What makes Canada so different from the US?

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melimel

An IMPORTANT PART OF THE ETERNAL CANADIAN IDENTITY DEBATE IS about what makes us different from the United States. We are on the same North American continent. Canada is party to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and 87 per cent of its external trade is with the U.S. We increasingly share joint security arrangements with the Americans, and three quarters of Canadians speak the same language as they do. I will argue that there are differences, arising from our different histories, political institutions and ethnic compositions, but in the crunch, we are a good deal more like them than not.

If we take to heart Seymour Martin Lipset's argument in Continental Divide, the Charter of Rights has Americanized Canadian political culture. If we take to heart Stephen Clarkson's argument in his recent Uncle Sam and Us, the new North American constitution that free trade agreements have wrought has swept aside much of what once represented Canadian distinctiveness. Even before these treaties, Canada had been a strong supporter of American positions throughout the Cold War years. We had accepted continental arrangements in defence, trade and investment. We had increasingly come to see Canada as sharing a common destiny with Americans, a feeling powerfully reinforced for most Canadians on September 11, 2001. There is also evidence of growing support for a common North American currency, which at least a third of Canadians would support today and many more see as inevitable within the next couple of decades.

The commonalities begin with geography. Like the United States, Canada is a sprawling, continent-wide state, with lived habitats, both urban and rural, that differ strikingly from the smaller-scale ones of Europe. Our nature may be harsher than the American, but it is a North American nature after all, and where the border lies, between New Brunswick and Maine or British Columbia and Washington, is more a matter of chance than of physical geography.

When it comes to environmental practices, Canadians are just as given to energy gluttony as Americans. We were not much more ready than they to embrace the Kyoto Accord despite Canada's late conversion to the cause at the August 2002 Johannesburg summit. Nor does our use of fossil fuels show any sign of diminishing much in the near future.

Films, videos and CDs move effortlessly across the border, and Canadian television and radio, despite valiant efforts by public broadcasters like CBC/Radio Canada, are very much in the American mould. True, Canadian high culture, helped by an intricately developed system of state support for the arts, has been enjoying considerable success. But Canadian popular culture remains far more the creature of American sitcoms, Hollywood and mass publications than of home-grown production.

At the political level, federalism is an institution we borrowed from the Americans, adapting it to a parliamentary system. Canadians are fundamentally a federal people, believing in a division of powers between two distinct levels of government. The particulars of the division of powers are not identical in the two countries: Canadian provinces have somewhat greater relative powers than American states, while Canada's patronage-appointed Senate is a shadow of the powerful American institution of that name. Still, the experience of living in a federal state has marked both societies, and ensures that regionalism continues to be an important force of both identity and cleavage.

Order and compromise

So where does the difference lie? Part of it begins with the "peace, order, and good government" phraseology in the 1867 British North America Act (St. Augustine's "pax, ordo, iustitia," in City of God, Book V). Contrast that with "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" in the American Declaration of Independence...

Barbados Chick

More than 10:
Sure, people love to make fun of Canada. It's easy, eh? To wit: Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn't need to pose for Madame Tussaud's. He already is a wax figure.

Canada makes international travel affordable.

Canada has Smarties.

We're talking NestlÃ© Smarties. Try 'em next time you're in Canada. If you like a crunchier candy coating on your milk chocolate, Smarties beat M&M's by a mouthful of colorful shards. If you're lucky, you may even get a Canadian pal to sing the jingle that pretty much every Canadian knows:

When you eat your Smarties, do you eat the red ones last?

Do you suck them very slowly, or crunch them very fast?

Eat that candy-coated chocolate, but tell me when I ask:

When you eat your Smarties, do you eat the red ones last?

What else do we love?

Well, they have Roots stores in Canada. Yeah, there are Roots stores in the U.S., too, but not in Seattle, probably because we're so close to Vancouver. We really like Roots stuff. So does the U.S. Olympic Team, which would rather have a Canadian company than one from the U.S. outfitting its fashion-challenged jocks.

Canada has better money, too. Loonies and toonies make so much sense. Why U.S. citizens can't wrap their heads around the concept remains a mystery. And the paper currency rocks. What's not to like about bright colors and big portraits?

What else?

Tea at the Empress. Scones with clotted cream taste better in Victoria. It's a trip to England without jet lag.

222s (aka A.C.&C.'s) over the counter. Get your aspirin with codeine and caffeine, no questions asked.

NHL hockey. It's an acquired taste for many of us in the colonies. But it's one of the few sports that plays better in person than on TV. Maybe it's the sound of blades cutting and gliding on the ice while the sticks click and clack. Or maybe it's getting to hear one of the better national anthems at no extra charge.

Booze. (Or so we've heard.) The legal drinking age in much of Canada is 19 (it's 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec). Last call in Vancouver goes well past 1:30 a.m.; heck, many clubs stay open till 3:30 or 4, and finding 24-hour lounges and restaurants is a breeze.

Strip clubs. (Or so we've heard.) Imagine this. You can get adult entertainment and an adult beverage in the same establishment -- at the same time! -- in Vancouver. We're told the clubs there are swankier, too. Hollywood types (Ben Affleck, Christian Slater) seem to like Brandi's Exotic Nightclub. If you're not in the mood for super fancy, there's always the Number Five Orange, where Courtney Love did some, uh, performing. The Five is also a celeb magnet. Over the years it has entertained Bill Murray, John Candy, Ted Danson, Judd Nelson, Aerosmith, Motley Crue, AC/DC, Charles Barkley, Dennis Rodman and Wayne Gretzky.

Absinthe. (Or so we've heard.) It's legal up there. Ditto Cuban cigars.

B.C. bud. (Or so we've heard.) It's not exactly legal but you'll still see people openly toking and joking in Vancouver.

Stanley Park. In their wildest reveries, Myrtle Edwards and Elliott Bay parks dream of being this gem.

Going metric. It's so European. And educational, too.

Shopping. Sure, at the end of the day it's all just your money for some stuff, but in Vancouver you can find affordable European brands, such as Zara and Morgan de Toi, that you won't find in Seattle. And sculptor Martha Sturdy's trendy stores. If you're a high roller, you can't beat Holt Renfrew and Leone. Stopping at Leone's cappuccino bar to ponder the stupid prices of the couture upstairs is always a kick.

Asian food. From Chinese to Indian, Vancouver is major league. Seattle is Triple-A.

Sunblock. The U.S. FDA finally approved Mexoryl, the super UVA-busting ingredient in Canadian and European sunblocks, but tubes of the good stuff are still hard to come by down here.

Whistler Blackcomb. The only ski resort in the Pacific Northwest to make the list of top 20 North American ski resorts in this year's readers poll by CondÃ© Nast Traveler magazine.

Nanaimo bars. The ones around here always seem kinda lardy.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police: True, a Mountie doesn't usually wear his dress uniform on the beat, but that doesn't make him any less special. Just knowing he (or she) can change into Dudley Do-Right at the drop of a maple leaf makes our hearts go pitter-pat.

Sandwiches at the Bread Garden. The first outlet opened in 1979, when "the Canucks only had one jersey and parking in Vancouver didn't require a meeting with your bank manager," according to its Web site. Things have changed in 27 years -- now there are a dozen locations -- but the sandwiches are still "all-around good," in the words of one devoted fan from Seattle.

Poutine. Yes, it's a heart attack in a bowl, but how can you not love a concoction of French fries, gravy and cheddar-cheese curds?

The "nice" factor. It's real. It's palpable.

That whole bilingual thing.

Like many things Canadian, that just makes you smile.

Kara B

1. we are quieter
2.friendlier
3. more educated on our bordering neighbors culture and government
4.we can leave our cars running and there is stilla chance that it will be there when we get back lol
5. We have more open space (farmable land)
6.We take hockey more seriously than football
7.We have better beef
8. we are a peacful nation
9. It takes our people many hours to cross a province than a few to cross a state
10. WE HAVE IGLOOS LOL

sunshine_today

Canadians aren't as arrogant as Americans,
they are better educated in their K-12 years
more environmental conscious

lillia803

canda has a much better health plan
less crime
gay rights

Jade

The people are friendlier.
And about 100 pounds lighter

sirtitus

Canadians understand that there are other places in the world that have value and merit.

Americans think that the USA is the centre of the universe.

Canada respects the language and beliefs of its immigrants.

America throws all immigrants into their melting pot and makes them American (because it's better to be American).

Canada only joins UN sactioned wars.

America invades whoever the hell they want to.

Canadians kill animals with our guns.

Americans kill each other with their guns.

Canadians abroad learn about the new country they are in and respect foreign cultures.

Americans abroad will only tell you how much better it is home and what's wrong with the foreign culture they are in.

Canadians play real sports like hockey.

Americans play wimpy sports like baseball.

That's six. Other people have listed good points as well.

steph

a few of my favorite things are:

we aren't allowed to carry guns all willy nilly.. so you dont' have to worry is that dude over the on the bus packing :)

we have lighter laws on drugs and such in comparrison some all the real criminals are being caught instead..

our comedy is kinda odd but amusing in a canadian type of way..

we like hockey more then the other sports ..

LindaLou

1. Hockey
2. Oh Canada!
3. Tim Hortons
4. Maple leaves
5. Provinces
6. Prime Minister
7. Peace keepers
8. Parlez vous FranÃ§ais
9. Gay marriage
10. Pot, pot, pot!

cilia

what makes Canada is; 1=i am proud to be Canadian.2=i am proud of are soldiers.3=Montreal.4=Canadian idols.5=Gasper'sy friendly peoples.6=OH CANADA song.7=good law.8=are Police officers.9=Parliament hill.10=hockey Montreal Canadian.

pablo

gun control,
ignorant self centered attitude,
more conservative attitudes i.e gay marriage, pot,
corrupt government,
inability to deal effectively with other countries,
capital punishment,
free health care,
population density
geographical size and climate
canadas military would be unable to defend its own land, where as USA would be able to defend all of north america

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