# Non-Canadians who have visited Canada - what surprised you about the country? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 6, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364 "2015-03-06T15:36:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/101 "2015-03-07T17:33:21Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I’ve never heard of ketchup on pasta. That must have been a one-off. We’re not complete idiots when it comes to pasta, or international cuisine in general. Probably. To be honest, I don’t remember anything horrible as far as food was concerned. I stayed in Canada a little more than two month and didn’t starve so I guess there was no problem there 😃 . And the only disappointing things were actually due to my young age. It’s funny, in the past couple of years I’ve wished to go back, almost felt like I _needed_ to go back. For almost 25 years I didn’t make anything of my stay there. It was just something cool I did. Now, I wish I’d realized earlier what a great opportunity I’d had and tried to capitalize on it. One more memory. The link with the OP is tenuous but it was a funny situation. The family I was staying with had taken me to a reconstructed Native settlement (a very impressive visit by the way but I don’t remember the name of the place). At one point, the daughter looked at me and said half-jokingly: “You bad Europeans who killed all our Indians!” To which I replied: “Hey, _your_ ancestors killed the Indians, not mine. Mine stayed in Europe.” She stopped in her tracks, a bit offended. Her mother walked past her with a huge grin on her face and said: “He’s right, you know.” ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/102 "2015-03-07T17:34:06Z")
I was on a shuttle bus at the Montreal Airport once and a really ignorant-looking, rednecky guy boarded. I involuntarily cringed, wondered what had brought him to Montreal, and waited for him to start acting like a stereotypically “ugly American.” But when he opened his mouth out came a stream of Quebecois French! I almost laughed out loud - I didn’t know there were rednecks like that in Quebec. The general modernity and North American-ness of Montreal surprised me a bit. The French language is in my mind so inextricably linked to the Old World that it was weird to be looking at American-style skyscrapers and know that they were full of busy little francophone worker bees. I don’t mean this in a condescending way, but it actually struck me as kind of poignant: it was like looking at an alternate history of North America, if the French had predominated on the continent instead of the English. Now the empire that had once ruled everything from Quebec on down to Louisiana was reduced to more or less one province with only two major cities, and English pushing in on all sides. It made me sympathetic to the francophone cause. Toronto I found to be kind of blah, which surprised me because it has such a good reputation. I did a day of sightseeing (CN Tower, art museum, etc.) then was running low on ideas and asked the guy at my hotel for suggestions. “Hmm,” he said, thinking. “Oh - there’s the shoe museum. It’s shaped like a shoe…” His voice trailed off and he shrugged. That kind of summed up my Toronto experience. > [@protoboard](#): > > The BC border guards are total dicks. I’ve actually had two vacations ruined by them because they didn’t allow me into Canada. They had no reason to reject me aside from their own whim; their excuse was I didn’t have enough money, even though I had more than I needed. I had $200 for a very brief 2 day trip, and my roommate I was traveling with had way more money than I did. One of the border cops even put his hand on his gun when my roommate hesitated to hand over his iphone! And they ruined a nice backpack of his when they were searching his stuff. You have no rights when you’re crossing into Canada; they could get away with murder probably. > > The first time I got turned away from Canada I actually had to walk all the way to Bellingham in order to catch a train home. They stranded me in Blaine, Washington just over the border even though I had no means of getting home, and had a return bus ticket back from Vancouver. > > I’ve never had an issue crossing back into the States, and the border guards in Ontario are much nicer, probably because they have a lot more traffic to deal with. They don’t have time to pick on young travelers. B > > But yeah seriously, crossing into Canada these days feels like going over Checkpoint Charlie sometimes. The border guards in Quebec were just as bad. I’ve crossed a lot of borders, but never have I been so aggressively questioned as when I took an Amtrak from New York to Montreal. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/103 "2015-03-07T17:36:02Z")
[QUOTE=Lord Feldon] (The concept of stores _having_ to close for a whole list of holidays, whether they want to or not, is alien enough. I’m used to shopping being open 363 days a year (or even 364 now that Black Friday is becoming Black Thursday Evening). [/QUOTE] Stores don’t have to close on retail holidays. The purpose of retail holidays is that if a store wants to be open on a holiday, they have to pay a higher rate to their employees for working on a holiday, typically time and a half, or give them a day off during normal working hours. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/104 "2015-03-07T17:42:16Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > **Non-Canadians who have visited Canada - what surprised you about the country?** > > Flashing green traffic lights. Why? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/105 "2015-03-07T17:43:09Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Why? Green Lights for traffic don’t blink in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/106 "2015-03-07T17:47:42Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Stores don’t have to close on retail holidays. The purpose of retail holidays is that if a store wants to be open on a holiday, they have to pay a higher rate to their employees for working on a holiday, typically time and a half, or give them a day off during normal working hours. Well, as usual, it varies by province. Ontario has the R[etail Business Holidays Act](http://www.sse.gov.on.ca/mcs/en/pages/business_retail_holidays.aspx), which mandates closure on: > [@](#): > > New Year’s Day (Jan. 1) > Family Day (the third Monday of February) > Good Friday (the Friday before Easter Sunday – typically in March or April) > Easter Sunday (typically in March or April) > Victoria Day (the last Monday before or on May 24) > Canada Day (July 1) > Labour Day (first Monday in Sept) > Thanksgiving Day (the second Monday in October) > Christmas Day (Dec. 25) > [@](#): > > Minimum fines for opening businesses on prohibited days of retail operation are $500 for the first offence, $2,000 for a second offence and $5,000 for a third or subsequent offence. I recall a store here being fined for remaining open on Family day (which, as a Federal employee, I don’t get off). ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/107 "2015-03-07T17:50:04Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > **Non-Canadians who have visited Canada - what surprised you about the country?** > > Flashing green traffic lights. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Why? > [@What\_Exit](#): > > Green Lights for traffic don’t blink in the USA. It’s an advanced green light. Nowadays most have been replaced with a green left turn arrow, but originally a flashing green served the same purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/108 "2015-03-07T17:54:16Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > It’s an advanced green light. Nowadays most have been replaced with a green left turn arrow, but originally a flashing green served the same purpose. Thanks. I never had any idea why it was flashing. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/109 "2015-03-07T18:35:30Z")
we have green arrows, but they flash too. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/110 "2015-03-07T19:38:34Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > It’s an advanced green light. Nowadays most have been replaced with a green left turn arrow, but originally a flashing green served the same purpose. IIRC, that’s only in Ontario. In BC they use them like a flashing yellow, so for things like traffic signals that turn into 2-way stops at certain hours or pedestrian-triggered crosswalk signals. And of course both of those are completely different from what a flashing green means in Mexico or Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/111 "2015-03-07T19:41:20Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > In BC they use them like a flashing yellow, so for things like traffic signals that turn into 2-way stops at certain hours or pedestrian-triggered crosswalk signals. I assumed without any evidence that the green lights were steady, then started flashing before changing to yellow. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/112 "2015-03-07T19:55:54Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > IIRC, that’s only in Ontario. In BC they use them like a flashing yellow, so for things like traffic signals that turn into 2-way stops at certain hours or pedestrian-triggered crosswalk signals. And of course both of those are completely different from what a flashing green means in Mexico or Europe. Holy shit! You’re right. I had no idea, and I’ve driven in Vancouver. I would have just plowed on through the intersection if I’d seen a flashing green. And it’s a bloody good thing I didn’t see one! That’s bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/113 "2015-03-07T21:46:32Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > Gay marriage was made legal in all of Canada back in 2005. This trip was a bit earlier than that, after it was legal in most of Canada but while there was still some dithering and foot-dragging out west. Civil unions were a thing in much of the US (but gay marriage wasn’t) and many businesses had decided to treat gray and straight couples equally at the corporate level, but this knowledge usually hadn’t filtered down to the local outlets. We’d gotten used to having to explain corporate policy to (usually) friendly but confused clerks, CSRs, etc. at home. It was a shock to pick up our rental car in Toronto, start to explain “Our employer’s agreement with (rental company) says that same-sex couples are also eligible for the couples discount and and cwSpouse should automatically be added as an authorized driver…” only to be informed that yeah, all couples are handled the same way here. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/114 "2015-03-07T23:00:08Z")
- There wasn’t anything particularly special or distinctive about Tim Hortons - Canadian macro brewed beer was far more similar to American macro-brewed swill than the reputation seemed to indicate. - Being on a major limited access highway with no shoulder. - McPizza - They were friendly/polite but not much different than people at home. - The Quebecois weren’t all that rude about about my mono-lingualism. Aside from McPizza and the road shoulders, the shock was mostly that it was more similar to home in the US than the reputation made it sound like. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/115 "2015-03-07T23:52:30Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Easter itself isn’t a holiday in any state, I assume because if you’re the type of government worker who gets every holiday off, you’re probably not working Sundays anyways. I found that a handful of states have Good Friday as a holiday, which I admit surprises me a little. I’ve just never experienced Good Friday as a secular thing at all. > > (The concept of stores _having_ to close for a whole list of holidays, whether they want to or not, is alien enough. I’m used to shopping being open 363 days a year (or even 364 now that Black Friday is becoming Black Thursday Evening). Good Friday being on that list is even weirder. At least in my experience, it’s a _totally_ religious holiday in my part of the US, marked only in those churches that observe the liturgical calendar. I wouldn’t notice its passing any more than Epiphany or Christ The King or Ash Wednesday.) Some workers (federal government and at least some provincial/municipal government) also get Easter Monday, Remembrance Day, and Boxing Day (Dec 26th) as holidays. I was at the library today and there was a notice it would be closed on Good Friday, Easter, and Easter Monday. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/116 "2015-03-08T00:01:05Z")
> [@Bookkeeper](#): > > Some workers (federal government and at least some provincial/municipal government) also get Easter Monday, Remembrance Day, and Boxing Day (Dec 26th) as holidays. I was at the library today and there was a notice it would be closed on Good Friday, Easter, and Easter Monday. My crown corporation does not get Easter Monday, nor Remembrance day. Just for clarity. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/117 "2015-03-08T00:18:39Z")
But you’re in Ontario, where November 11 isn’t a holiday. It is a holiday in most if the country and I think federal offices are closed in the other provinces on those days? ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/118 "2015-03-08T00:38:49Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#): > > I didn’t have any trouble with Canadian border guards, but the American guards got kind of suspicious when we told them we hadn’t bought anything in Canada (we were just up to Victoria on a day trip from Seattle). He disbelievingly said “You didn’t buy **anything**?” The wife and I looked around the car and finally found two post cards. That seemed to settle his nerves. > The main difference I noticed in Victoria is that we had gone up on a Sunday, and lots of shops and restaurants were closed. That’s un-American, I say! I meant **Vancouver** , not Victoria. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/119 "2015-03-08T00:58:31Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > Another Huh?? Maybe it’s the stores I shop at, but I’ve never run into a problem of stores not having bags. They **might** charge you 5 cents depending on the store, but I’ve never had a problem of availability. We were mostly from the Buffalo border through Wonderland and Marine Land and over around Toronto. This was this past summer and the one before. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364/120 "2015-03-08T02:09:12Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > But you’re in Ontario, where November 11 isn’t a holiday. It is a holiday in most if the country and I think federal offices are closed in the other provinces on those days? It’s a holiday for all federal public employees in Ontario…except me. (Well, except my [crown corporation](http://www.aecl.ca/en/home/default.aspx) which will be privatized by October, and then who knows?) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-canadians-who-have-visited-canada-what-surprised-you-about-the-country/714364.md?page=7)