The two countries are neighbours. One of them has nukes.
Anyway, I’m pretty sure it depends on what you talk about. Canadians and Americans seem to dress much the same way and watch the same movies and play the same games. But from what I’ve seen they have very different opinions on a lot of political issues. Culturally alike, politically different.
Originally posted by Evangelion
Aww bunnikins…garbled, didn’t hear… I was too enraged
Don’t ever… ever… call me that again.
Originally posted by Dark Sand
Religion:
Canada: Depends, in western Canada religion is still quite strong, but in eastern Canada, in particular Quebec, religion is almost dead (well not quite but it’s seen better days)
Uhhm, come to Newfoundland for awhile, Darky. The strength of religion takes a huge spike when you go east from Quebec. Canada doesn’t end when you hit Quebec’s border you know 
Originally posted by Cybercompost
Don’t ever… ever… call me that again.
And you wonder why Im jealous of her CC 
Originally posted by Evangelion
And you wonder why Im jealous of her CC
Umm… who? o_O
There are very few people, if any, that could get away with saying that word. =p
Yeah Cid put it very well. Culturally, the differences between the US and Canada could be compared to the differences between the West and East coast. Then again, I live in California which may not give me an accurate impression of the US as a whole since nobody really knows what’s going on with CA.
Originally posted by SpoonyBard
Uhhm, come to Newfoundland for awhile, Darky. The strength of religion takes a huge spike when you go east from Quebec. Canada doesn’t end when you hit Quebec’s border you know
Yeah but all intelligent life does.
And the reason we’re culturally the same is because Canadians don’t like making their own TV stations, so we mooch 90% of them from the U.S. That’s it.
And as for Canada and the US being “close,” I probably would’ve been banned from the chat last night had CH not muted the channel before I could flame Magus for calling Canada part of “America.” He tried to get all smartass on me and say “Dur Canada is in North America so it’s part of America Hyuk I retardghred” even though America refers to the United States and nothing else.
Yeah, Magus is part of the reason I don’t visit the chat as often anymore.
Actually. I take offense that you say america refers to the states and nothing else.
Originally posted by yoshmeister
Yeah, Magus is part of the reason I don’t visit the chat as often anymore.
That’s pretty stupid, seeing as he gets banned left and right.
Originally posted by Videospirit
Actually. I take offense that you say america refers to the states and nothing else.
I don’t see how you could take offense to that, and it does refer to the States solely.
Originally posted by Dark Sand
It’s often mentioned that from a cultural and ideological stand point Canada and the US are very similar, we’re neighbors and we share the largest undefended border in the world, but are we really that close? This year is an election year both in Canada and in the US so this is the perfect chance to see just how close, or far apart we really are. Lets look at what we have in common and what we don’t.
[section cut]
I’m a little taken aback by the way you talk about Americans. Are we that crude and brutish? The way you contrast us with Canadians is rather misleading. Let me revise some of the comparisons you’ve drawn:
Language:
Canada: English/French
U.S.: English<s>/Spanish</s>
Spanish isn’t spoken the same way in America as French is in Canada. Spanish native speakers generally have to learn English for their work and speak it exclusively there. There may be schools that teach in Spanish, but I’m fairly sure they all require students to learn English. There’s no significant portion of the States where Spanish is considered the primary language.
Current Political Ideology:
Canada: Liberal, center
U.S.: <s>Republican, right</s> Split, slightly more Republican.
If current political ideology refers to the opinions of the whole nation, the U.S. is fairly well split between variously conservative Republicans and liberal or centrist Democrats. I’m judging by the last presidential election. It’s true that Congress is more Republican than Democratic, but neither group is near a majority. Effectively, Congress tends to be centrist.
Military:
Canada: Very small, almost entirely made up of peacekeepers.
U.S.: Very, very predominant. (I can name 3 Americans on these boards in the military and not a single Canadian, and based on the ratio of visitors there should be some)
I’ve left your description since it’s more or less true, but I don’t think military strength is always directly related to culture or ideology. I suppose it’s safe to say that Canadians are generally more pacifistic than Americans. However, the opposition is not between pacifistic Canadians and warmongering Americans; rather, between the pacifistic majority in Canada and a closer split between hawks and doves in America.
Foreign Policy:
Canada: Diplomatic, won’t intervene directly, but will offer assistance.
U.S.: Very hands on. You can’t handle it; we’ll do it for you.
True. However I’m not sure if this is ideologically representative of Americans versus Canadians. For example, if an average American were given control of Canada’s government, would he still be an interventionist? That is, is it something about Americans’ ideology, or something about the U.S. government, that influences the U.S. government to frequently intervene in things? E.g., if the Canadian government were more powerful, would it be as non-interventionist?
The other guy’s leader:
Canada: Hope you lose (according to a McLain’s survey)
U.S.: <s>Who?</s> Hope you lose.
This is the attitude I usually perceive, both on a liberal college campus and in a conservative hometown. Democrats usually dislike Bush, and Republicans usually dislike whatever Democrat is currently standing out most. Perhaps the underlying reason for your “who?” is that, until recently, there was no Democrat who represented the Democratic party. I’m sure now that “the other guy” for Republicans has a leader, John Kerry, the “who?” question will gradually stop appearing.
Iraq:
Canada: Refused to Act
U.S.: <s>Seems to have wanted to invade for no good reason. If they wanted to get rid of Saddam they should have just said so, this bull about WMD is total crap.</s> Acted.
The opposition you draw is deceiving. There were Canadians who supported the war, just as there were Americans who did not. The people who wanted to invade Iraq had “good” reasons: for one, to depose Saddam Hussein. Whether that and other purposes justified a war is questionable. I’m not sure whether the war was justified, though admittedly I supported it at the time. The point is that your opposition between Canadians who “refused to act” and Americans who did so “for no good reason” misrepresents many Canadians and Americans and simplifies, based on your own beliefs, the complex issue of what justifies a war.
Gay Marriage:
Canada: Its about 50/50 overall, but depends on which part of the country you ask.
U.S.: <s>Constitutional amendment to ban it, isn’t that against the charter of human rights?</s> It’s about 46/51 for gay marriage to be allowed, based on an ABC News poll.
An opposition between percentage of supporters and a proposed amendment? Please.
U.N.:
Canada: Pays their dues every year, and those doors we gave them are really nice.
U.S.: Pays just enough not to get kicked out, whines every time it looks like international laws which apply to everyone apply to Americans. (?)
I’m not familiar enough with the issue to correct this, but I’d been under the impression that America contributes heavily to the U.N. in various ways.
I’m mainly pointing out some of the things we differ on just to try and get a reaction out of you. Do you really think Canada and the US are that close? And if so why, or why not?
I think the people of Canada and the United States are very close. On campus, I can distinguish Canadians by their aboot’s and sohry’s, but there are no cultural or ideological attributes that make them stand out. We’re really very alike.
Xwing1056
Originally posted by Videospirit
Actually. I take offense that you say america refers to the states and nothing else.
Well uh… you’re… stupid >>; I’ve never, under any context, heard of Canada referred to as America. Even when describing the continents, it’s usually “Canada and the Americas.”
On campus, I can distinguish Canadians by their aboot’s and sohry’s, but there are no cultural or ideological attributes that make them stand out.
No Canadian says aboot. None. And if you’ve seen one, shoot him. Between the eyes.
It’s really more of an “a-boh-oot”. But either way, I can understand the injury it causes to Canadian national pride.
Xwing1056
Canadians as a whole dont have a distinguishing accent.
You seem to have misunderstood my comment about the “other guy’s leader” I wasn’t referring to the leader of the opposition party, but to the leader of the other Country. Most Canadians really don’t like Bush, but most Americans don’t seem to even know who the leader of Canada is. You wouldn’t believe how often Rick Mercer has managed to get intelligent, prominent Americans to say unbelievably stupid things because they simply didn’t know that our Prime Minister isn’t President Tim Horton, or Jean Poutine.
Also about the current ruling political party, I hate to break it to you, but on the global ideological spectrum the US Democratic party can just barely be considered to be centrist, its more a center-right party. Lets face it, the US has very strong right winged tendencies, maybe these don’t reflect the view of most Americans, but both your parties are right of center. Until recently on the other hand the Liberals were more of a center-left party, under Martin they seem to be getting more right winged. Still the point I’m trying to make is that your left wing party is more right winged than our centrist party; that has to mean something.
Cid also raises a good point, both countries are very large so its possible that some parts of the country are very similar and others very different, but each has a set of values and ideals they hold dear.
Tim Horton’s no longer in office??? When did this happen!?!? At least with Poutine, there’s a name you can trust! Poutine should be president of Canada. Poutine for President!
Originally posted by Xelopheris
Yeah but all intelligent life does.
hacks off Xelo’s head and has a trophey made out of it
I’ll have you know being from Atlantic Canada doesn’t make one an imbecile. I done got my University Edgumacation like everyone else done gotten!
:ah-ha!:
Originally posted by Xwing1056
[b]It’s really more of an “a-boh-oot”. But either way, I can understand the injury it causes to Canadian national pride.Xwing1056 [/b]
No, I’m telling you right now that Canadians don’t say aboot, a-boh-oot, or anything oot. I don’t know what country those people are from, but it’s not Canada. At least not anything Ontario or west of it. Maybe a few frenchies do it, but no one else does. We say “about” like everyone else.
Originally posted by Eden99
Canadians and Americans are about as similar as Englishmen and Scotsmen
Very, VERY nice.
