# Canadians be proud. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 30, 2000, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145 "2000-06-30T11:53:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/21 "2000-06-30T17:24:38Z")
Any country that gave the world Rush, Bob and Doug McKenzie, and Shania Twain is all right by me. 🙂 Happy birthday, hosers! ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/22 "2000-06-30T17:47:34Z")
I saw Canada day on the calendar and wondered what it was all about. Is it a simple “let’s be proud of Canada” thing or an actual birthday kind of thing? Should I include some Molson in our 4th Of July festivities? Curiously, it is one of our Canadian friends who always has us over for a barbecue on the 4th. I seem to know the words to “O Canada” now. Maybe I’d better check what he’s putting in the burgers. Hmmm… ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/23 "2000-06-30T17:50:42Z")
Happy Birthday, Canada! Now pass the beer and chips. ~~Baloo ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/24 "2000-06-30T17:53:07Z")
> [@](#): > > We also invented insulin, > Hey, Happy Canada Day! > [@](#): > > Yup…Dr. Jonas Salk. > > My wife’s family is very distantly related to him. well, no. insulin wasn’t invented, it was discovered. insulin has always been present in our body. it was discovered by canadian **Dr. Frederick Banting**. **dr. jonas salk** discovered the polio vaccine. dr. salk wasn’t even canadian. he was born in new york city. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/25 "2000-06-30T17:55:57Z")
As an American, I hate to admit it, but your beers are far superior to the making-love-in-a-canoe pisswater here in the States. Happy birthday to the True North, Strong and Free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee! Happy Canada Day! ---
**Author:** ![Nika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba9def/32.png) [@Nika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nika)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/26 "2000-06-30T17:57:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > I saw Canada day on the calendar and wondered what it > was all about. > Is it a simple “let’s be proud of Canada” thing > or an actual birthday kind of thing? > > \*\* On July 1, 1867 Queen Victoria signed Canada as an independant country. On that day we, as a nation were born. It is our Birthday, or some kind of birthday thing. ---
**Author:** ![Globe-trotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cab0a1/32.png) [@Globe-trotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Globe-trotter)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/27 "2000-06-30T17:57:37Z")
> [@](#): > > I saw Canada day on the calendar and wondered what it > was all about. > Is it a simple “let’s be proud of Canada” thing > or an actual birthday kind of thing? Canada officially became a country on July 1st, 1867. ---
**Author:** ![Globe-trotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cab0a1/32.png) [@Globe-trotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Globe-trotter)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/28 "2000-06-30T17:58:48Z")
Great minds think alike, Nika. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba9def/32.png) [@Nika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nika)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/29 "2000-06-30T18:01:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Great minds think alike, Nika. 😃 > \*\* Damn Right!! How do people not know this?? ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/30 "2000-06-30T18:03:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > July 1st, 1867. > \*\* At last it can be told! The 4-day weekend will be devoted to beer drinking, so Saturday I will devote to drinking Canadian beers instead of US beers. I will spice up our day with Canadian trivia. I will be using some choice selections from the OP. If you have any others that will help me impress people, bring 'em on! ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/31 "2000-06-30T18:05:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Any country that gave the world Rush … is all right by me. 🙂 > > \*\* And let’s not forget about **April Wine** and **The Stampeders** ---
**Author:** ![Nika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba9def/32.png) [@Nika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nika)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/32 "2000-06-30T18:07:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*\* > > July 1st, 1867. > > \*\* > > At last it can be told! > > The 4-day weekend will be devoted to beer drinking, > so Saturday I will devote to drinking Canadian beers > instead of US beers. > > I will spice up our day with Canadian trivia. I will > be using some choice selections from the OP. If you > have any others that will help me impress people, > bring 'em on! > > \*\* Drink “Canadian”, listen to The Tragically Hip and have Tim Hortons for breakfast (I hear there are some in the Northern States…). Then, only then can you begin to understand the essence of being Canadian. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Niggle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Niggle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niggle)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/33 "2000-06-30T18:08:53Z")
Couldn’t help but chime in… What other country gets you an automatic 2 month visa to almost any country in the world? happy canada day, from a west-coast canadian. -niggle ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/34 "2000-06-30T18:11:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > How do people not know this?? > \*\* In case this was a serious question, I have to admit that here in the US we are taught next to nothing about Canadian History. The course of study for US public High Schools goes something like this: “Here is US History Here is Local History (for your state) Here is European History Here is World History (for everything outside of North America that isn’t Europe) Here is US History again Oh, BTW, Canada exists.” If you watch a lot of news programs in the US, you’ll notice that most of them show the US map with weather patterns overlaid, but the weather patterns strangely cease at the US/Canadian border. My BF and I always comment that we should emigrate to Canada, since it appears you don’t have weather up there. ---
**Author:** ![SwimmingRiddles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SwimmingRiddles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingRiddles)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/35 "2000-06-30T18:15:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > I don’t know if we are supposed to be proud of that or not, but making fun of Americans is such a part of being Canadian that I couldn’t resist. > \*\* Funny…making fun of Canadians is a big part of being American. Huh. Here’s a good hybrid, courtesy of The Kids in the Hall. Dave Foley is vacationing in an unknown tropical country. Native Boy: Are you an American? Foley: No, I’m Canadian. Native Boy: What is Can-aaaa-dian? Foley: We’re kind of like Americans, only we don’t carry guns. Happy Canada Day! And thanks for the Labats commercials, they KILL me. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/36 "2000-06-30T18:18:37Z")
Yeah, yeah, Canada is cool for the most part, at least during the fall and winter but how do you account for the French-Canadians? Who let them in? Do you human Canadians allow them to celebrate your holidays? Or do you just print the calendars in English? ---
**Author:** ![JosephFinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3bc359/32.png) [@JosephFinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JosephFinn)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/37 "2000-06-30T18:28:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*\* > > We also invented insulin, > > Hey, Happy Canada Day! > > \*\* > > Yup…Dr. Jonas Salk. > > My wife’s family is very distantly related to him. > \*\* Salk discovered the polio vaccine - just as important, but just wanted to set the record straight. The three guys who found insulin (by painstakingly experimenting with dog livers for years - and you though your job sucked) ended up being such cantankerous enemies in search of the credit that they make the Celera and Human Genome Project teams look like bowling buddies. Brilliantly patient guys, though. Joseph ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/38 "2000-06-30T18:33:46Z")
Things to say to people from around the world: **Austria**. “Hey, you guys are like the Canada of Germany!” **New Zealand**. “Hey, you guys are like the Canada of Australia!” –unabashedly stolen from _The K Chronicles_, which pictured Canada, twice, as a giant human butt sticking northward from the U.S. Besides, why celebrate? You guys hadda wait and whine to Victoria about it until she signed you away, while us red-blooded, two-fisted Yanks up and took our independence from George III like the manly folk we were. (There should be a winkie here but I’m on a 30-day no smilie pledge in memory of **WallyM7**.) Full disclosure - I got two ancestors who were born in Pike River, PQ early in the nineteenth century. Canadian by proxy? ---
**Author:** ![Nika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba9def/32.png) [@Nika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nika)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/39 "2000-06-30T18:44:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*\* > > How do people not know this?? > > \*\* > > In case this was a serious question, > > If you watch a lot of news programs in the US, you’ll notice that most of them show the US map with weather patterns overlaid, but the weather patterns strangely cease at the US/Canadian border. My BF and I always comment that we should emigrate to Canada, since it appears you don’t have weather up there. > > \*\* It was only half serious, and more critical of us. It bothers me that Canadians are not prouder of who we are and demand more attention from the world. I mean, internationally we are respected and liked. I love being canadian when travelling abroad. I just wish more Canadians knew how great it is to be Canadian. Americans have a lot of pride, in some cases I think maybe too much, but I think we could learn something from it. We should be proud to hear our national anthem at sports events and our flag should never be hung upside-down (by accident or not). And, we do have weather. One of the reasons I love it here!! Yeah SNOW DAYS!! and being stuck in the middle of winter! ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/40 "2000-06-30T18:51:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Yeah, yeah, Canada is cool for the most part, at least during the fall and winter but how do you account for the French-Canadians? Who let them in? Do you human Canadians allow them to celebrate your holidays? Or do you just print the calendars in English? > \*\* My anglo Montrealer butt would like to tell you: _va chier, hostie._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145.md?page=3)