Canadian-US Differences & Relations

RACooper · #1 09-06-2006, 04:28 PM

I know in the past I had a thread covering information about Canada… mainly to try and educate people about my country

or at least to provide a forum to promote a better understanding of the differences between Canada and the United States of America (yes they do exist).

Anyways I decided to do some surfing through wikipedia looking for relevant articles covering differences in politics, attitudes, laws, and policies… mainly again to provide a source of education – and yes I know that wikipedia isn’t exactly an academic source, but it is great for an introduction to the pertinent issues. Now from my perspective I did gain some insights into the differences from an American point of view: specifically dealing with political structure and constitutional issues…

Canada and the 2004 United States presidential election:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_...ntial_election

Religion in Canada:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Canada

Canadian Parliament:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Parliament

Political Culture of Canada:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politic...ture_of_Canada

US-Canada Relations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US-Canada_relations

Canada and the Iraq War:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_and_the_Iraq_War

US-Canada Politics Compared:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US-Cana...itics_compared

RACooper · #2 09-06-2006, 05:48 PM

Just thought I'd update with one major difference right now...

Currently I'm watching the live coverage on CBC (you know that evil "liberal", "socialist", or even "communist" government agency according to FOXNews) of the repatriation ceremony of the latest Canadian casualities in Afghanistan.

So, since the family okayed it, the entire nation can watch the coffins being unloaded from the aircraft to be recieved by an Honour Guard from the dead soldier's regiment, accompanied by bagpipes and the padre - to see the regiment and the families pay their first respects to the deceased, and to see the sorrow expressed at the loss.

The new Conservative government tried to ban any coverage of these events, and tried to have the coffins come home at night without a "production", ala the current US policy. The public, media, family, veteran's, and military outrage at the decision forced an over turning of this policy... and led to a serious loss of respect for the Minister of Defense (a retired General) - so much so that soldiers refused to salute him, or some even turned their backs on him on parade in Afghanistan... a very serious sign of disrespect from the military (for those who are familiar with Canadian or British military culture). I know that the government was worried that the grief could errode the support for the Afghanistan mission.... and I do know that some of the more hard-line conservatives felt the open displays of grief by some soldiers wasn't "respectful" - but to be honest f*ck Harper and O'Connor's views on this - I for one have no problem watching a soldier weep for a fallen comrade; and in many cases watch a soldier weep for a family member or spouse... as has been the case recently.

PS> I am touched by the class and respect shown by the US Air Force, who sent a senior officer as a representative to today's repatriation ceremony, to express their condoloences and regret for the friendly-fire incident that claimed one life. It takes a brave man and a gentleman to be their to express sorrow and regret to soldiers, the regiment, and the family...

CutiePie2000 · #3 09-08-2006, 12:30 AM

These are the differences between Canada and USA:

neighbour / neighbor
colour / color
cheques / checks
Girl Guides / Girl Scouts
Girl Guide cookies: Canada has 2 kinds- the gross Chocolate Mint Kind in November, and the "one row chocolate, one row vanilla kind" in April
Girl Scout cookies: apparently the American Girl Scout cookie..there is "multiple" kinds that you can buy? I've never eaten an American Girl Scout cookie. SOMEONE SEND ME SOME, LOL!!

Canadians go to university, Americans go to "college".
In Canada, you are in Grade 4, in USA you are in the 4th grade.

Canada: you can pay with USD$ and no one bats an eyelash
USA: Canadian money will be looked at with suspicion, as though it was monopoly money, due to it being of different colours. (some places close to "the line" on the US side might accept Canadian money, but those are few and far between).

"Thank you"
Canada - "You're welcome"
USA - "Uh huh" (as observed by me in Seattle)

And USA has way wider a range of repertoire of candy bars selection (chocolate bars in Canada)

And in Canada, we say "pop" and in the USA, depending where you live (i.e. region), it's "soda / pop / Coke" (see other old GC threads...this soft drink topic has been covered before, at least once).

Canada: runners
USA: sneakers

Retail in Canada is in, general, pretty crappy compared to the American cousins.
USA has Victoria's Secret shops, we have to deal with crappy a$$ La Senza and La Vie en Rose.
USA has "Bed, Bath and Beyond", we have crappy "Linens and Things".

If I think of anything else, I'll come back.

KillarneyRose · #4 09-08-2006, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CutiePie2000

Girl Scout cookies: apparently the American Girl Scout cookie..there is "multiple" kinds that you can buy? I've never eaten an American Girl Scout cookie. SOMEONE SEND ME SOME, LOL!!

CP2K, when Girl Scout cookie time rolls around, I promise I will do my part to bolster US/Canada relations and buy a couple of boxes to send to you! Do you like peanut butter? They make peanut butter cookies called Tagalongs which are a cookie spread with peanut butter and dipped in chocolate. I keep them in the refrigerator. Yummmm! But, yeah, I'll e mail when it's cookie time!

********************

On an unrelated subject, though, I think many Canadians may have gotten pissed off about Wayne Gretzky up and marrying an American and leaving Edmonton for LA. I don't think relations have been the same since.

CutiePie2000 · #5 09-08-2006, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KillarneyRose

Do you like peanut butter? They make peanut butter cookies called Tagalongs which are a cookie spread with peanut butter and dipped in chocolate.

ME LOVE PEANUT BUTTER!

I would love to help bolster Canada-US relations and would be pleased to receive American Girl Scout cookies!
And I would send you some Canadian Girl Guide cookies. And actually, the chocolate mint kind is not really 'gross' but people either love 'em or they hate 'em. There is no grey area.
And some people are not big on the mint.

And you can have fun reading the French side of the box label!

Oui, oui, bonjour!

Taualumna · #6 09-08-2006, 01:27 PM

Another diff I've noticed:

In the US: Elementary School to refer to the lower grades

Canada: Seems to be a split between elementary and "public" school (official gov't term is elementary and secondary)...being from the separate system (govt funded Catholic schools), I prefer "elementary"

US: THE Prom

Canada: Prom (no "the")/Formal/Grad (didn't know this term was used until I was in university. Maybe it's regional?)

AlphaSigOU · #7 09-09-2006, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CutiePie2000

These are the differences between Canada and USA:

neighbour / neighbor
colour / color
cheques / checks
Girl Guides / Girl Scouts

And don't forget...

Royal Canadian Air Cadets / Civil Air Patrol Cadets (Had a few of 'em (plus some from Austrailia and Sweden) for the International Air Cadet Exchange this summer.)

CutiePie2000 · #8 09-09-2006, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlphaSigOU

And don't forget...

Royal Canadian Air Cadets

We also have the Royal Canadian Air Farce, which is a comedian show/troupe.

Oh, and we have the Snowbirds, you guys have the California Blue Angels.

We have the loonie ($1 coin that have a loon on it), you guys have the $1 coin with Sacajawea on it, that hardly any Americans like to use (as told to me by my friend who is a Princess Cruises ship-board employee.

and we have a $2 coin (the two-nee or toonie) with a polar bear on it. Apparently there is such a thing as a $2 bill in the USA, but they are few and far between.

And then there is lieutenant: is it LOO-tenant or LEF-tant? I think the LEF-tenant is the Canadian pronunciation, but to me, that's just dumb. There is no "F" in lieutenant.

RACooper · #9 09-09-2006, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CutiePie2000

And then there is lieutenant: is it LOO-tenant or LEF-tant? I think the LEF-tenant is the Canadian pronunciation, but to me, that's just dumb. There is no "F" in lieutenant.

As far as I know the entire English-speaking world pronounces with the 'F' sound in it.... except of course for the Americans and I think the Australian Navy or Airfore (can't remember which). It's werid yes, but tradition...