebec Premier Jean Charest and Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean.

A military parade with soldiers from the Valcartier base is expected to stir some controversy.

A busload of protesters from Montreal is heading towards the provincial capital to denounce Canada's mission in Afghanistan.

More than 2,000 people showed up for a free crêpe and chocolate breakfast Thursday morning, provided courtesy of Quebec City.

The party will wrap up with a giant concert and fireworks display in the evening.

Festivities are planned in other parts of the country including in Vancouver and St. Boniface, Man.

About 400 churches across Canada will ring their bells in celebration.

The pouring rain didn't stop the ceremony from going ahead and the prime minister told those gathered under umbrellas and rain ponchos that Champlain's heritage belongs to all Canadians and his legacy is one worthy of pride.
"What was sown here 400 years ago has flourished to create this magnificent city, a confident nation here in Quebec and a great Canada, free and strong. What an incredible legacy," Harper said.

Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean kicked off the ceremony and in her remarks she said that the anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on Canada's roots and the first encounters between Canada's aboriginal people and European explorers.
"Quebec City is giving us an opportunity to explore the beginning of all of these encounters, and all the mixing that came about between French, English, Irish, aboriginal people and 400 years later, Canada contains the entire globe and it is this whole voyage that we will never forget," Jean said.
The governor general said Thursday's celebrations are more than simply a birthday.
"This is not only the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec that we are celebrating together today. We are celebrating four centuries of courage, of stubbornness and bold behaviour that allowed French Canada to exist, to continue to exist and to remain in existence for the future," she said.

For many Quebecers, when Samuel de Champlain in 1608 landed in what would become Quebec City, he gave birth to a distinct nation -- a French people who would persevere and succeed in an English North America.

Federalists, on the other hand, see Champlain's arrival as the birth of a great Canadian state, one in which Quebec is simply a part.