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Hi,
First and foremost this is my very first post on city data, having just registered.
I am an East Indian and I spent 2 years in Canada. I have many friends and even some family in the United States, but the strict visa rules of the American embassy meant I could not visit the US.
I absolutely enjoyed my stay in Canada dn perhaps someday I might return.
My question to Americans is this: what is the difference between Canada and the US, as far as people and everyday life is concerned. I am not asking for political opinion or opinion on healthcare or religious beliefs.
What I felt was that America could be very similar to Canada, only on a grander scale. Toronto would be like NYC and San Franciso(or perhaps Seattle) could easily be the city cousin of Vancouver. Food from all over the world would be available in any major cities in both, and racial issues would be likewise(Vancouver had ghettos but interracial stuff was accepted without anyone battling an eyelid, both in school and in general).
Tell me Americans...have you been to Canada? What was your opinion on the people and the place? I bet you'd say its too cold(which it was).
After 10 plus years of living in Alaska, I bet you I won't.
Please point out what in my post was untrue, or not factual, in your opinion ?
Americans, in general, don't know much about Canada, can we agree on that ?
And, in my opinion, Canadians know more about the USA's history and politics, due to being better informed, as a result of being able to access that information, more easily here in Canada. We also study your history and current affairs in our schools.
Can the same be said of the US education system ? I don't think so.
Please point out what in my post was untrue, or not factual, in your opinion ?
Americans, in general, don't know much about Canada, can we agree on that ?
And, in my opinion, Canadians know more about the USA's history and politics, due to being better informed, as a result of being able to access that information, more easily here in Canada. We also study your history and current affairs in our schools.
Can the same be said of the US education system ? I don't think so.
Jim B.
Toronto.
I'm sure you're a joyous presence at cocktail parties, what with all that preening self-righteousness. And, again, you underscored my basic point. I'm surprised you didn't go for the hat trick and toss out some pro forma endorsements of the metric system while you were at it.
Look, the question was a simple one. "What do Americans think of Canadians?" We were all pretty much playing along, saying heartfelt nice things. And, almost as if on cue, here you come with an unfocused rant, Insecure Canadian #34B straight out of central casting (As opposed to 99% of Canadians who are pretty good eggs and fun to hang with). All you needed was a pretext, any pretext at all, to go off on the fact that you don't think Americans pay enough attention to you. It's a needy girlfriend kind of whine, as in, "I think about you all the time...why don't you pay attention to me....?"
Here's the deal. Outside of our sixth grade social studies class, we really don't devote huge amounts of time to Canada. Why? Because Canada is the Ned Flanders of the Western Hemisphere: Nice, polite, steady, and never making waves. You don't have revolutions and juntas every thirty-eight minutes. You don't hurl yourself across the North Dakota border in tanks, preferring RVs instead so you can winter in Florida or Arizona. And, to be perfectly truthful about things, you are close enough to us culturally (With the exception of Quebec) that it would be like devoting entire academic years to studying Minnesota or New Hampshire. Yeah, I get that you have a parliament with a nice bicameral legislative body and, as a bonus for extra regalia, you have a queen and a governor general. I also know that you like to salt words with extra, unnecessary Us, such as colour.
What's more, you are wallowing in a bit of a conceit. I've encountered plenty of Canadians who don't know squat about the US beyond Disney World and whatever American state borders their province. Canadians can be awfully fuzzy about their American geography and history, too. Why just last month, I was having dinner with an otherwise educated Canadian in Toronto who asked me where I was from. He said, "Oh. That's somewhere in the middle of the country, right?" Now, if an American had said something like that to you, I'm pretty sure you would have fully voiced some insecure nonsense like your post. When he said that to me, I laughed and agreed. Because I just don't devote much time to worrying about it and moved on to having some pretty funny conversations. So we have amicable relations, an undefended frontier, and just don't have to have to worry about you guys all that much. Hope that helps.
How many of you in the USA can see any Canadian TV ? Or read any Canadian daily newspapers ? Or listen to any Canadian radio stations ? Not many, I bet.
Now, consider this..........Here in Canada, even in VERY small little places, way up north, we can see, read , and hear ALL of your media, any day of the week. And we DO just that. Right now, in the background, my tv is tuned to CNN, and the latest news broadcast. At 6pm, I will switch to CBC, for the evening news. I can and do read the NY times, and the Washington Post, daily, on line. But I also read the Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, and Vancouver Province, too.
My point is a simple one.....The average American is poorly informed about Canada, and it has a lot to do with the media in the USA. Point of fact..........not ONE US TV network, and not ONE US newspaper has a reporter assigned to work IN Canada. On the other hand........ MOST Canadian daily newspapers have reporters in a number of US cities, and for sure in Washington DC. So do the four national Canadian TV networks.
The result is a very one sided knowledge base, that is heavily weighted towards the Canadian side . In Canada, most Universities have a `School of American Studies `that is a full size department. Only three US Universities, that I know of , have even a course of study about Canada, never mind a whole faculty department.
The things that most Americans `know about Canada `are usually wrong, factually, or are 40 years out of date. One only has to look at this thread to identify some of those old myths, such as the idea that the 911 terrorists came in `through Canada `, when in fact all of them had been LEGALLY admitted to the US, by your State Department, with visas in hand, having never been in Canada, at all. .
Canada is not the same as the USA. Not at all. Only a uninformed person would write that.
Both places used to be British colonies. The USA became a country through a bitter war , Canada did it peacefully, by an act of Parliament, instead. That is just one of the hundreds of differences that exist between us, both in history, and in to days world.
Not better, just different.
Jim B
Toronto.
Talk about simplifying history to the point of ridiculousness. The reason you became a country peacefully has a lot to do with the fact we waged a war for independence with the British. You Canadians love to blab on about how you were so much better than us in that you were able to achieve what we did without a war. Bullsh.. You still have a Queen. And you got your "freedom", if you wanna call it that, cause the Brits learned a valuable lesson after what happened with us. Your apron strings are still tied to Britain in many, many ways compared to a truly independent sovereign nation like the USA.
Text of Queen Elizabeth Bicentennial speech in Philadelphia 1976:
I speak to you as the direct descendant of King George III. He was the last Crowned Sovereign to rule in this country, and it is therefore with a particular personal interest that I view those events which took place 200 years ago. It seems to me that Independence Day, the Fourth of July, should be celebrated as much in Britain as in America. Not in rejoicing at the separation of the American Colonies from the British Crown but in sincere gratitude to the Founding Fathers of this great Republic for having taught Britain a very valuable lesson. We lost the American colonies because we lacked that statesmanship “to know the right time, and the manner of yielding, what is impossible to keep.” But the lesson was learned. In the next century and a half we kept more closely to the principles of Magna Carta which have been the common heritage of both our countries. We learned to respect the right of others to govern themselves in their own ways. This was the outcome of experience learned the hard way in 1776. Without that great act in the cause of liberty performed in Independence Hall two hundred years ago, we could never have transformed an Empire into a Commonwealth! Ultimately peace brought a renewal of friendship which has continued and grown over the years and has played a vital part in world affairs. Together we have fought in two world wars in the defence of our common heritage of freedom. Together we have striven to keep the peace so dearly won. Together, as friends and allies, we can face the uncertainties of the future, and this is something for which we in Britain can also celebrate the Fourth of July. This morning I saw the famous Liberty Bell. It came here over 200 years ago when Philadelphia, after London, was the largest English speaking city in the world. It was cast to commemorate the Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges, but is better known for its association with the Declaration of Independence. Today, to mark the 200th anniversary of that declaration, it gives me the greatest pleasure, on behalf of the British people, to present a new bell to the people of the United States of America. It comes from the same foundry as the Liberty Bell, but written on the side of the Bicentennial Bell are the words “Let Freedom Ring”. It is a message in which both our people can join and which I hope will be heard around the world for centuries to come.
I lived in Canada once for a few months and visited several times before and after that. Visiting Canada is a great experience. Living there was like being in the twilight zone.
I lived in Canada once for a few months and visited several times before and after that. Visiting Canada is a great experience. Living there was like being in the twilight zone.
Please elaborate. What made the experience of living in Canada surreal?
Please elaborate. What made the experience of living in Canada surreal?
Well, the language for one. Television, the weather, the people, the architecture. Everything was so foreign and done strangely. I never felt at home. All I can say is, I'm glad to be back in the U.S. I will never live abroad again.
Well, the language for one. Television, the weather, the people, the architecture. Everything was so foreign and done strangely. I never felt at home. All I can say is, I'm glad to be back in the U.S. I will never live abroad again.
I assume you were in a French speaking part? Culture a bit different, but I didn't notice a huge difference in weather, people or architecture.
I assume you were in a French speaking part? Culture a bit different, but I didn't notice a huge difference in weather, people or architecture.
Yes, Montreal, Quebec. Maybe because I was 8 and a Floridian it was a bigger cultural shock? I don't know. I'm pretty sure I would have the same attitude now because even the thought of moving abroad makes me cringe. I watch that show House Hunters International shaking my head in disbelief all the time. I went to France for a week at 15 and felt uncomfortable the first day I got there. I realized then I could never live abroad because I would probably be depressed.
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