How is life in Canada different from life in the US?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I’m not sure quite why, but this caused a major guffaw for me (well, OK, I didn’t actually guffaw. What is nearly silent equivalent?). “Americans seem indifferent on the subject.” Classic…

As for politeness, I can’t say. I will say that I have picture of Canadians saying “sorry”, I’m not sure where it is from exactly. It figured in “Canadian Bacon” but I think I have this picture from before the movie. I think perhaps Canadians use “Sorry” the way American use “Excuse me”. Both of these are fairly polite, but overuse robs them of some of their power. Perhaps when Americans hear ‘sorry’ and Canadians hear ‘excuse me’ they percieve more politeness than the native of the country who is used to the perfunctory nature of the word(s).

What about overweight people? I’m an American and I’ve gone places where I was surprised by the number of overweight people around. I think it varies by where you live in America considerably. In the other hand, I can think of at least a couple people in my small town who are obviously way overweight. Can Canadians say the same?

22

I could just go ‘ditto’ to lots of things here, but we’d need to form a government committee first. :wink:

I’ll agree extremely much with Bernse. Americans tend to be larger than Canadians, but Canucks are getting fatter too.

We drive more minivans than SUVs (but they’re both pretty popular).

Most of our news, especially TV news, is less sensational than US stuff. Our news also focuses on the rest of the world-- and not just the latest peace envoy to Israel.
We don’t put car chases on our 6 o’clock news. And religious types are never considered “community leaders”.

I feel safe walking down any street in Canada, no matter how nasty, and I’ve never held a gun. Now, karaoke bars frequented by Asian gangs, that’s another matter…

Most importantly, the vast majority of Canadians believe the government is there to serve us, rather than trying to screw us over. Yeah, we’ll bitch about taxes as much as anyone else, and we’ll get angry and hold protests when a govt threatens to toss seniors out of old folks homes. But at heart, most Canadians believe that the people working in government will pull through when it’s really needed, whether it’s health care, seniors care, or in a disaster.
We don’t expect charities or community groups to do things for us-- we expect our government to do it.

23

That’s a pretty odd reaction on their part…while most people in the US probably wouldn’t know what poutine was, fries with cheese and gravy are pretty damn popular over where I live (northeast). Maybe they just aren’t popular in the South, but damn, he was about to puke? Most everyone likes all three of those things seperately, why not together, I say?

24

Montrealer, here. Culturally, I have more in common with my New York cousins than I do with an Alberta wheat farmer, and the Albertan has more in common with a Montana wheat farmer than he does with me. There are no generalizations to fit all Canadians, just as there are no generalizations that can fit all Americans.

But, generally, we’re better. Nyah.

25

Ontarians don’t really know what poutine is, either. They make it with grated, marbled cheddar. Blech. :frowning: Usually one of the first meals I eat when I go home to Quebec is a real poutine. I’ve even had it in Drummondville, at the place where it was invented! REALLY yummy!

There isn’t much I can say that others havent said already, but I just want to recommend a book. It’s called How to be a Canadian ([sub]Even if you already are one[/sub]) by Will and Ian Ferguson. It’s a hilarious book about all these stereotypes that are oh-so-painfully-true (National Anthem of Canada: The Hockey Night in Canada Theme Song), and a whole chapter on the many ways Canadians say “I’m Sorry”. I admit, though, that I use “sorry” the way others say “excuse me”. It’s just easier to say, and I think it might even be derived from the French equivalent of “pardon”. Although that’s a total WAG. But anyways, buy this book. It’s hilarious.

26

Actually, sacrer predates the Quiet Revolution. The earliest litterary mentions of the phenomenon that I know of (although just its existence is mentioned) are in Louis Hémon’s Maria Chapdelaine (1913) and Mgr Félix-Antoine Savard’s Menaud, maître-draveur (1937). The Quiet Revolution mostly broke the stranglehold of the RCC in Québec. The fact that you hear more of it is just because the 60s happened and it change language usages (just look in the US and their use of profanity).

27

No disrespect to Canada, I love the place, but Jon Stuart made a remark on his program, The Daily Show, that I think is somewhat fitting. To paraphrase, “Canada is a country of people that ordered the ham and got the tuna, but ate it anyway.” A very laid back, congenial group; almost to their detriment.

28

Hey - some of us LIKE tuna. And maybe we were feeling like the tuna anyhow, and just didn’t realize it until it came. And maybe tuna is better for you anyhow. And maybe…

Oh shut up.

29

I tend to agree. I might even say that as a generalization, individual Canadians are often more polite. (Never lived in Canada, but have worked and lived around lot of Canadians in Japan and Korea, and have consequently begun to pay a little more attention to Canada in general.) It does seem to me that Canadians tend to be a bit more understated and reserved.

However, I do love to tell these stories. My first overseas job had me teaching in a school where the only other foreigner was a Canadian woman, a loud, brassy, uninhibited woman with a voice like tearing metal. At lunch one day I was sitting quietly in my classroom preparing lessons, and she and the Japanese teachers were in the classroom next door. I heard one of the Japanese teachers ask timidly about the differences between Americans and Canadians. The answer, in a horrible shrieking voice: “The difference is that Americans are loud, rude, and obnoxious! Ahahahahahaha!”

Another time all of us teachers were together in a museum, and the Canadian woman was attracting stares with her cackling and gesticulating. As a Japanese couple passed by, I overheard one say to the other, in Japanese: “I hate Americans.”

Most of my experiences with Canadians have not been similar.:slight_smile:

30

There are too many right answers for this to fit neatly into GQ, so I’ll move this over to IMHO.

31

In response to the question on the Canadian health care system.

There are differences from province to province on how this system works, but the essentials remain the same:

  1. single payer - medical procedures (visits to the doctor, operations, required tests etc.) are not billed directly to the patient, rather the provider of the medical services bills the provincial government - in most provinces this is paid from revenues generated by income taxes, in a couple, there are premiums paid by individuals separate from their taxes to a government department (there is NO free medical care per se, someone ultimately pays, but we pay through taxes and/or levies).

  2. universal coverage - all citizens are covered (and those with landed immigrant status and refugees) - it is an entitlement that comes along with citizenship. One cannot be refused coverage by some insurance company - and those below a certain income level are (by virtue of falling below the minimum tax bracket) paid for by the rest of us. There is no separate means test to determine who gets access to medical treatment - you need it, you get… it is your entitlement as a citizen. (Probably one of the better uses of tax dollars, but then I am biased :smiley: ).

  3. coverage is mobile - one is covered throughout Canada, regardless of where one is treated (if I am injured in Newfoundland, it is still my Alberta Health Care that covers the expense)

  4. no parallel private system - unlike most of the European systems, medical practitioners must participate in the Medicare program (this is under attack by right-wing elements here in Canada and my idiot provincial government is one of the worst offenders of trying to undermine the exisiting system) : there is not a parallel, for-profit system, and a lot of us are fighting to keep it that way.

In a nutshell: single payer, universal coverage and access, mobility rights ensured and no parallel system.

32

The fishing is often better in Canada. Unfortunately, the lakes are only liquid for about a week each year. The mosquitos, horse flies, and black flies are only equaled in Alaska or the Everglades.

Come to think of it…I’ve been to Ontario numerous times, and I’ve yet to meet a grumpy Canadian. Well, there was that one customs official that refused to let us into the Great White North as long as the car had a radar detector mounted on the dashboard, but that was remedied by a 5-minute pit stop.

33

As for what else makes us different from the Yanks, I remember reading a terribly unscientific survey that was conducted at youth hostels in Europe… the question was phrased something along the lines of “What nationality is most likely to agree to casual sex.” The nationality of those deemed most likely was… Canadian. (Personally, I would have thought it was Australian… but they didn’t ask me.) Then again, we just don’t talk about it as much as the Yanks :smiley:

Just to be fair though, they didn’t ask who was “best” at it, just who was most likely to engage in it…

34

I went to college in a small -to-medium sized town in Norh Carolina, and the local diner served this (though they called it fries with gravy and cheese), and it was a pretty popular dish. Mind you, most of the local Intelligentsia wouldn’t be caught dead in this diner, so they never learned the joy of fries and gravy. Their loss.

35

I think we are a lot less overtly patriotic. I don’t think we have as many rules about the treatment of our flag (although it’s become a bit of an institution for college kids to wear it on their backpacks). Canada Day is pretty much a cool holiday, on which we shoot off fireworks, but there are fewer parades and less to-do over it. I think this comes from the differences in the political beginnings of the two countries: the Yankees had to fight a war to get their independence, whereas we sort of bureacratized for a couple decades and talked the British monarch into signing some paper or other…

Does the US government have a logo??? Ours does…little flag thingy with a specific font. It’s on every mailing you get from them and on all the gov’t offices.

I love the subsidised health care we get here, but the flip side is that if the provincial government isn’t doing well financially, the health care system suffers. BC seems to be highly disgruntled with their gov’t right now, for that reason among others. Sigh. If it’s true that we trust our government, we definitely grumble a lot behind their backs (and in the media).

Oh, and you can tell what denomination our money is without having to read the numbers! And before you start in about it being Monopoly money, I’ll have you know it’s worth a good 66 American cents!! :smiley:

But then, we have these two-dollar coins, which have the result of pullin’ your pants down around your hips and tearing holes in your pockets while you carry twelve dollars without knowing it. Which also means that sometimes you can pay for lunch in change.

It is very weird to be in the States and have all these ones in your wallet. Makes you think you’ve got more money than you actually do.

My sister says we have different brands of candy bars, such as Aero bars–they’ve got little air holes in them. I guess they are puffed somehow? There’s a mint flavoured chocolate bar as well as the regular one.

Oh, and we can’t get half the stuff from mail order places delivered here. AARRGHH! “Continental US only” drives me nucking futs. If I really want the stuff, I usually get it sent to a friend in the States and then get them to ship it up here.

All in all, the answer to your question is, not much daily difference. But sssshhhh!! Don’t tell anyone I (and the other Canucks here) said that—we like to keep the distinct identity thing going! :wink:

36

The two countries may seem the same on the surface, but there are many major differences that aren’t apparent by spending a weekend…

After spending 30 some years in Canada, and now almost 8 in the US, I find myself noticing the differences constantly…

Like people have said, Canadians say “sorry” alot… i.e. - when a Canadian steps on another Canadian’s foot, both people say “sorry”… I have to admit to being guilty of that… I think it’s ingrained… We don’t even realize we’re doing it! If I say “sorry” here in the U.S., people normally give me a sort of strange look and say “It’s OK”…

As for the whole healthcare issue… Getting used to the world of HMO’s, PPO’s, etc. was very confusing, and still can be to me… When I got my first job here, I went to personnel and was told I had to choose a healthcare provider… I had NO idea who to pick, and had to do it right away… So I picked an HMO I had seen on billboards… and HATED it… Not understanding how to navigate the medical system was a major problem…

Finally got around to getting the right plan and the right physician a couple of years ago, and am very satisfied with the health care… But there’s still something scary about realizing that if you lose your job for the most part you lose your health care here…

Living in California also makes very clear the “underclass” of American society… The economy here depends on illegal workers from Mexico and Central America to a major degree… Go into any restaurant and a great deal of the staff are illegal… Gardening is often done by illegal workers… There are corners in SF where illegal workers wait hoping to find a job for the day…
People often complain about these workers here, but they often fill jobs that other people don’t want…

When it comes to Gay rights, Canada and the U.S. are becoming more and more different as time goes on…

Gay rights are not covered on a federal level in the U.S… James Hormel was nominated as an American Ambassador, and President Clinton had to go around Congress to get him in… Gay and Lesbian Americans with partners from other countries cannot sponsor or bring their partners to the U.S… Partners are often forced apart or have to resort to student visas to try to stay together temporarily…

Gay Canadians can now sponsor their partners… and Gay rights are protected Federally in Canada… It certainly doesn’t look like that will be happening here any time soon…

So I’m not sure I’d agree that the two countries are so alike… They aren’t very alike for at least ten percent of their citizens…

SFCanadian

37

Famous canuck Mike Myers once said that high school in Canada isn’t the big deal it is here in America. “It’s not a John Hughes movie” he said. Anybody up north wanna verify this or try and explain what he meant?

Once when he was on The Daily Show (back when Kilbourn still hosted) one of his ‘5 Questions’ was, “Canada, what went wrong?” to which he answered, “There was this little thing called The War of 1812. We kicked some yankee ass!”

38

im from winnipeg here
actually we’re considerd, from some survey, we have the nicest people in canada :stuck_out_tongue: we also invented winnie the pooh :stuck_out_tongue:

my cousin moved to florida about 4 years ago n according to her husband (us citizen) canadians are actually really evil sounding, the way we express words n sarcasm or something? apparently we’re spawns of satan hehehe, not all that polite
and yes, ketchup chips are the best thing on earth, u americans dont know what ur missing, same with hickory sticks :stuck_out_tongue:

39

Let’s see… what hasn’t been covered yet?.. I get the impression that parades are far more popular in the U.S. than up here in Canada. Most people I know don’t “get” them, but american television seems to have a parade for every single holiday for some reason.

In high school up here, football (or any other sport) isn’t a huge deal. Sure, each high school has a football team, but if your school’s team is no good, it’s no big deal.

Fun fact! The fashion trend among teenagers of wearing one’s pants really low with one’s boxers showing started in Canada, by accident. As someone mentioned earlier, all those coins in your pockets are very heavy and… well, you can figure the rest out.

I think that in my case the whole politeness thing is backfiring. In all situations where the words 'thank you" are appropriate, I say “thanks”. Unfortunately, I’m so in the habit of it that it often sounds very terse or clipped; therefore insincere (“I’m saying “thanks” because I have to, not because I appreciate what you did.”).

By the way, the terms “excuse me” and “sorry” are both apologies, so it’s really not that weird use “sorry” in the place of “excuse me”.

I had never heard of us being exceptionally sarcastic, as Trancey said, but I’d believe it.

40

I don’t mean to offend anyone here, but if i was forced to forge an opinion on Canadians only by the actors that come from there, i’d think Canada was a bunch of bozos (for lack of a better word). Jim Carrey, Martin Short, Dan Akroyd, Mike Meyers, John Candy, Norm McDonald, All the Kids In the Hall, and Leslie neilson are all from Canada. Then there are a few like Micheal J. Fox, Keanu Reaves, and some of the Beverly Hills 90210 kids who are borderline bozos. I actually looked this up and out of the whole list (which was actually quite long and mostly composed of actors i’m not familiar with), there were only a few canadian actors i could find who weren’t bozos (william shatner, Keifer Sutherland). I’m pretty confident that the bozo actor to non-bozo actor ratio in canada is a lot higher than the states.
Is it because canada has a lot of bozos? Or do canadian producers like bozos more than american producers do so they cast them in their movies more often? Also, almost (i’m tempted to leave “almost” out here) all the Canadians i’ve met personally have been bozos. It might just be that the bozo Canadians disclose the fact that they’re canadian a lot more readily than non-bozos for whatever reason, but i’m not sure. I try to convince myself that it’s just my imagination, but the more i look into it, the more i find myself to be right. I bring this up to canadians and they just laugh and respond by saying “we’re funny people” or something to that effect. To anyone who might reply this way, i’d like to point out the fact that there’s a difference between being a bozo, and being funny. :slight_smile: