Why don't Americans care about Canada?

Great Debates
1

Today in the news I saw that the Prime Ministers of both Japan and Russia resigned suddenly. This prompted a discussion with a friend about how confusing the political titles in other countries are, and from there a general discussion on our relative ignorance of other countries governments. I do consider myself fairly well informed on these things, certainly more so then other Americans. I usually know the name of the “leader” of most other large countries (even if I’m not totally clear on whether they are a President, or a Prime Minister, or whatever), and I think that’s not too bad. But one place I have a HUGE hole in my knowledge is Canada.

Canada is right there. They are our neighbor, not just geographically, but also socially and economically (by this I mean, they are “like us”, unlike Mexico, which has a very different culture, racial make-up, etc.). And, at the risk of being made fun of, I’m going to admit I know nothing about the country. I have a passing familiarity with the names and locations of the provinces; I know there are a lot of French people in Quebec, and there are two official languages. That’s it.

Hell, I’ve been there, and toured the capital buildings. But I don’t know the Prime Minister’s name (well, I do now, I just looked it up); I never do. I don’t know when they have elections, or who’s running, or what party they belong to, or what parties they even have, and what they stand for. I don’t know anything!

Now, I take full responsibility for my ignorance, and I have resolved from here on out to be more knowledgeable about our dear neighbors to the north. But what I wanted to debate is, why is there so little information about this in the mainstream news? Certainly I can seek these things out, but I never sought out the name of Russia’s president; it’s just in the news all the time. Why does the American public, and by consequence the American media, care so little about Canada?

2

Dupe

3

Maybe because whichever government they have, it doesn’t change relations much in a day-to-day basis? It’s not like they’ve elected a Hugo Chavez lately.

Of course, there’s plenty of people down here, mostly in New England or the border, who do keep up. I myself have relatives in the Maritimes who commute back and forth on a regular basis, but they don’t talk much about politics except to complain about the idiots down in Halifax sometimes.

4

The two countries are so deeply entwined with trade, culture, people and history that we’re at a stable equilibrium. Now American domestic issues tend too (by their scale) impact us so we’ll know about the PNW timber lobby or American interest rates driving the Canadian dollar up or down. The reverse isn’t true, at least not outside American states bordering Canada.

5

I ought not to get into this. I like Canada a lot. I can sing 'Oh, Canada!" I know about Meech Lake and Mackenzie King. Canada is neat. I like Canadians too. Hell, I am watching Corner Gas as I type this. Want to talk about Canada in WWII? I’m your guy.

That being said, Canada is super-small compared to the US. 300 million Americans, 33 million Canadians. Heck, New York State has 18 million. Canada is simply not that important compared next to the US.

OK, so pile on.

6

Canada is a lot like the USA-it runs on english 9except for Quebec0, and seems to have everything we have. It is a major trading partner, so the economies are entertwined. Its like a kid brother-you know him very well, but don’t get involved in most things

7

Oh. My. God.

YOU’RE RIGHT!!!

The problem with Canada is it’s kinda dull and non-threatening. If they really want to attract obsessive interest in the U.S., they’ll need to install a crazy PM and start threatening to take back the Northwest Territory, demand equality in NHL franchises or somesuch.

I like Canada myself, except for their exporting Rush and all its dull, prissy, pseudo-intellectual music.

8

Sorry to bring this up in this thread, but I lurked for awhile before signing up. And I’ve been on this board for some time. And ever since the beginning, I’ve noticed you’ve always had aborted parentheses, and I’ve always been wondering…is your caps lock dead? Is it sticky? Did you drop your keyboard in a bathtub? If so, why would you continue attempting to use parentheses? You could use brackets [like this] or just find a different way to structure your sentences.

9

I love Canada; I’ve been there quite a few times. One of my fondest childhood memories is a CN train trip we took across Canada; I still remember the moose I saw in a picture-perfect wilderness lake. Canada is one of our most stalwart allies, a stable democracy with well-educated, polite and friendly people. It’s a clean, progressive, beautiful country.

But Grey and Mehitabel have it right. Most Americans don’t have to know what’s going on in Canada, and thus would prefer to focus on important things like if Brangelina are going to adopt again and Britney Spears’s tummy. :rolleyes:

10

Like Father Guido Sarducci once said

11

Well, I lived and worked in Canada for years (I worked for CNG out of Ottawa). Its a great place. Its got great people. So I sort of follow Canadian politics and could probably name at least some of the more important people and parties, as well as have at least a passing familiarity with some of the issues.

But, as others have said, Canada just isn’t on the radar for most American’s, at least wrt their politics, policies, issues or political figures. Hell, some of that wasn’t even on the radar of some CANADIAN’S I knew when I lived there! Same goes with some American’s I could name not knowing even their local politicians, or understanding the issues of people in other states…or even some federal issues.

I think American’s DO care about Canada…I’d say if you were too poll people Canada woud rank up there at the top of American’s favorite foreign country. We have a lot of ties to Canada. Its just that most people (and I don’t even mean most American’s) can’t be bothered to keep up with their LOCAL politics…let alone follow along with someone else’s. It just doesn’t effect them so they aren’t going to generally expend the effort needed to keep up just for intellectual curiosity. The Next American Garbage Man™ reality show is on after all…

-XT

12

Okay, but I think a lot of people (at least most of us super smart Dopers) can name the leaders of other countries. Even small non-threatening ones.

Let’s take Britain as an example. Almost everything we are saying about Canada can be mostly applied there, but the media coverage and general knowledge amongst the public, I think, is much greater.

With respect to the media, its almost as if Canada isn’t even there.

13

But Canada doesn’t have a royal family.

Look, Canada is defined more or less by what it isn’t: The U. S. of A. Which is another way of sayign they’re mildly seperated but aren’t different enough to worry about. So we don’t.

14

I won’t pile on; I tend to take the same position. This kind of discussion comes up fairly often here, with people being angry that Americans don’t pay attention to / know things about Canada. In these situations I like to ask people about Greenland. If someone is mad that Americans don’t know the capital of Canada, it’s fun to ask them to name the capital of Greenland.

15

Meh, Harper sucks, it’s best you don’t talk about him much anyway. Ignore him and he’ll go away, maybe?

I’ve noticed that too - a total lack of Canada on the news down here. But, well, nothing really happens in Canada. Sure, we get involved in those big G8 summits and stuff, and we’ve got troops in Afghanistan. But otherwise, it’s not like we’re doing anything politically or militarily that will affect the US very much. Economically, maybe, but on the average news program, you’re not going to hear about the meetings held to decide on softwood lumber tariffs or what have you, because the average person doesn’t give a damn. News these days is about drama and tragedy and things that will change your world forever[sup]TM[/sup] (film at 11). So we’re not mentioned, until maybe a national disaster touches us, or Jim Carrey dies and the news mentions he was born in Canada.

Then again, I’ve only lived here six months, so I haven’t had a long time in which to judge Canada’s presence in American news. But I’ll keep watching.

16

Nukk (or Nook maybe) isn’t it? Something like that. :slight_smile:

-XT

17

Meh. It’s like asking ‘Why don’t Americans care about Wyoming?’ We do, I mean, it’s family and everything, it’s just, you know, over there a bit. As a New Yorker, I care more than most New Mexicans, I suspect, but, hey.

18

They do, but it’s the same one. So Canada loses again.

19

Naw…I don’t really care about Wyoming either. While I LOVE New York (best pizza in the world IMHO. Some other stuff there too I think).

-XT

20

I apologize for RUSH. I honestly do. Sorry 'bout that.

I think the reasons why Canada is off the radar for the average American are that it has a small, fairly sedate population and nothing really interesting happens here. I mean, Americans don’t sit around and talk about Nebraska, either…