If there is an American dream, then whats the Canadian dream?

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isotope2007

The Amercan dream as far as I know was two cars in every driveway and a colour TV.

Seems to be the American reality is more a nightmare than a dream.

The Canadian dream is to own a home, have healthy kids, pay for their education, live in a country with rich resources, clean water, clean air, clean lakes and beaches, and have a good retirement.

FYI most of us do NOT want that to include a trip "south" to the USA, Canada has more beautiful pristine areas to see, and things to do. Baking in the sun and casinos arent most Cdns idea of the "good life".

The good life or the Canadian dream to most Cdns means getting out an enjoying nature, living a healthy active life, and appeciating the peaceful lifestyle in Canada.

Two cars and a colour TV? Most Cdns take that for granted.

For me it also means getting rid of Harper and getting our troops out of the Middle East and let the USA clean up their own mess.

Randy B

The American dream is Canada's reality.

SteveN

People usually say you are "living the American dream" if you as a person that has no wealth, no fame, or no power suddenly are able to pull yourself up out of commonality or mediocrity and make something special of yourself.

In Canada, it tends to be a little less focused on the "me" attitude. Yes, we do want to be successful at what we do, but we also want to see a better life for our children and be able to leave this world a better place.

So the Canadian dream to me is to be able to do well enough in your life to leave something better for your son or daughter, but not necessarily at the expense of some other Canadian's son or daughter.

Chris R

Your question makes no sense. Please define "American Dream".

People from all over the world have dreams all the time.

Lieu. Provo William Parry Wallis

America's dream is about the pursuit of hapiness, enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, ""Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness " which are the "inalienable rights" of man.

While in Canada, the general moto of the government is something along the lines of "Good Governance, Civil society, and Peace"--which has nothing about hapiness.

The other difference is that America has the policy of taking in immigrants without regard to their skills, ( eg. "Give me your tired, your poor") where Canada has tended to choose immigrants based on skills and the needs of the workforce.

So, there is essentially no Canadian dream, in the sense that the American dream is to immigrant, start off poor, work hard, and become rich. Because Canada chooses immigrate with the skills required, so the people who move to Canada already have some income and status in society because their work is needed.

chuckles951

To move to LA and make it in Hollywood. LA is Canada's 5th largest city.

treasurepro

The Canadian dream: Please God don't make me like the americans! I could not stand being hated by the rest of the world.

Chris I

If by "American Dream" you mean the ability to live freely with the opportunity to work and earn enough to live comfortably with a few luxuries (Like southern escapes in February) and for our children to be able to get a decent education to achieve an even better life style - I think that may be a Universal Dream but it certainly applies to Canada.

le Noir

to have a good time in algeria:

http://www.dailymotion.com/boubek_536/1

i am from north africa (my Origin)

Mathew H

There was no such thing as the "American dream" until the late 19th Century where it was used an advertising slogan designed to get European immigrants to settle West.

Only back then it was about self reliance, the freedom to do what you want, and more importantly, be as big as you want to be. "Anything was possible". Anyone could get rich, etc, etc. Nowadays it's about well-being mostly... the desire to better your lot that (and this propaganda worked marvellously) you could only get in America.

The term then got popularized more by mass media. Just look at Columbia pictures.. Lady Columbia holding her torch high representing American values and jingoism... one of the biggest producers in the world echoing voices around the world in American pride.

This is where the "American Dream" came from.

Canadian media never got a fraction as large as its American counterpart.. (nor did the propagandists in this country do their job near to the ability of their American counterparts). Although both countries had extremely similar opportunities and landscapes to boot... the American West was popularized as a place of seemingly infinite opportunity.. whereas the Canadian West was viewed (in the beginning) as a place of barren wastes, unsuitable for agriculture or human settelement.

This changed by the early 20th Century.. largely because the Canadian counterparts used traditional American slogans. "The Last Best West", ect. It worked... over a million people immigrated to CAnada in 1914 (stopped very abruptly by WW1 however).

So there you have it. Is there really an American dream? Not really.. unless you include propaganda aimed at immigration an actual reality. There is a Canadian dream, it would be one very similar to the American one (at least that's how they marketed it as). It just didn't catch on nearly as well because of media outlets and the onset of WW1.