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I mean like, does it make sense for Victoria to be in the same country as Halifax? Or does it make sense that 3/4 of Canadians live within 100 miles or less of the US border?
I almost feel like the US-Canadian border is totally random; I think from a bioregional perspective, it would have made more sense to divide the continent west to east rather than north to south. With that said though - Canadian culture is surprisingly consistent. People in White Rock and St. Catharines share more with each other than they do with the people in America a stone's throw away.
It makes sense that the Great Lakes form a border, but it seems kind of random that you have a country that has so many people crammed at its southern border, but otherwise is 90% empty. I mean the landscape of Saskatchewan for example, isn't any different from that of bordering Montana.
but it seems kind of random that you have a country that has so many people crammed at its southern border, but otherwise is 90% empty.
There's nothing random about it. The reason why most Canadians live in the southern part of the country is simple -- the weather. Most non-Canadians would consider Toronto to be bitterly cold in winter, and the northern parts of the country make Toronto seem like Florida.
People in White Rock and St. Catharines share more with each other than they do with the people in America a stone's throw away.
I'm not sure I can agree with this...I know Canadians will get upset when they read this, but there is very little 'Canadian' Culture, most of the country's culture comes from the US or the countries immigrants came from.
I'm not sure I can agree with this...I know Canadians will get upset when they read this, but there is very little 'Canadian' Culture, most of the country's culture comes from the US or the countries immigrants came from.
I don't agree, and a fellow named Pierre Berton did a rather good job explaining why.
Canada does appear to be a somewhat illogical country when you look at it. Of course, this is probably true of most countries in the world. Except for a few places like Iceland and Japan...
I'm not sure I can agree with this...I know Canadians will get upset when they read this, but there is very little 'Canadian' Culture, most of the country's culture comes from the US or the countries immigrants came from.
There's certainly some truth to this, particularly in the West, as we share a culture more akin to that of the Western US than that of, say, the Maritimes.
That being said, there are certainly some Canadianisms that we share with Easterners that we don't with Americans, and that do help to bind the country together. Likely, it's not so different from a North Dakotan and a New Yorker being worlds apart culturally, but being tied together by an underlying "American-ness"
Quote:
Originally Posted by kelsius
I mean like, does it make sense for Victoria to be in the same country as Halifax? Or does it make sense that 3/4 of Canadians live within 100 miles or less of the US border?
I almost feel like the US-Canadian border is totally random; I think from a bioregional perspective, it would have made more sense to divide the continent west to east rather than north to south. With that said though - Canadian culture is surprisingly consistent. People in White Rock and St. Catharines share more with each other than they do with the people in America a stone's throw away.
It's not really random. West of the Great Lakes, the original deal was to split the continent at the divide between the Hudson Bay/Arctic Ocean basins and the Mississippi/Missouri basin, which is a pretty common concept for border delineation. Most Rocky Mountain State/Provinces use the Continental divide in the mountains as at least a partial border.
The 49th parallel doesn't get it exactly right - The Milk, Red and St. Mary's rivers don't line up - however, other than those 3 rivers systems, it's a pretty fair fit and frankly, far easier to survey than a continental divide on the Great Plains.
If you divide up the misplaced areas that drain into the Red, Milk and St. Mary's, you end up with roughly equal amounts lost/gained by both countries.
I mean like, does it make sense for Victoria to be in the same country as Halifax? Or does it make sense that 3/4 of Canadians live within 100 miles or less of the US border?
I almost feel like the US-Canadian border is totally random; I think from a bioregional perspective, it would have made more sense to divide the continent west to east rather than north to south. .......
It all makes sense to me.
Here is the history of how the current border originated: Canada
Ask yourself about all this kind of randomness.
Does it make sense to you that these are all American territories, part of the American Commonwealth or in some otherwise under American jurisdiction? - Hawaiian islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Peurto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, Swains Island, Navassa Island, Baker Island, Howland Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Wake Island, Midway Islands and Johnston Atoll.
They are all way out in various oceans all over the world.
Then there are all the British territories - not adjoined to the the United Kingdom but still British territories under British jurisdiction; - Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, St. Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cahuna, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, Akrotiri, Dhekelia, Turks and Caicos Islands.
Again - they are all way out in various oceans and other locations all over the world. And it doesn't stop there. There are other nations in the world such as France and Spain, Norway, etc., etc. that have established other territories for themselves around the world.
It's all about world politics and establishing and controlling random territories, people and natural resources around the world.
Zoisite; your post goes towards describing the essential difference between Canada and those other countries with their colonization and expansionistic policies. That wiki article left out one other dispute being the "pig war" on the islands in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Canada had neither the ability as colony itself, or the desire in later form, to do either the colonizing or expanding beyond our established borders.
We even resisted the temptation to "acquire" the Turks and Caicos Islands, at their invitation, as a territory or protectorate during Trudeau's stewardship.
Culture being an intangible thing leads one to also consider those differences such as our National security police force having those spiffy bright red uniform tunics, jodpurs and "smokey the bear" hats (well maybe a Turban also) as opposed to a bunch of folks all wearing black suits, ties and aviator sunglasses.
We even resisted the temptation to "acquire" the Turks and Caicos Islands, at their invitation, as a territory or protectorate during Trudeau's stewardship.
don't even get me started on that one!!...a nice tropical escape would have been nice to have..i hate the winter
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