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"As a Canadian, I can safely say that my first exposure to the BBC (other than Britcoms broadcast late at night on CBC) was when I visited London in my 20s. But I'd been exposed to ABC, CBS, and NBC since I was a child. I never played cricket; I played baseball. Similarly, I never played soccer; I played football--Canadian football, but similar enough to the American game that the skills are transferable (four downs is for wussies ). Tea has never been a meal; it is a hot drink that my ex-wife liked. Like most Americans, I eat lunch and drink coffee, as strong as I can get it.
Similarly, nobody cares if we eat hamburgers (an American invention) at a backyard cookout, while listening to Bruce Springsteen (from New Jersey) or Nirvana (from Seattle), while drinking Budweiser beer (originally brewed in St. Louis, MO)."
Are these cultural attributes shared by many French Canadians?
Well, the sports and food stuff, yes. They eat 3 meals, breakfast, lunch, and supper, and at the same times. Coffee is more popular then tea, but both share popularity similar to what's seen in English Canada. Canadian football and baseball also share similar popularity. Obviously the vocabulary doesn't apply when speaking another language, and English language television takes more of a backseat to local French language productions, but when it is viewed, yes, American programmes are more popular then British ones. Eating hamburgers at a barbecue while listening to Bruce Springsteen and drinking Budweiser could totally happen in Quebec without it being strange, as hamburgers, Budweiser, and English music are quite common. But as is also true for English Canadians, they might be drinking a local beer instead, listening to English or French Canadian music, and might be eating something like poutine or nanaimo bars at this party.
I think soccer is gaining popularity in Canada as a participation sport, since it's less expensive in terms of equipment than, say, hockey. And immigration is also bringing into Canada people from places with a greater soccer tradition. In Quebec, for example, we get many immigrants from Africa and Latin America, who obviously have this as part of their culture.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
What's interesting though is that my sense is that French influences are actually growing here as opposed to decreasing. Of course they started from a low point since all of the Frenchy stuff declined and was supplanted for about 200 years, but it seems to me like Frenchy things like fine cheeses, pastries, wines, and food culture in general, in addition to French expressions in speech, and even political leanings and movements have actually grown in Quebec since the 1960s and 1970s. Due to more immigration and exchanges with France and the global francophonie also, which tends to be France-focused.
This is true, and I'll add that France tends to be seen as an ideal by some Quebec intellectuals, and therefore something to emulate. But certainly the very fact that we share a language influences our culture (in the same way that the UK also has a certain influence on American culture). Nonetheless, Quebec is also very different from France (and closer to North America) in many ways, and even in some ways different from both France and the rest of North America.
This is true, and I'll add that France tends to be seen as an ideal by some Quebec intellectuals, and therefore something to emulate. But certainly the very fact that we share a language influences our culture (in the same way that the UK also has a certain influence on American culture). Nonetheless, Quebec is also very different from France (and closer to North America) in many ways, and even in some ways different from both France and the rest of North America.
If anything, France gets more attention in Quebec these days than the UK gets in Anglo-Canada, where the focus on the US is extremely strong.
This is wasn't always the case, and that's not to say Quebec is obsessed with France and Anglo-Canada is indifferent to the UK. But the level of interest is no longer the same.
Was it perhaps due to pressure from Quebec that the Canadian flag was changed in 1965 to be totally different than the British Red Ensign design it replaced?
Was it perhaps due to pressure from Quebec that the Canadian flag was changed in 1965 to be totally different than the British Red Ensign design it replaced?
It wasn't direct pressure from Quebec but there were the beginnings of separatist rumblings here and it's certain that the powers in Ottawa thought it would be a good step forward to take the Union Jack off the country's flag and give us a new one.
Did Alberta and Saskatchewan both at one time have flags based on the Red Ensign? Because Ontario and Manitoba both do.
I don't believe so, but they do both have elements that reference England. There's the English cross in Alberta's and the Lion of England on Saskatchewan's.
Did Alberta and Saskatchewan both at one time have flags based on the Red Ensign? Because Ontario and Manitoba both do.
I did a bit of research and it appears until the 1960s AB and SK had the Union Jack in one corner of another blue field. So call it the "Blue Ensign" I guess...
Today, all nine of the anglophone majority provinces still have some type of British symbolism on their flags. Quebec obviously does not.
BC, ON and MB have the Union Jack and NL's is a modern design partly inspired by the Union Jack.
NB, SK and PEI have the British lion and NS has the Scottish cross of St. Andrew plus the British lion.
AB has the English cross of St. George.
And one of the three territories also has the cross of St. George on its flag.
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). Tea has never been a meal; it is a hot drink that my ex-wife liked. Like most Americans, I eat lunch and drink coffee, as strong as I can get it. 
