I hate Canada. Who's with me?

[Jahender]

Shania Twain, Brian Adams, shitty overpriced beer, loonies, twoonies, bitching about how the US has corrupted their country while they work in the States, watch our TV shows, visit our cities, buy our music, and generally forget that we make their cold, boring, shitty, country livable. Kilometers, the dumb way they pronounce or-gan-i-z-a-t-ion, rezour-ces,...CBC, the goddamn word "eh", curling, the way they drive the speed limit in the left friggin lane,...

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The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don't have it.
George Bernard Shaw

[kathmandu]

Ah, you're just jealous.

Things we Canadians hate about the U.S.: How Americans travel to our country and take advantage of our campgrounds, wilderness, and other "rezour-ces", but haul in their own gas and food and don't spend a cent here; how American tourists (in Canada and overseas) consistently complain about how much better the food, malls, stadiums, attractions, etc, etc, are so much better "back home" (so stay there, I say); megalomaniac politicians; gang warfare; crack; your stupid paper money (all of the bills look EXACTLY the same); rap music; Touched by an Angel; that Taco Bell dog; the KKK and David Duke; the NRA; Dennis Rodman....

[ruadh]

but haul in their own gas

HA! Everytime I've been at a US gas station near the border it's been full of Canadians! If you guys don't want to buy your own gas, why should we?

There's only one thing that truly bugs me about Canadians: the way you bitch about us usurping the term "American" but go into conniptions if anyone calls you one.

Jahender: as for the music, Canadian Top 40 is pretty vile, but no worse than its American counterpart. Having said that - you left out Anne Murray

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Never regret what seemed like a good idea at the time.

[SuperNerd]

Ohhhhhhhh. Things WE don't like about the States - you forgot Monty Python's assesment of American beer: Making love in a canoe (i.e. f**king close to water). Also, may I add the seven dozen confrontational talk shows? Metal detectors in the high schools ... I'm gonna like this thread.

-E-

[SuperNerd]

Dang. In that message 'American beer' referred to U.S. beer. A long long time ago, I accepted that American belongs to that big country just to the south of the good place to live ...

-E-

Hey, Canadians gave us hockey, one of the greatest of all sports. For that reason alone, I love those guys!

Adam

[BoBettie]

I hate Canada.
When my husband and I were there sightseeing in Niagra Falls, we got pulled over in customs, asked to leave the car (with my purse in it) asked for our ID's while they went through our car (there was literally nothing in it- it was new and our luggage was back at the hotel on the American side). We waited 25 minutes while the fiddle-fucked around, I started getting pissed- asking if we were being detained or what? What they hell were they looking for, for Christs sake? We were the ultimate tourists- a young couple, both wearing matching "Canada" hats (don't ask) and only bringing back postcards and a coffee mug. When we left, I gave them a big "f-you, I"m NEVER ever coming back to this shitty country". And I swear I never will. They treated me like a crimminal for NOTHING except going over and looking at the falls from their side. I understand they pull over every so many people, blah, blah, blah, but they didn't have to be such assholes about it. I went through security in the port of Miami and they weren't that rude (and they're looking for drugs, for Gods sake).
That's my rant. Thank you for your attention.
(I do love the Barenaked Ladies, though. Thanks for that, Canada!)

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An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; A pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity.

[tomndebb]

Zette, which direction were you going when you got harrassed? I've had several problems re-entering the U.S., but I've only had one rude Canadian customs inspector in over 40 years of crossing the border.

Jahender: you should simply get down on your knees and thank God every night for Canada and Gordie Howe (even if you're too young to remember him).

OTOH, I think Molson's, Labatts, and Moosehead (yes, the non-export versions) are seriously overrated skunk beers. They are obviously superior to the Miller and Budweiser froths, but there are a lot of U.S. beers with more flavor but smaller advertising budgets. I am sure that Canada produces good small-brewery beers that don't make it across the border, but the mass-produced stuff is as bad as Yank beer, just different.

------------------
Tom~

you should simply get down on your knees and thank God every night for Canada and Gordie Howe (even if you're too young to remember him).

Amen. Are you a resident of Hockeytown Tom?

Adam

[C K Dexter Haven]

I've never had a problem with Canada/US border crossings, and I've done it lots of times.

The only problem I really had (aside from Nigeria, which is a story of itself) with immigration/customs was when I went to Australia. The plane landed at about 3 AM local time, and the line I was in had a chatty official -- "Welcome to Austrahlyuh, mate, did you have a good flight? Where are you from? Don't miss the zoo. Did you get tickets for the outback?..." My god, all I wanted was to get the hotel, and he was personally welcome each arriving passenger.... Grrrrr. Him, I coulda shot.

The Canadian inspectors are on the lookout for drugs and for guns, BTW, among other things. They're more civilized in Canada about some things.

[tomndebb]

ARG220:

Are you a resident of Hockeytown Tom?

I'm a misplaced Michigander, (30 years in SE Michigan, including 8 years of school in Detroit), forced out in the 1980 Depression, currently living in NorthEast Ohio.

------------------
Tom~

[Big Iron]

I love Canada, but I do resent ... Celine Dion.

[red wings]

Any country that thinks ebonics is a language, enough said!

[bj0rn]

arg: do you know from where the canadians got hockey?
you guessed it, iceland
according to old icelandic tales (dating as far back as before the year 1000) icelanders sometimes played a game during the winters on the icecoverd lakes of iceland. it was pretty violent. but it involved a ball and a stick used to hit the ball, you get the picture.
and if you look at the first winter olympics records, you see that canada won the hockey event, but the majority of the team had icelandic names.
the only source on the internet that i found was this one: 1919-20 World Championship Team : Walter Byron; Konrad Johanneson, Robert Benson; Chris Fridfinnson, Magnus Goodman, Frank Frederickson, Haldor Halderson.
http://www.azhockey.com/squadsCanada.html
bold being iceland originated names(scandinavian before that)

Semifinals in the first winter olympics 1924: Canada over Britain, 19–2; USA over Sweden, 20–0. Third place: Britain over Sweden, 4–3 (also decided European title). Final: Canada over USA, 6–1.

and for the topic of this thread, canada is a country where i would like to live, i think people here know my opinion of the us.

bj0rn

[kellibelli]

jesus, next he'll be taking credit for our beer!
Canada...wide open , green, clean spaces, safe schools,( our tv sucks moose wang, but some of our music is great (when you take into consideration the diff. in population, it makes sense that the U.S. has more good music.)we have the same social problems as the us, on a MUCH smaller scale...poverty, homelessness, unemployment..illiteracy...etc

The US..great music (except that rap crap), great tv, and movies....guns in the schools..the streets...the homes...drugs galore (oh BTW, thanks a bunch for sending your dope north...really appreciate it!)..your country things its ok for the president to bang everything in a skirt...and then your government will whine about "family values"...

and at the border...well, if so many rootin' tootin' gun shootin' cowboys didnt try to cross...we wouldnt need border guards.

I think the US is a great place...but I wouldnt want to trade.

[Globe-trotter]

Big Iron, we don't like Celine Dion either. We just think the rest of the world should suffer along with us.

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I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
Alexandre Dumas the Younger (1824-1895)

[kellibelli]

oh god...forgot about her..I hate celine dion, and that shania twain too...what a pair of over valued, under talented, anorexic, self important , married to their managers, bimbos.
Whew...I feel better now!
I however LOVE the Barenaked Ladies...I got to meet them about 3 years ago, they were very nice, and totally cool to talk to...I talked to the lead singer about being 'chunky' and shopping for clothes in the 'husky' section as a kid...what a hoot!

[matt_mcl]

As long as the fur is flying...

The US is our trading partner, our neighbour, our ally, and our friend, and sometimes we'd like to give them such a smack.
-Rick Mercer, This Hour Has 22 Minutes

We are bigger than you. Check a map.
We don't have Jesse Helms, Pat Buchanan, Jerry Falwell, or Fred Phelps.
We have Montréal.
We don't have Baltimore.
We fought you once in 1814. We won. Yep, marched right down into Washington and burned down the White House.
We have two official languages. You guys don't even have one.
Admit it. It is so much cooler to pronounce lieutenant "leftenant".
Our national anthem actually has the name of the country in it.
Our flag is better designed. You have all those silly little stars squeezed off in one corner. We've got the big old maple leaf right in the middle.
Gays are protected by the Civil Code of all ten provinces, and the Supreme Court gave us domestic partner benefits country wide. By way of contrast, there is anti-gay legislation in place in some 38 states.
We have fewer political divisions.
We have more political parties.
We have socialized (i.e. free at point-of-sale) medicine.
If you were a socialist in the US in the fifties, you got blackballed. If you were a socialist in Canada in the fifties, you got elected to the Saskatchewan legislature.
We have gun-control legislation.
You spend far too much on the military.
Metric. Admit it. It is so much easier to multiply by 10 than it is to remember how many rods there are in a furlong.
We have never had a civil, revolutionary, or Vietnam war.
Nobody ever assassinated the prime minister.
We have Svend Robinson, not to mention an actual left-wing federal political party.
Everyone loves us, except for the US and possibly Serbia.

If aliens were to land in Québec, the US media would give it two inches in the entertainment section.
-Sparrow, in Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For

The genius of you Americans is that you never make clear-cut stupid moves, only complicated stupid moves which make us wonder at the possibility that there may be something to them which we are missing.
- Gamal Abdel Nasser

United States: .... A nation given either to unjustified over-enthusiasms or infantile furies.
- John Ralston Saul, The Doubter's Companion

America is a large friendly dog in a small room. Every time it wags its tail it knocks over a chair.
- Arnold Toynbee

[matt_mcl]

Don't get me wrong. We don't hate you. You just need to be supervised at all times!

[Ukulele Ike]

I was getting all huffy, there, and preparing to release a broadside against Canada, and then, out of the blue, you quoted Alison Bechdel.

Anyone who reads and quotes this woman has marvelous taste, should not be trifled with, and is probably right about everything else as well.

So long, Manhattan...Manitoba, here I come.

(Have I mentioned that I like Alison Bechdel?)

------------------
Uke

[Jodi]

Right -- We love you very much, and we don't mind in the least protecting you and looking after your international interests -- hey, what's a neighbor for?

[kathmandu]

Hmmm...virtually everyone I know, in Canada, the U.S., overseas, and now, I've discovered, everyone on this message board, HATES Celine Dion and Shania Twain. So, how is it that they've each sold about a bajillion albums? Could it be that there are a lot of listeners out there who have yet to "come out of the closet"?

P.S. - don't get me wrong, I hate them too!

[kellibelli]

fuck! that was FUNNY!
I agree with

Caving into Quebec all the freakin' time
Astronomical Taxes
Alcohol prices
Southern Ontario
All the young men wear a gallon of cologne
The frighteningly friendly natives

um..what are those 2 names you reffered to?

[zoony]

Funny that this thread is called
"I hate Canada. Who's with me."

'cuz if it was called
"I hate the United States. Who's with me."

the answer'd be pretty much the rest of the world.

Seriously, though, the US is kinda like your crazy uncle that no one ever wants to talk about or visit, but everyone always has a good time when he shows up uninvited.

Z

[tracer]

Just remember, Canada, we here in the U.S. have more nuclear weapons than you do....

[Kat]

Hmmm...virtually everyone I know, in Canada, the U.S., overseas, and now, I've discovered, everyone on this message board, HATES Celine Dion and Shania Twain. So, how is it that they've each sold about a bajillion albums? Could it be that there are a lot of listeners out there who have yet to "come out of the closet"?

::stands up and proclaims:: I own a Shania Twain CD.

Purchasing decision was influenced heavily by the line: "Okay, so you're Brad Pitt. That don't impress me much." Attitudes like that deserve encouragement, IMO.

[BoBettie]

tomndebb:
I was returning to the US when I got harrassed by the boarded people. The thing that really got me was, DAMN! They treated us like we were tip toeing across the boarder with huge sacks full of cocaine and weapons. We were visiting their country, spending our money, visiting NIAGRA FALLS! They treated us like they caught us doing something illegal, which really pissed me off. I had been to Canada many times- this was the first bad incident. And it wasn't just one of the customs people that was a jerk- they were all really rude and pissy to us. So I will never return there and they can go pound salt for all I care (my mother in law's phrase..I love it!)


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An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; A pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity.

[tomndebb]

zette? It sounds as though you were given the third degree by the U.S. boys. Generally, (on the U.S./Canada border) the country you are departing doesn't give a flying fig. The country you are entering wants to make sure that you aren't bringing in anything illegal (guns to Canada, drugs to U.S.). I certainly can't say that the Canadian border cops couldn't stop you, but I don't even remember a booth for the cops to sit in at the departing side of the Blue Water or Ambassador bridges and I have the same sort of memories of the Peace (?) bridge at Niagara. I hope you haven't been hating the wrong guys all this time.

------------------
Tom~

[Jophiel]

I've noticed that whenever I'm playing a game of "Taunt the Canadians" on IRC, I always get the line about people in Canada knowing more about the US than people in the US knowing about Canada (or the US, in some cases). Works for me: my theory is that if Canada was worth knowing about, we'd know about it. But no one gets to ignore the US

That said, I like Canada, I guess. Except when my old girlfriend got all involved with a Canadian. But I guess I can't blame the entire country for that.

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"I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn't."

[BunnyGirl]

::shaking head:: Matt, Matt, Matt....you said

We fought you once in 1814. We won. Yep, marched right down into Washington and burned down the White House.

If I recall, you weren't really Canada yet; you were still a member of that great but no longer existant British Empire. The War of 1812 was between American and the British and their Native American allies (I believe) under Tecumseh. Here's an interesting site that I found off a
Canadien Defense site
http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/chart.1812.html .

We are bigger than you. Check a map.

Sure ya are; why does the bulk of your population live within 100-200 miles of the US border?

Personally, I like Canada.

We don't have Jesse Helms, Pat Buchanan, Jerry Falwell, or Fred Phelps.

I would definately agree that this is one advantage Canada has.

[kellibelli]

that whole royalty thing pulls at my craw though....I dont believe we should sing "god save the Queen " in the schools.its stupid.
you americans were smart to make the break.

[Eissclam]

I am a US citizen who lived for 5 years in Canada and am now breathing free air again.
Things I hate about Canada:

Astronomical Taxes
Socialized medicine
Lousy service at stores/restaraunts
Caving into Quebec all the freakin' time
Bitching about US citizens while unabashedly copying/using/buying what the US produces
The wierd political system
Hockey (I guess I hate that about Iceland, too)
Going back to see my in-laws
Alcohol prices
Southern Ontario

Things I like about Canada:

Gun control
My wife
Beer (Wellington Iron Duke rules!)
The educational system

Things that amuse me about Canada:

Almost everyone in Moncton, New Brunswick has one of 2 last names (right, Kellibelli?)
US envy
All the young men wear a gallon of cologne
The frighteningly friendly natives
They paid for my Ph.D. (and paid me to get it) without any commitment on my part to stick around after I got it.
Canadian women seem to have a real affinity for US men (judging by their behavior, not what they say).

A funny joke about Canadians that Canadians hate (if they get it):

Q: How do you get 100 loud, exuberant Canadians out of a seimming pool?

A: Quietly say "OK everyone, time to get out of the pool."

[Doobieous]

Personally i think Canada is a pretty nice country. Even though most of it is either locked in snow or a stark, permanently frozen tundra (underground mostly, at least in the three months of summer ). What i love about Canada's complaints about the US is, they say we suck but then again it's like a much more polite version of the US. I think this quote from Pinhead of Hellraiser fame explains this: "So eager to play yet to reluctant to admit it" (or something like that ). I also like how they are so proud of the low crime in their county, then again it's easy to have low crime when most of your population is near the US border, all in one spot, and your total population is even less than that of California's. Compare 30,675,398 million for Canada with California's 32,344,000 in 1994. Wow, one state out of fifty with more people than Canada ). Gee and i wonder why it looks like the US is rife with crime. Oh and i absolutely love their attachment to Britain .

[Doobieous]

Horror! This quote:

What i love about Canada's complaints about the US is, they say we suck but then again it's like a much more polite version of the US. I think this quote from Pinhead of Hellraiser fame explains this: "So eager to play yet to reluctant to admit it"

Should read:

What i love about Canada's complaints about the US is, they say we suck and how horrible we are but then they suck quite a bit of our culture into their great society. I think this quote from Pinhead of Hellraiser fame explains this phenomenon: "So eager to play yet so reluctant to admit it" (or something like that).

[bj0rn]

this is fun
i like this alot. this is the second thread i have read by an american who "hates" another country.
where were you guys in the thread "is there intellIgent life in iceland?"
and those who were, do you remember what you were saying? (strangely enough, when i choose "show all topics", this one doesnt come up.)

well whatever, it pleases me that americans are still doing their silly "we are the best"
act. i know lets make a movie about that. it could be about aliens trying to destroy the world, but the americans save the planet. how? plant a computer virus? get an old WWII pilot to do a kamakasi(something like that)on the main reactor(they stole that too)? play a tom jones song...or whatever it was?
or best one yet, we, as in the rest of the world, give them america.
okok. im being silly. but its also silly to hate something. you cant hate a country unless you hate every occupant of that country. and some occupants of america are quite nice, cant think of many posting on this thread though. but the fact is, there are more nice people in canada.

[whc.03grady]

Someone mentioned Canadians driving slowly in the left lane, well...
In 1992 myself and some friends drove up to Winnipeg (from Nebraska), and, with the cruise control set at 92 mph, got passed--repeatedly--by Friendly Mantitoban license plates, once by a truck towing a BOAT, for godssake.

[Rodd Hill]

matt_mcl said:

If you were a socialist in the US in the fifties, you got blackballed. If you were a socialist in Canada in the fifties, you got elected to the Saskatchewan legislature.

I had no idea we treated our Canadian socialists so harshly!

[elbow]

There is a very good book called 'why i hate canadians'by will ferguson, for everyone reading this, it's very accurate and very funny. Best story: of a woman who survived a horrible accident on a roadway in LA, she had amnesia, when the cops found her they didn't have much to go on to discover her identity, it struck them however that she was really quite polite. On a hunch they called in to see if any visiting Canadians had gone missing. You guessed it, she was indeed Canadian. The question is, how polite are you that even after a nasty bump on the head you can't remember your name, but still watch your P's & Q's?

[HeadlessCow]

[[We are bigger than you. Check a map.]]
By about 340,000 km. Less than the size of California.

[[We fought you once in 1814. We won. Yep, marched right down into Washington and burned down the White House.]]
Actually that was the British not the Canadians.

[[We have two official languages. You guys don't even have one.]]
So what?! Obviously it just shows that the US was built by people of all countries. Or we wanted to use English but wanted to snub Britain.

[[Admit it. It is so much cooler to pronounce lieutenant "leftenant".]]
No it isn't!

[[Our national anthem actually has the name of the country in it.]]
Our anthem may not mention our name, but at least it doesn't go on forever.

[[We have fewer political divisions.
We have more political parties.]]
More large political parties that is.

[[We have socialized (i.e. free at point-of-sale) medicine.
If you were a socialist in the US in the fifties, you got blackballed. If you were a socialist in Canada in the fifties, you got elected to the Saskatchewan legislature.]]
The US is very socialist. Yet it does lack many of the better aspects. And refuses to admit its socialism.

[[We have gun-control legislation.]]
So do we but it sucks!

[[You spend far too much on the military.]]
On the most advanced military in the world, the one that is there to protect us from all those other countries that hate us. Maybe we should cut back and get attacked.

[[Metric. Admit it. It is so much easier to multiply by 10 than it is to remember how many rods there are in a furlong.]]
Yes it is, but nobody uses rods and furlongs anymore. It's just as easy to learn either system when you're young. It's not like you can multiply at age 2.

[[We have never had a civil, revolutionary, or Vietnam war.]]
Britain didn't want you anymore. Is that really a plus?

[BoBettie]

tomndebb,
That's a damned good point. When I think back now, I don't remember if I KNEW they were Canadians that stopped us or if I assumed it. Interesting...Well, I take back my Canadian hatred then, just in case. But I hate the friggin' boarder patrol, then.
Thanks for the possible clarification!!
Whoops- I forgot- you're supposed to be rude in the pit..
**Mind your own friggin' business and screw you!**


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An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; A pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity.

[tomndebb]

Insult accepted!

I have always felt that if more of the INS was armed, the militia-types would have a totally different bogey man to fear. A guy who grew up near me went into that line of work. By the end of his indoctrination period, he was a zealot on the issue of bad things/people entering the country. It was not that we needed to secure our borders (with which I would agree), but it was a personal insult to him that any border had ever been breached--and this was before he had his first assignment.

------------------
Tom~

[BoBettie]

That was what got me the most. These guys, looking at us like friggin cocaine smugglers...you can practically see the falls from their station, and they are actually saying "what were you doing in Canada". What the hell do you think? Um, looking at this huge, enormous natural piece of beauty? Buying crappy souveniers at a great exchange rate? Duh!! They probobly detained us because I was a smartass, anyway.

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An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; A pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity.

[Omniscient]

Canada is kinda quaint.

The thing i like about the US is never having to say you're sorry, and other countries spend inordinate amounts of time and energy bitching about us. They're lucky if we even know where they are.

The quote about the US being like a big dog in a small room is priceless.

[bj0rn]

the thing i hate about the us is that nobody says their sorry. the thing i like about the us is that you can bitch em around like a dog with a peg-leg, because they dont even know who you are if you arent living in the states

we have a word for it here in iceland, and im starting to belive it was made to suit america. its "heimskur", basically it can be translated to stupid or dumb, but the explanation of the word in iceland says alot more. person who is "heimsk" only knows her home, and is oblivious to everything outside it.
you might notice the "heim", that being the basis of the word. translation of it would be = home. although this involves quite a number of things i dont want to get into(grammar and stuff in iceland isnt for americans).

[Doobieous]

Pardon the cussword here . I hope the useage of it isnt too much for the BBQ pit.

you might notice the "heim", that being the basis of the word. translation of it would be = home. although this involves quite a number of things i dont want to get into(grammar and stuff in iceland isnt for americans).

Well bjorn, we have a word here in Northern California that fits arrogant Icelanders. The word is Bitch. It can either be an adjective, or a verb. It tends to mean something like, a person who does nothing but runs his mouth and who has nothing worthwhile to say. Thus he is not worth really getting upset over, but ripe for being laughed at.

It also explains the action the person is perfoming, as in "Why does Bjorn bitch so much about the US, if i didnt know better, you would think he's a tad obsessed, since you never really see him post on any other threads." (I wonder about you sometimes bjorn, do you come here to get your US bashing rocks off or what? It's actually kind of scary in an obsessive, psycho way).Those kinds of things. There are a lot of grammar issues and subtleties of the word, but English grammar and colloquialisms are not the type of thing an annoying Icelander like you can handle. Sorry Bjorn, but you obviously aren't ready for English Colloquialisms 101 (Basic Colloquialisms). Maybe if you were less of a well, bitch, you could handle it. But, that day is far, far away.

[BunnyGirl]

My husband played in a casino in North Dakota for about a month one time and wanted to make a trip up into Seskatchewan (the one above ND-pardon me, I don't have a map here!). Anyway, being an adventure kind of guy, he likes to take the little backroads to see the country and took along his long haired drummer with him. The Canadian border guard at this one little lonely station must've been so bored cause he stopped there for about 1/2 hour while he strip-searched their car (if you can do such a thing - ) looking for drugs cause they told him they were musicians. Geez!

[Gr8Kat]

Is socialized medicine something to be proud of? I thought it was the reason people in England had such ugly teeth--the government decides what kind of medical procedures are important and worth spending its money on, and dental health, since life doesn't depend on it, takes a very low priority. Socialized medicine makes me think of HMOs (again, the government or a corporation deciding what is important enough to spend its money on, and just how much they're willing to spend) which everyone complains about here.

------------------
"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," Jack Handy

[hansel]

To be clear about the medical system in Canada, it's not socialized medecine. That would be where the government funds and administers doctors and hospitals directly. What we have is socialized medical insurance: everyone's got it.

The government exercises a lot of control over the medical system because it does fund it directly, though not entirely. It's better than HMOs, but not as good as having a fat, private health insurance policy and a private hospital full of overpaid surgeons.

[jinky]

Is socialized medicine something to be proud of?

Yes.

Is 40 million Americans without health care something to be proud of?

I thought it was the reason people in England had such ugly teeth--the government decides what kind of medical procedures are important and worth spending its money on, and dental health, since life doesn't depend on it, takes a very low priority.

Government paying to straighten your teeth, surely that should be low priority?

Socialized medicine makes me think of HMOs (again, the government or a corporation deciding what is important enough to spend its money on, and just how much they're willing to spend) which everyone complains about here.

Maybe it's just the Americans I know but I seem to hear more complaining about not having health care, full stop. In 'socialised medicine' countries (ie the rest of the first world) the health care may not be perfect but at least it's available to everyone. Before you criticise it ask how many of us would switch our health care system for yours, almost no-one is the answer.

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Bíonn caora dhubh ar an tréad is gile (there is a black sheep even in the whitest flock).

[matt_mcl]

There's only one thing that truly bugs me about Canadians: the way you bitch about us usurping the term "American" but go into conniptions if anyone calls you one.

You have that wrong. According to my copy of The Globe and Mail Style Guide, we use Americans to refer to residents of the US, but we do not use America to refer to the entire country. Americans live in the US, not America, just like Canadians live in Canada, not Canadia.