I thought I'd posted about this before, but I must just have linked it at
The Other McCainCanada just had another election, forced on it by the Bloc Quebecois, Liberals and NDP, and to nobody's surprise (save for the chattering classes of Canada, who were all Pauline Kael about it), PM Stephen Harper's Conservatives utterly crushed both the
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I'm well aware that Canada is not the US; I refer to it as "the old country" for a reason, since I still have relatives that never left PEI or Montreal. I admire Harper for what he's been able to accomplish, mainly giving the West a larger voice in Canadian affairs than it's traditionally had.
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TBQH, I'm not sure there is a good definition of "Canadianism" other than the Grits' knee-jerk "not the US" attitude. I'm not sure you can really have a good definition of Canada as a nation so long as Quebec is off sulking in a corner and periodically throwing a tantrum about leaving if it doesn't get its way; I mean, are they in or are they out? Is Canada one nation or an uneasy federation of ethnically heterogeneous provinces? I don't have an answer to that question myself, and admit that my thoughts on the matter are largely influenced by Kate McMillan and other Reform/Conservative bloggers up there.
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Um, you haven't been there in a while, have you? The separatists are dying out fast. Plus I loved living in Montreal...would still be there if Steve had enjoyed the weather.
That history, though, is part of the Canadiansm I'm talking about. Being Canadian is not "just like being an American". There's a je ne sais quoi that is just different. Canada has its own music, film and literary scenes, which is part of it, but overall attitudes aren't the same.
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I agree that Canada is different from the US, but it's not all that easy to distinguish the differences aside from the history, politics and some cultural artifacts. One has to pay close attention to notice those, too, if you're not living there.
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I also like to point out to Americans who get hostile about Quebec they reasons WHY Quebec is taking such a long time to stop being mad. Before 1970, francophone Quebecois could not use banks. They were not allowed to go to universities. They often could not find doctors who spoke French, even though they were the majority. It was apartheid based on religion and language. The craziness of the 1970s was the result of generations of anger and it's only now that the pendulum is swinging back.
Even in Toronto I find it quite easy to tell you're not in the United States, and it's more than having to "pay close attention". Steve commented, the first time I drove him down the 401, that "reality is skewed an inch to the left" at all times.
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Wow, that business about the Francophones being shut out like that is new to me - don't think it shows up anywhere in the Wikipedia articles on Canadian history. It definitely explains a lot.
Sure, if you're in Canada it's easy to spot the differences - but if you're not there, as I haven't been in decades, it's not so obvious. Much like the differences between the US, UK, Scotland and Australia, funny accents aside.
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Also Dippers, I've never heard that term before.
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The conservative blogs up north almost all refer to the NDP as Dippers. I don't know if that's common slang for Canadians in general or not.
*[insert "LOL, Conservatives are stoopid and need small words" joke here]
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