How is Canada different from the US?

[rumguy]

Is day-to-day life different? Is the culture different? Does a Candadian town or city feel and look pretty much the same as a US town or city?

[onebigbadwulf]

1. they're smart we're stupid

they vote we don'te
their lives aren't forced to revolve around religious B.S. ours are.

[Must_B_Free]

2. It's further North, for one thing

[CanuckAmok]

5. Ah HAH! What about Alaska, smart guy?!

Canadian towns look pretty much like the US. Everywhere looks pretty much like the US, thanks to the homogeny created by US multinational corporations.


I think the biggest difference I can think of off the top of my head, is that Canadian highways and roadways don't often have billboards, as a rule.

It's the first thing I notice in the US...all the billboards.

[chenGOD]

24. i dunno about that....

There are lots of pplaces over here in Asia that don't look anything like the towns I grew up in/visted back home in Canada...ergo they don't look like America...

I'm not disparaging your cultural homogeny remark, in fact I fully agree with it, but just there are Starblechs, McDonkeys and Murder Kings here in South Korea doesn't mean the towns look the same...

[Bertha Venation]

32. Lord a'mighty, that's reason enough to emigrate.

Knowing that will make it that much easier to make that decision, if we have to.

[Lisa]

45. ... but we have RED mailboxes!

All the US mailboxes I've seen have been blue.


p.s. a recent Pacific Northwest study concluded that there generally wasn't as much urban sprawl in Canada. Hard to tell just by looking (say, at Surrey BC or the area around Toronto) but on the broader scale, less sprawl has meant slightly better public transit and possibly better human health. Or so the study authors felt.

The guy who came up with the "edge city" concept noted that sprawl began later in Canada than in the States, and the areas afflicted just aren't as big.

[MisterP]

56. Arctic Islands, hello?!

darn Commie Canuckistan

[Doohickie]

47. Yeah, and what about Detroit?

You actually drive SOUTH to go from Detroit to Windsor, Ontario

[ugarte]

3. They don't believe they're God's chosen people

with the God-given right to kick everyone's ass.

[rockymountaindem]

7. Neither do most Americans.

It's just the ones who do talk about it loudly and do it all the time.

[barb162]

4. they are civilized

[Maple]

6. Canada has a completely different culture

and outlook than the US.

[Ron Green]

8. Two words:

Tim Horton's

[enigmatic]

18. I'm eating Timbits as we speak!

I'm an American Citizen living in Canada; I love it here..

[JVS]

30. That's what I was going to say

[Doohickie]

48. But Tim Horton's is available in the States

There's bunches and bunches in Buffalo.

[Ron Green]

53. Well, I guess I'm talking about the U.S. that's really different from

Canada. Like Tarrant County. Or even more different, like Dallas County.

[Doohickie]

57. Are you a former Texan or are you just good with Mapquest?

[Ron Green]

62. I lived in FW for many years. I love Ft. Worth, hate Dallas.

[Doohickie]

64. I've only just met you but....

...I always knew I liked you!

:pals:

[Ron Green]

66. Thanks, Pardner. Next time yer at Angelo's have a bite for me!!

[Philostopher]

9. Rumguy, my suggestion to you is...

hop up to Vancouver and spend a day or two there, if you haven't ever done it. The differences are often subtle, but they're striking when you pay attention. Even the border cities have fairly distinct differences, though they're not as strong as when you get away from the crossing points.

[Awsi Dooger]

10. The Canadian teams never win the Stanley Cup anymore

Well, it does retreat more than 10 years if I'm right, to Montreal and that desperate stick trick vs. Los Angeles. Admittedly, the American teams are overloaded with imports.

[Minstrel Boy]

11. a few differences:

When I drink milk, I'm not ingesting Montsanto's Growth Hormone.
When I'm sick, I don't worry how I'll pay to get well.
When I plan a vacation, I can think about Cuba.
When I vote, I can elect a socialist.

[serryjw]

12. So how difficult will it be for a middle age woman to move there?

I've been serious for 2 years. I'm stuck here for 2 more years but would consider moving then. Vancouver look great!

[Maple]

14. Glad to have ya!

Canada accepts more legal immigrants relative to its population than any country on Earth.

In the past two years, almost half a million immigrants arrived, a shade less than half of them in one city alone -- Toronto. The largest numbers for the country as a whole, amounting to almost 40 per cent of the total, came from China, India, Pakistan and the Philippines.

The federal government, responsible for immigration targets, heralds these waves on humanitarian and economic grounds, the argument being that immigration shows Canada as a caring country whose new arrivals will fuel future economic growth.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.html

[Doohickie]

50. If you're from the northern US

No problem. If you're from Texas, boy are you in for a cold shock!

[Droopy]

13. Health care is the one area

where I envy Canadians. I wish the U.S. had that same health care system as Canada. The rest of the stuff I can take it or leave it.

[Awsi Dooger]

15. No kidding, what an unbelievable difference

A few years ago I had a piece of glass stuck in my foot, that American doctors thought would come out on its own. During a trip it only got worse so I visited a hospital in Ottawa. They took an X-ray of the foot, then a team of three worked for quite some time to isolate it and remove the glass.

Total cost: $20 Canadian. I could not believe it. And the physicians could not have been more positive or helpful.

[CanuckAmok]

21. Funny thing is...

RW Americans are always so quick to judge what they call our "socialised medicine" (which we more accurately call universal healthcare), and have some story about "someone they know who has a friend who's brother had to wait over three hours in a Canadian emergency room with a severed leg because the emerg was full of welfare cases getting free needles".

The fact is, that everyone is entitled to the same basic medical services, but if you want to or are able to pay for private care, we have for-profit HMOs and clinics, too.

I use both, and so do may people I know. If you're injured, you go to public care. If you want a flu shot, or something else non urgent, you go and pay for it.

What I don't like is that we don't have access to universal dental coverage. I know that's a luxury in the US, too, but I find it shocking that our "universal helthcare" completely ignores teeth.

[Minstrel Boy]

23. pay for a flu shot?

I think maybe it's a provincial thing, but I don't pay in Ontario. I didn't even need to make an appointment with my doctor, and he has a busy practice in downtown Toronto. He simply doles it out between his scheduled consultations on first come, first serve.

[CanuckAmok]

29. BC is on a sliding scale:

I know Ontario is completely free of charge, but BC has a monthly charge for Provincial healthcare. It's pretty nominal, however, and it's based on your income. I pay $7 per month, for example.

[Canadian_moderate]

39. I got a free flu shot from my employer

Saves some time I guess.

[Berserker]

67. I live in Wisconsin

If you are not insured or do not have a good paying job you can not get any medical help here unless you are under 16 or over 65. If you have something bad happen and need surgery you are Fucked.

[DieboldMustDie]

19. You can probably even trust that your vote will be counted.

;)

[flamingyouth]

16. Canada is great

I always feel right at home when I go to Vancouver, but then again, I live in Seattle, which is only 150 miles away. I think Seattle has more in common with Vancouver and Canada than it does with the rest of the US.

[CanuckAmok]

17. I agree...Seattle doesn't feel like other American cities...

I wonder what it is that makes it different.

[sasquatch]

20. Have you ever watched "Canadian Bacon"?

The people in Canada are more relaxed and nicer.

[Victimerican]

22. It's like having a really good day...

except every day. Whereas the US has good days (they'll be more in November :D) and bad days (every day this week)

[miss_kitty]

25. 'this hour has 22 minutes', 'made in canada'

and 'talking to americans'


CONGRATULATIONS CANADA ON GETTING A SECOND AREA CODE!

rick mercer. yeah.

[Bruce McAuley]

36. YUP!

Where else can you see comedians schmoozing with the leader of the country? If they tried that with Bush, they'd be shot by the Secret Service for laying a hand on him, but "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" manages to get Chretien and Paul Martin to go along with the gags!
Marge Delahunty, Warrior Princess is my favorite!
Keep it up, Canada, the CBC is the only breath of sanity on my television dial!
:hi:

Bruce

[miss_kitty]

37. it's truly amazing

too bad the US is such a closed society...i tape this stuff and end up having to pause it to explain all the nuances of canadian politicians and politics to my pals. the 5 party thing is incomprehesible to some.

plus i LOVED that Jean Chrétien would ham it up with these goofballs who poked fun at him on a regular basis..his lunch w/ mercer at tim hortons (or mcd's?), the lip-sinking bits ('raise a little hell' and 'don't go breakin my heart' spring to mind.)

but ALL my friends get 'Talking to Americans'

CONGRATULATIONS CANADA ON LEGALISING VCRs!
CONGRATULATIONS CANADA ON GETTING A 24-HOUR CLOCK!

i hope that the fact that salter street was purchased a few years ago by atlantis alliance isn't going to crush all that...

:hi: back atcha!

[Bruce McAuley]

65. I just crack up every time I see "Talking to Americans"...

a REAL classic!
We are SO fortunate to get the CBC here on our cable because we're so close to the border(28 miles). Grand Forks, B.C. is the closest large town, a conglomerate of Dukhabors, Japanese, and a little bit of every other place in the world, and they all end their sentences with, "Eh"!
I think "Talking to Americans" should be shown to every 7th grade geography class in the United States, just to take a little wind out of our sails.
Mastadon hunts in Labrador, for chrissake! Petitions to reconsider Canada's policy of putting old folks out on ice floes!
Delicious stuff, all. Gives me the giggles just to think about how cleverly Rick Mercer showed us to be the unthinking but well meaning bumblers we are.
Say, wasn't the Premier Jean Putaine? LOL
Oh, Canada! What you do to my funnybone!
:hi:
On edit, Don't get me going on "The Red Green Show", WhoooWeee! "Quando omnia flunkus moritati(When all else fails, play dead!)"LOLOL!

Bruce

[Sufi Marmot]

26. What differences exist are subtle...

(me: American living in Vancouver)

They have most of the same crap that America has: fast food, talk radio, strip malls, serial killers, biker gangs, religious cults, etc. Major cities have urban blight, drug/alcohol problems, and property crime, although I suspect that the average Canadian city has significantly less personal crime (assault, murder, etc.) than an American city of similar size. Canadians can be just as prone to obnoxious behavior and hooliganism as their American neighbors.

The main cultural differences I think are the follwing (these are generalities not meant to be applied to any given individual)

a) The fact that Canada is not so polarized politically as the US, there are less people on either extreme of the spectrum. Many factors contribute to this including the fact that Canada did not fight a bloody Civil War (they ended slavery in 1834 and had far fewer slaves than us to begin with). Canada lacks the pervasive racial tension that has been America's legacy since the Civil War.

Many Canadians seem to me to be politically apathetic and less engaged in the political process than Americans are. Also, in Canada people's religious views tend to be less strident than in America and Canadians seem less willing to inflict their beliefs on other people.

b) To some extent a greater sense of community and social responsibility, and lack of the "wild-west" mentality that shaped America. This may have been influenced by the fact that Canada is mostly cold, harsh, empty land, and that people needed to cooperate to survive and prosper.

c) Seemingly greater tolerance/acceptance of immigrants and foreign cultures and less pressure for immigrants to assimilate. Canadians tend to fret more about their national identity than Americans do.

d) Canadians tend to be more soft-spoken and less "in your face" than Americans - more apologetic and self-effacing.


Does a Candadian town or city feel and look pretty much the same as a US town or city? I think the most useful comparisons would be made between cities of (roughly) similar size in roughly the same longitudinal area: Vancouver and Portland/Seattle, Winnipeg and Minneapolis, Calgary/Edmonton and maybe Denver or Salt Lake City, Halifax and Portland, ME, Montreal and Boston, etc...


-SM

[chenGOD]

27. Sorry, doesn't letter c) contradict itself?

"c) Seemingly greater tolerance/acceptance of immigrants and foreign cultures and less pressure for immigrants to assimilate. Canadians tend to fret more about their national identity than Americans do"

If we have greater tolerance/acceptance of immigrants and there is less pressure for them to assimilate surely we would fret less about our national identity? Based on the assumption that by national identity you mean how the outside world looks at us a collective whole. So if there is more diversity and less assimilation it becomes harder to nail down a national identity.

I wouldn't say that Canadians are politically apathetic, we're just not quite as in your face about it.

Interesting assesment though.

[Sufi Marmot]

54. Not necessarily, although I should have been clearer...

If we have greater tolerance/acceptance of immigrants and there is less pressure for them to assimilate surely we would fret less about our national identity? Based on the assumption that by national identity you mean how the outside world looks at us a collective whole. So if there is more diversity and less assimilation it becomes harder to nail down a national identity.

I didn't mean that Canada frets about its national identity in terms of its ethnic demographics - most Canadians I've ever met appreciate Canada's ethnic diversity. I would also note that no one "new" ethnic group (one with significant numbers immigrating to Canada since, say, 1945 onward...) has predominated over the other, so I don't see signs that many Canadians feel their existing "culture" is threatened, as many Americans do.

That having been said it is my opinion that Canadians, living next to the US, do tend to fret about their role in the world and what it means to be "Canadian", especially in the face of all the American culture that pours across the border.

-SM

[Lisa]

51. more on a) ...

The attitudes about religion seem to be a significant difference. I've lived in several places in Canada, and I've rarely been asked which religious denomination (or even which religion) I belong to. A colleague who moved to Texas told me that it was practically the first question asked by their new neighbours. Up here I've known people for more than a decade but had NO idea which religion, if any, they followed ... it's just never come up. In fact it's considered a bit weird in many circles to ask! There are local differences, e.g. the Ukrainian Orthodox areas on the Prairies, but nationwide, I believe a majority (or a strong plurality) of Canadians are Catholics. The United Church is the biggest Protestant denomination, and they tend to be fairly liberal. So basically, the churches with the most people would be opposed to the Iraq war and the death penalty, and support state funding of social programmes. The religious left is stronger here than in the States. (In fact, many early leftist politicians, like Tommy Douglas, were clergy or at least church-affiliated. Sure made it difficult to brand them as "godless Commies".)

My parents tell me that, prior to the 1960s, conservative Protestantism was quite strong (e.g. in Toronto, where until recently it was unheard of to have stores open on Sundays, or to buy beer and wine anywhere but in a provincial liquor outlet). But times have changed.

[yvr girl]

28. If you look closely, there are differences

It is a bit cliche, but I think in general Canada is cleaner. Fewer billboards, less litter etc.

Our cities aren't quite as seedy. Vancouver has its bad neighbourhoods, but I feel safer in the downtown eastside than I do in many American slums.

Older neighbourhoods in American cities look different than Canadian ones. American homes of a certain era were smaller and boxier. There is a main street USA look that I don't see in Canada.

Hockey is woven into the fabric of our lives. It makes the sports section almost year-round. Our politicians 'stick-handle' an issue. You hear hockey references and terms in everyday conversation.

It depends where you are to a certain extent, but Canada tends to be more multi-cultural, but less black.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

31. Simply put, the US tends more to the individualist end of the scale

Canada to the communitarian. That's the main one, as I see it.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

33. their media does not reiterate fear constantly

they are less afraid of terrorist, commies, black people, gay people and god's wrath

[Screaming Lord Byron]

34. Actually, our media is pretty lousy.

Our print media is 95% right-wing.

[Canadian_moderate]

40. Whatever...

You must think the Globe and Mail is right-wing, or the Toronto Star perhaps?

I think your views about print media are skewed by what is printed in Alberta, our Texas wannabees.

While I think Canadian towns and cities look quite similar to US ones, it's really the people who are somewhat different. Canadians are generally less polarized politically. While we bitch and moan as well, most of us would not want to live anywhere else, except for maybe climatic reasons. The short summers and long winter are a bitch indeed.

As for bill boards, all I can say is drive across the Gardner Expressway in Toronto, nuff said.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

41. The Globe and Mail is most definitely a right-wing newspaper.

Well written, but definitely centre-right, as the Editor Ed Greenspon says himself.

[Canadian_moderate]

42. I would say The Globe and Mail is centrist in the Canadian spectrum

Check out this poll...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.Page/document/polls/pollResults?id=27736&pollid=27736&save=_save&show_vote_always=no&poll=GAMFront&hub=Front&subhub=VoteResult

The readers who responded are certainly not "right-wing".

Bill O'Reilly also had a nice little run-in with one of the G&M's correspondents a few months ago. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040501/MALLICK01/TPComment/Columnists

While definitely not socialist, in my opinion, The Globe and Mail is far from being right-wing. It is one of the best media sources in Canada. I live in Toronto and I much prefer it over the Toronto Star, which is blinded by hatred for all things American. The Star tends to gloat whenever America fails at something or suffers a humiliation. To me, the Toronto Star and CBC represent typical Canadian insecurity. We can be much better than that.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

43. I don't see what the problem is. It's centre-right, and also a very good

newspaper. As for the Star, that's just the Liberal Party house rag.

[Canadian_moderate]

44. No problem, just a slight difference in perception

Now, the National (Nazi) Post is definitely right-wing.

[jakefrep]

69. Perhaps,

but not nearly as right-wing as the Toronto Sun.

[terrya]

35. Canada doesn't have a miltaristic attitude like we do.

Simple as that.

[KamaAina]

38. "As Canadian as..."

A Canadian magazine (Macleans?) once ran a contest to come up with an analog to the phrase "As American as apple pie".

The winner?

"As Canadian as possible under the circumstances"!

[Doohickie]

46. Three words:

Gravy.

Fries.

Together.

[jeff30997]

55. Hey, you forgot the cheese !

Mmmm...Poutine. :)

[Doohickie]

58. Cheese is optional, at least in Ontario.... nt

[arwalden]

49. Canada: The Country With The Prettier Niagra Falls

[PittPoliSci]

63. indeed true.

i'll have the pictures whenever my lazy butt gets around to developing the film. i went a month ago! i'm just lazy.

[TrogL]

68. Niagara Falls

(spell it right, dammit)

I grew up just outside Niagara Falls, Ontario. We frequently went "across the river" to Niagara Falls NY or Buffalo for shopping and gas 'cause it was cheaper. After awhile, my mother disliked going over there because I kept asking these awkward questions like:

• Why are all those women standing on street corners?
  
• Why are all those men standing around and cars pulling up?
  
• What's with all the burned out houses?
  
• They must have spent millions on the convention centre. Why is it all boarded up?
  
• Where do people work? All the businesses are closed.
  
• Why are there security guards with guns in a supermarket?
  
• When are they going to fix the streets?
  
• What's with all the sirens and police everywhere?
  

I went back to visit last month. Nothing has changed. The US side is a dump. There's no tourists. The place is a wreck. When you cross over to the Canadian side the place is a madhouse. The streets are a wreck because they're all torn up for renovations. They're building huge hotels as fast as they can put them up. My mother doesn't recognize the skyline and she lives there. You can't move for the tourists. There's traffic jams at 3 a.m.

The big difference between US and Canada? Canada does infrastructure. Whether it's health care, sewers, streets or fibre optic lines over the tundra. Canada does infrastructure.

[liontamer]

52. like a us city

but cleaner, more polite, less jittery, and less people starving on the streets suffering from illness.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

59. Their drunks are more lovable

[Lisa]

61. you mean, like Ralph Klein?

Premier of Alberta. When he's tipsy, he takes out his wallet and throws money at people.

[blockhead]

60. Canadians are born with two livers

and we only get one in the U.S.!!

[HEyHEY]

70. It's the different attitude

I'm not saying one is better than the other.... but americans seem to have an idea that they are entitled to certain things.
Canadians are brought up differently