What are some regional Canadian cultural differences?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve just been watching the second season of Slings and Arrows, in which a running gag is that a secondary character is from (I think) Manitoba? Which really had no cultural resonance for me. What are the regional stereotypes among Canadians? When a Vancouverite and an Ottowan get together, what do they snark on one another for? And does everybody take the mick out of the Quebecois, or the Nunavummiut? Is there an analogy to the American Midwest, which both coasts look down on?

Don’t tell me they’re all too nice and polite for that sort of thing. :slight_smile:

2

“Newfie” jokes. In the same say you will hear an American trying to sound like a “dumb-yokel” and fake a southern or Arkansas accent, to sound like a Canadian simpleton one will often fake an east coast accent.

3

As an Albertan, I can tell you that we’re sometimes thought of as rich rednecks with more oil than brains.

4

Oh, and not a snark, just an observation with respect to minor cultural differences. When a cashier gives me change, most of the time, in Ontario, they hand it to me (sometimes he/she will set it on the counter if I seem to be fumbling with my wallet). I used to notice on business trips to Quebec that, nine times out of ten, the cashier will set the money and coins on the counter and slide it toward me.

Once in awhile, I had the cashier cock and eyebrow quizzically as I’m standing there with my hand open to accept my change.

I have noticed teh practice on the decling though. It was prevalent enough ten to fifteen years ago that my colleagues and I joked about it.

5

In my little journeys across the country, I’ve heard rumour about the following:

People in BC talk too fast.
People from the prairies talk too slowly.
Everyone in BC smokes pot and none of them know what hot/cold weather really means.
Everyone in Québec swears. A lot. In French.
Everyone from Newfoundland/Alberta can really hold their liquor.
British Columbians/Albertans/People from Toronto are practically American.
Toronto is the centre of the universe.
Everyone from the maritimes is a failing fisherman just two steps away from moving to Northern Alberta.
There’s nothing in Saskatchewan but wheat farmers.

I’ve noticed that there is a dialect difference between martimers, French Canadians, prairie folks and British Columbians. Nova Scotia is pretty famous for hanging on to shops being closed on Sundays.

6

Please allow me to address a few of your points, Rabbit.
People in BC talk too fast. - I think they sound like surfers, myself.

People from the prairies talk too slowly. - I’ve never heard that. Actually, my Calgarian husband says my accent is that I enunciate too clearly. He’s just weird, though.

Everyone in BC smokes pot and none of them know what hot/cold weather really means. Well, yeah.

Everyone in Québec swears. A lot. In French. Tabernacle, that’s right, eh? Don’t forget the constant smoking, and the girls being ultra fashion-conscious.

Everyone from Newfoundland/Alberta can really hold their liquor. - And people from Saskatchewan. There’s not a lot else to do there.

British Columbians/Albertans/People from Toronto are practically American. -
BC people are like Californians. Albertans are just plain Capitalists (but a lot like Texans, apparently). Torontonians want to be New Yorkers.

Everyone from the maritimes is a failing fisherman just two steps away from moving to Northern Alberta. - You know, the pay is awful good up there.

There’s nothing in Saskatchewan but wheat farmers. - Well, now that we’ve all moved to Alberta, sure.

My perception of regional cultural differences:
Maritimes - very funny, good-natured people. Don’t mix up which province they’re from, though. They talk funny.

Quebec - Seem to barely tolerate the rest of us, without knowing much about us.

Ontario - A little arrogant. The closer to Toronto you get, the greater the degree of arrogance. We can always tell when someone is newly moved here from Toronto. Once you get to Northern Ontario, virtually indistinguishable from Prairie folk, except Ontarians say, “Youse.”

Manitoba - Cold-ish for Prairie people. I don’t know why this is. Probably because they’re so close to Toronto. :smiley:

Saskatchewan - Very down-to-earth people. Can be a little …unsophisticated. Aren’t too fond of the jokes about how stupid and backwards Saskatchewanians are, but they’d never tell you. Not that I’m prejudiced at all.

Alberta - Redneck Capitalists through and through. Good people, mostly, in spite of it. Actually, most people I meet in Calgary are from other places.

BC - Much more “organic” than any other area of Canada. Bunch of web-footed tree-huggers.

Northerners - Our forgotten folk. I suspect them of all being slightly crazy, 'cause it’s damned cold up there.

7

Toronto is the center of the universe. You lot are just haters.

(I kid, I kid…)

8

What do you mean, sometimes? :smiley:

9

The feeling is mutual. :stuck_out_tongue:

10

Nice setup for the following questions (which may obliquely address the OP’s question):

Q: How many Torontonians does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Just one. He or she holds the new bulb in place, and the universe revolves around him or her.

Here’s another:

Q: How many Torontonians does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Two. One to do the actual changing, the other to use a Blackberry to e-mail New York for instructions as to how.

Me too, me too. :wink:

11

One Canadian history book I read compared Alberta to Texas. As a Texan, I could see some similarities–even from a distance.

Except for the weather.

12

I’m originally from Southern Ontario but a friend of mine born and bred just south of Houston was sent to Calgary for work for a 9-month project and confirmed this. Except for the weather he found it to be quite similar to Texas.

13

There are a lot of people working in Calgary from Texas at the oil and gas companies, and a surprising amount of them end up staying in Calgary. Once they get used to what we call “iced tea” here, of course. :smiley:

14

Probably the most common, and not mentioned yet?

People on the West Coast are “laid back” to the point of laziness and general apathy, while East Coast folks are driven to the point of obsession, overly anal, and constitutionally unable to relax.

(My cohabitant and I appear to bear this generalization out, in microcosm. :o)

15

East coast folks? Nah, they’re all good natured and sweet country folk. Maybe those Ontarians. They’re pretty suspect.

I always found it strange that people from the prairies were considered sort of slow moving and backward. In my head, everyone from Alberta is practically Texan (which, I guess, includes me); everyone from Saskatchewan must be a research scientist (or a wheat farmer); everyone from Manitoba carries a gun (the Winnipeggers for shooting eachother, the Churchill folk for shooting polar bears).

16

“People in BC talk too fast.”

Never heard this one. They do like to brag about the weed and weather, wear ten layers of clothing when exposed to real snow, complain about all the retired folks in Victoria.

“People from the prairies talk too slowly.”
Not heard this one either.

“Everyone in BC smokes pot and none of them know what hot/cold weather really means.”

Yes.

“Everyone in Québec swears. A lot. In French.”

They all smoke too. Tabernouche!

“Everyone from Newfoundland/Alberta can really hold their liquor.”

The Newfies can. And Alberta is mainly Newfies anyway.

“British Columbians/Albertans/People from Toronto are practically American.”

Whatever that means. Canadian culture is defining what you are not.

“Toronto is the centre of the universe.”

Sigh. They think so. So do people from Vancouver, though.

“Everyone from the maritimes is a failing fisherman just two steps away from moving to Northern Alberta.”

Going on the pogey is hardly a sign of failure. (It’s the name of a Canadian celtic band too. Guess where they’re from?)

“There’s nothing in Saskatchewan but wheat farmers.”

There’s also silos. Any W.O. Mitchell.

17

Speaking as a native Californian who was in Canada a few years ago, BC seemed more like the Bay Area or LA, whereas Alberta seemed more like the Central Valley (Fresno, Bakersfield, Modesto - cities all based on agriculture and related industries). People up there were certainly friendlier on average.

18

Not sure what you mean by East, but as a Maritimer, driven and anal aren’t words I would think would apply to us as a group. Most of the people I know are relaxed to the point of barely being conscious :slight_smile: Can’t say I’ve ever known a fisherman - most of the people I know work in call centres or offices. There is a substantial migration to Alberta of Maritimers in search of some extra money, but sooner or later, they all come home. There’s a giant magnet here, you see.

Oh, and you can say I’m from PEI or NS if you want, although I’m from NB. I’ve read that we’re a happy bunch but I don’t really see that we have a distinct flavour as a province.

19

This may be the most important part of Canadian culture.

Canadians, remember Joe’s Rant? This was an ad for Molson’s beer back a few years ago, featuring Joe Average Canadian ranting about being Canadian. But how much of what Joe said dealt with what he wasn’t, not necessarily what he was? Indeed, Snopes has this to say on the topic:

We may have regional variations, but it would seem to me that defining yourself by what you are not may be the overriding consideration: I am not a Torontonian, I am not a wheat farmer, I am not from Newfoundland, etc. etc. etc.

20

I believe that the ‘region’ to which Larry Mudd refers is the four walls around him and his SO.