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Vermont, New Hampshire, upstate New York. Not Minnesota, definitely not. Keep in mind that most populated areas in Minnesota are not especially close to the Canadian border.
Vincent Adultman (nice name BTW, I love Bojack) brings up a good point about sprawl. Canadian cities mostly have a dense street grid extending around 3/4 of the distance from the CBD to the beginnings of farmland/wilderness. Between that and rural Western conservatism (although Canada has Alberta), I'd think one of the New England states would be the best candidate.
Windsor/Detroit are both very much rust belt and working class, but outside of that.....there's isn't much connecting the rest of Canada to Michigan. It's a stretch for sure - even though there is a lot of cross border activity between Canada and Michigan.
Detroit/Toronto, or Detroit/Ottawa......that's where you really start to see the differences between the two countries. And then you have regions in Canada that line up to the regions here in the US, but that's not really a state that's representative of all of Canada.
In the end, Ontario (and the rest of Canada) is still very rural compared to most of the US (especially the eastern US) - which is why I would go with a rural New England state that is also politically progressive.
Which is why even though Alaska is very rural and a great choice- it's also more conservative/libertarian - which Canada is not.
Michigan can be progressive at times, but we are more of a purple state, not solid blue. And while Canada does have political and religious conservatives - they aren't that equivalent (in terms of power) to conservatives in America. A lot of conservatives here would still call conservatives there - Liberals.
And the two Sault St. Marie's each have different vibes as well. You just know you are in two different countries when you visit each. You can tell those are two separate towns. There really doesn't seem to be much cultural overflow in either direction - even though they share a border. I get that it's a smaller region than the Detroit/Windsor region, but it seems like there's a different dynamic at work at that border. I really can't say much about the Port Huron/Sarina border crossing- except to say that they are both places you drive through to get somewhere else and the alternative to Detroit/Windsor crossing.
As a result, I just can't argue that Michigan should be a clear contender in this challenge in anyway, shape or form.
Lets be honest, the only Canadian province that can't fit into the US is Quebec because a huge chunk speak French as a first language and have a different cultural tradition than most of the US. Otherwise, the "vibe" difference to me is mostly political as the US is a center-right country politically and Canada is center-left.
Otherwise, Anglo Canada is the US with metric everywhere, which is funny because on their driver's licenses, they still use feet and inches for height, pounds for weight, etc.
Lets be honest, the only Canadian province that can't fit into the US is Quebec because a huge chunk speak French as a first language and have a different cultural tradition than most of the US. Otherwise, the "vibe" difference to me is mostly political as the US is a center-right country politically and Canada is center-left.
Otherwise, Anglo Canada is the US with metric everywhere, which is funny because on their driver's licenses, they still use feet and inches for height, pounds for weight, etc.
It's more than just a vibe. It's a whole different way of thinking in a lot of cases. Some people of course fit in better than others, but if we are talking about a collective mindset, the Canadian one can be quite different than an American one.
Oh, and you're wrong about the drivers licenses. I chose 3 random ones.
It's more than just a vibe. It's a whole different way of thinking in a lot of cases. Some people of course fit in better than others, but if we are talking about a collective mindset, the Canadian one can be quite different than an American one.
Ehh, honestly its not as drastic as most people think. I think over time, you'd catch onto it as opposed to something that jumps out at you right away. I think we living in North America tend to exaggerate our differences than there are in reality. It seems pretty superficial, at least from my POV.
How different is the subconscious of the average Anglo-Canadian and average American? I'd venture to say - not that different.
Quote:
Oh, and you're wrong about the drivers licenses. I chose 3 random ones.
I'll take the L on this. I feel like in casual conversation, I hear more about weight and height in imperial and I thought I saw a Quebec drivers license with imperial measurements.
Windsor/Detroit are both very much rust belt and working class, but outside of that.....there's isn't much connecting the rest of Canada to Michigan. It's a stretch for sure - even though there is a lot of cross border activity between Canada and Michigan.
Detroit/Toronto, or Detroit/Ottawa......that's where you really start to see the differences between the two countries. And then you have regions in Canada that line up to the regions here in the US, but that's not really a state that's representative of all of Canada.
In the end, Ontario (and the rest of Canada) is still very rural compared to most of the US (especially the eastern US) - which is why I would go with a rural New England state that is also politically progressive.
Which is why even though Alaska is very rural and a great choice- it's also more conservative/libertarian - which Canada is not.
Michigan can be progressive at times, but we are more of a purple state, not solid blue. And while Canada does have political and religious conservatives - they aren't that equivalent (in terms of power) to conservatives in America. A lot of conservatives here would still call conservatives there - Liberals.
And the two Sault St. Marie's each have different vibes as well. You just know you are in two different countries when you visit each. You can tell those are two separate towns. There really doesn't seem to be much cultural overflow in either direction - even though they share a border. I get that it's a smaller region than the Detroit/Windsor region, but it seems like there's a different dynamic at work at that border. I really can't say much about the Port Huron/Sarina border crossing- except to say that they are both places you drive through to get somewhere else and the alternative to Detroit/Windsor crossing.
As a result, I just can't argue that Michigan should be a clear contender in this challenge in anyway, shape or form.
While Michigan is purely American and has a different vibe than Canada, I would still argue that Metro Detroit is the only major metropolitan area in the USA which has the most connection to Canada than any other major city with the possible exception of Buffalo. People in the Detroit area are exposed to Canadian television, radio stations, cross border activity, etc. Most people in the Detroit area can name the prime minister of Canada, political parties, past prime ministers, Canadian holidays, Canadian music bands, Canadian currency (almost everyone has loose Canadian change in their pockets), play Euchre, and play curling.etc. So, it is not like Michiganders are completely culturally seperated to the extent mentioned. Go take a poll with questions about Canada in Metro Detroit and conduct the same one elsewhere, and see which population base provides more accurate responses.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eddie gein
Maine has many more francophones than any other state and it's not really even close. New Hampshire is second and it's got more than double the amount than Vermont.
None of these states are too far from Quebec City.
Naturally with New Hampshire having double the population of Vermont I can see that. Most of New Hampshire's francophone ancestry may commonly have up to 3-5 generations of separation from Quebec Many Quebecois migrated to the Merrimack Valley cities (Manchester, Concord, & Nashua) to work in the mills back in Industrial revolution times.
Vermont's francophone ancestral connections may have been a bit diluted with a heavy transplant connection factored in. The biggest chunk of the state's population lives in Champlain Valley in the northern tier of the state and there is definitely a lot of interaction with Quebec in this area. Many of them come here to ski. Montreal is pretty much the closest go to major city being about 75-90 minute drive away (a huge appeal in my decision to move here).
I can definitely see the large francophone contingent with Maine. It's the closest state to Quebec City which has a more palpable francophone element than Montreal as it's a lot less bilingual. Northern Maine is surrounded by Canada on three sides and the state shares a large snowmobile trail network with Quebec. The part of New Brunswick that borders the crown of Maine has a lot of French speakers as well.
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