I’ve always wondered if Bob Dylan slips into a heavy Northern Minnesota accent when he’s drunk.
I wonder what he sounds like when he’s sober?
If you want to hear western/central Canadian accents, check out Corner Gas. That’s pretty much exactly what I sound like (except, you know, like a woman version - slightly higher voice).
I think that’s pretty much what we ALL sound like. Well except for Newfoundland, and Quebec, and maybe New Brunswick, and possibly PEI, and parts of BC. 
Certainly not Vancouver. No two people in a row have the same accent in Vancouver, as far as I can tell.
And Ontario. 
There’s no one part. Most Alaskans come from all over. Lots of Koreans for some reason. Growing up there, unless you were from somewhere else, you spoke generic “accentless” west coast/broadcast news english.
Here’s an old Dan Ayckroyd movie for you to check out. It’s part one, the other parts accessible on the right side of your screen:
Quote From Trom: *I grew up in a small town between Minneapolis and Duluth. The further north and more rural you are, the thicker the accent. It’s more noticeable in older people. *
I can agree somewhat about the older people thing, but I would use the word “elderly” instead, but trust me, I’ve been all over northern Minnesota, from International Falls to Roseau through Thief River Falls and over to Moorhead, to Bemidji and down to St. Cloud, up to Duluth and Pigeon River, and encompassing all of the Iron Range, including Brainard, Virginia-Eveleth, and over to Grand Rapids, and let me tell you, the accent doesn’t get thicker; in fact it’s almost non-existent among most people under the age of 60. Yeah, a lot of people know the accent as from their parents’ or grandparents’ generation and can imitate it, but seriously, very few people talk this way.
It was terribly exaggerated in the film, and was a total send-up of the old-time Minnesota Scandihoovian accent, straight out of Yogi Yorgesson ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wUXMZMLnOY )
Why?
Counting the lakes?
I wonder if that’s not true of any regional accent though (as opposed to what might be called subcultural accents, such as California surfer or urban gangsta, which seem to be largely youthful affectations). Purely subjectively, it does seem like there’s been a leveling of U.S. speech in the past few decades.
It’s a pretty area. Lots of very small towns that have public parks and lakes. Lots of trees. It’s a huge summering area for people from the Twin Cities; many people have cabins on the lakes and lots more just go up there for the fishing. There are ski resorts (of a sort) for the winter types, along with ice fishing and hunting.
Because it was a damn site better than being all over Northwestern Ontario, where there’s nothing but miles of trees and rockcuts on the side of the road, and if you break down, it might take forever for someone to show up.
At least in Northern Minnesota, you’re never too far away from where someone lives. Most of the roads are better for driving, there’s small towns everywhere, and back in the day (early 80s) there was no shortage of old cars for restoration or parts for them. There were neat antique stores in places you wouldn’t think there would be, fantastic record stores in most of the bigger towns and in the cities (two of my favorites were Iron Range Music in Virginia, and The Electric Fetus in Duluth, both of which stocked tons of imports).
It was nice to get out of town and just spend a weekend just looking around, that’s all. Freedom of the open road, that kind of thing. Drive around until evening, find a motel or a Holdiay Inn with an adjacent bar…it was amazing what being from Canada would get you in those days, trust me.
A few years ago I had to go to Brainerd on business. I was really excited to see if people talked that way. I arrived very late to my hotel and was disappointed when the clerk didn’t talk with a Fargo-style accent, but as it turned out she was from out of state so that was okay.
The next day I walk into the customer’s office and the receptionist/office manager, who might have been 35, greeted me with an accent just like Marge Gunderson’s. Absolutely bang on. I was thrilled. That was really the way she talked.
So they are out there.
My daughter attended a fresh-water Lutheran college up in the three states border region. She says that even in the 1990s the accents were strong enough and distinct enough that you could tell where a student came from by the way they pronounced the state’s name:
I-wah
Wis CAN sen
Min na SOOO ta
I’m not sure if you’re serious at this point. Do Ontarians sound differently than “Corner gas?” In which way? I don’t hear it.
I wouldn’t go that far. I was born in Fargo and left in 2000 to go to college. Whenever I go back, I notice more than just a trace in everyone. Incidentally, when I was a freshman, a stoner friend of mine actually mistook my accent for a SOUTHERN one. 
At any rate, the problem with the movie accents is that pretty much the only people who would spot the difference are people who live in the region. Everyone else won’t really know what to listen for.
Okay, time for outside resources.
Here is WCCO, the CBS station in Minneapolis. Speech heard on here is typical of what I have heard in Minnesota; hardly a Scandihoovian voice to be heard: http://wcco.com/
Ontarioans don’t sound at all different from Corner Gas.
Here is the link to B.93FM, the radio station in my hometown of Fort Frances, Ontario: http://www.b93.ca/93fm/ Give it a listen if you like, and compare it to:
On the other side of the Province, here is CHUM-FM in Toronto: http://www.chumfm.com/
I don’t think either sounds much different from Z-99 in Regina: http://www.z99.com/
Take a listen and let us know what your findings are.
I think they do. There are even variations within the Ontario accent, like the Toronto Valley Girl, Northern Ontarian, and regular Torontonian. And, of course, hearing anyone from outside Saskatchewan pronounce “Saskatchewan” is always a dead give-away.
Sus-skatch-choo-wun ?