What's the problem with the U.S. and Canada?

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jake.jakobson

bc americans are ignorant, ostentatious a-wholes...they're jealous and hateful towards everybody
....

Leafsfan29 is on the 1st tee

A lack of understanding of how intertwined the US and Canada are, and how important each nation is to the other's success.

Chris M

Canada and the U.S. share the longest unguarded border in the world and share a similar heritage. They are the world's largest trading partners and Canada is the largest exporter of oil to the U.S.

So Canada does matter, but it is a smaller country living next door to a superpower and like a younger brother of a high achieving sibling can get overlooked.

Canada has a reputation of being an overly polite society and a country that does not make waves internationally.

Whether this reputation is deserved is up to argument, but the stereotype makes for easy jokes and pithy social commentary.

freeside49

because many writers on american sitcoms are canadians. That includes simpsons and south park and of course they target their "own kind" for humour and cant be branded racists or whatever for that. (yes that is spelt humour!!)
You want to hear someone rip Canada just listen to Canadian comedians!! Its all in good fun

We are secure enough to laugh at ourselves and secure enough to allow gay marriage!!

Myka

Well not all Americans are "a holes". There is a lot of us who do think outside the box of mainstream American culture. I am moving to BC and my spouse is Guatemalan. My mother is native German and I have traveled to many parts of the world
( and not to vacation resorts). I just hope that when I am living in BC, the locals won't stereotype me as an ignorant American before giving me a chance.

old lady

Probably because the population in the US is so much larger than the population in Canada that the citizens of the US don't feel they have to pay much attention to Canada. What they tend to overlook is that Canada has wonderful natural resources, a huge supply of water, is a big player in the commodities market, and has skilled workers and tradesmen. It also is a leader in scientific achievement. But many people in the US know so little about Canada that they have no idea what's happening on the other side of the border.

james

i spend time with canadian in cuba nice people but they love cuba because they say its the best because of no yanks

SteveN

I've watched a lot of television over my 40 years. I've seen US television make fun of Canadians by showing us in beaver hats, RCMP uniforms, a beer in our hand, really into hockey, saying "eh" a lot, and eating everything with maple syrup.

But I don't ever recall any show saying "Canadians don't matter". Perhaps you can give us some examples so we can see the context or get an idea of where you are coming from with this?

Some people in the USA do seem to have the opinion that Canada does not have a culture, our opinions on certain matters are unimportant, and even if we gave a damn we could not do anything about it anyway.

I think this is just a matter of the way our cultures differ. In America, you have all been taught from a young age by your peers, in sports, in school, etc that USA is the best and you have a great sense of identity and patriotism. In Canada, we tend to be more subdued, but we pride ourselves on trying to learn more about other cultures and comparing people of the world, without thinking our way is necessarily better from the start.

The main show that I know of that tends to make fun of Canada is South Park. But they poke fun at everyone, including Jehovah's Witnesses, Scientology, and even your own government.If it is done to get a laugh and is not malicious, I don't see why we cannot have a sense of humour about it.

:-)

Jim B

To Grand Master B............

You are a perfect example of the "Americans don't know **** about Canada " type of ignorance..

The USA has INVADED Canada on two occasions, in 1777, and in 1812. I guess that you missed that little bit of history, or was it not taught, due to the fact that the USA lost, on both attempts ?

A further example would be the Fenian Raids, after the end of the US Civil war, from 1870 to 1875, when Irish American veterans of the Union Army attempted to invade Canadian territory in Ontario and Quebec, in order to force Britain to grant Independence to Ireland. They were soundly defeated over a 5 year period, when they tried, each summer, to invade us.

You sir need to do some reading, about just how many times the USA has used it's military forces to invade countries in the western hemisphere, from Canada to Mexico, Cuba, Hati, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, The Dominican Republic, and the list goes on.

As for the "unguarded border " take a look at where the US Army's 10 Mountain Divison is based, at Fort Drum, in upper New York state. It is a "air mobile " division, but the closest US military air port that can handle aircraft big enough to move that entire Division is at Rome New York, over 100 miles away.

What is MUCH closer ? The Canadian border, and less than 3 hours away by road, is our national Capital city, Ottawa.

Is that a co-incidence ? I don't think so. How handy is that, if the US wants to suddenly take control of my country's capital ?

Whats that ? Never happen ? See my points above, about the number of US invasions of countries in this part of the world.

Jim B. Toronto.

Grand Master B

Please note that there will always be some differences between the US and Canada as there is with any neighboring country such as France and Germany. But keep in mind that throughout both our history and of Canadian history there has never been any wars between both countries and both countries do not need to keep excessive amounts of troops on the border. Both the US and Canada are trading partners and agree most of the time on foreign affairs. Naturally, there will always be some difference of opionion between the two countries but in so many words we can agree to disagree.

Non-Redneck

Possibly due to :
- Canada's brand of Socialism
- Such a small population for such a large country
- No large military (the US could easily invade them)

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