Impressions of Canada

jwoodie

Platinum Member
Aug 15, 2012
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Just got back from touring Quebec and the Maritime Provinces, and read a Short History of Canada while doing so. I was surprised to learn that so many Canadians were British loyalists who left America after the Revolutionary War. I was also surprised that the Canadian Confederation of 1867 was largely influenced by a continuing fear of invasion by the U.S.

Having also spoken with many Canadians from the West, I am left with an impression that the Canadian Confederation more resembles the United States prior to the Civil War:
Widely different interests united primarily for defensive purposes.

I would like to hear from some Canadian posters as to what their history means for their future.
 
'canooks' got a big shot in the arm and replenishment where the Draft Dodgers of the 60s and early 70s from the USA went to 'canookistan' .
 
Just got back from touring Quebec and the Maritime Provinces, and read a Short History of Canada while doing so. I was surprised to learn that so many Canadians were British loyalists who left America after the Revolutionary War. I was also surprised that the Canadian Confederation of 1867 was largely influenced by a continuing fear of invasion by the U.S.

Having also spoken with many Canadians from the West, I am left with an impression that the Canadian Confederation more resembles the United States prior to the Civil War:
Widely different interests united primarily for defensive purposes.

I would like to hear from some Canadian posters as to what their history means for their future.


Canada is like America's hat....

....they should worry that we might roll over in our sleep.
 
Canada's refusal to cooperate with the U.S. in the North American Ballistic Missile Defense system showed a deep flaw in its national psyche. I'm not sure it isn't still there.
 
MUSTA been 45 - 50 years ago that I learned in public school that the 'canooks' were nothing more than ' english' , british butt kissers and were TORIES that were disloyal , traitorous Americans .
 
RE: Impressions of Canada
⁜→ pismoe, et al,

Well, I'm not sure this is true at all.

thing with 'canooks' is that they have no military and what they do have is falling apart . -------------------- --- We've given up on Canada's military, so let's abandon it altogether - Macleans.ca ---
(COMMENT)

In what universe is it sound Political-Military (POL-MIL) advice to "abandon" our most closet neighbor? (What country event thinks like that?)

Canada, whose sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II, is a member of the British Commonwealth; which includes the UK, Australia, and New Zealand [(together they represent the Five Eyes (FVEYs)]. If we lose Canada, it is more than likely we lose the remained of the alliance.

While the United States ranks #1 in terms of military power, it is very closely followed by the Russian Federation (Ranking #2 Globally). The FVEYs Australia (Ranking #19), Canada (Ranking #21), New Zealand (Ranking #87), the UK (Ranking #8), and the US collectively represent the most formidable Military Force on the Planet.

Canada has a population of approximately 36+ Million people. Its Military Force is composed of 0.34% of the overall population. That is only slightly different than the US which has 0.43% of its overall population in the military.

The US is in a decline. Where it was once a giant of manufacturing and Mecca of scientific research and development, it is now, relegated to a nations whose astronauts must hitch-hike into space.

The US is not the towering strength of industry, commerce, science, and technology that it once was. It cannot stand alone in a global population of 137 sovereign nations. It needs to keep what allies it has. The US is no longer the leader of the free world. While it still maintains some influence in each of these vital areas, it ranks 13th on the Human Development Index (HDI) → and Canada Ranks 12th.

Just my thoughts.

.......... •  Smaller then Smallest.png
Most Respectfully,
R
 
I don't wish to denigrate Canada; I'm trying to understand what holds it together. The threat of being taken over by the US is long gone, and many of the the Provinces seem to have little in common. Is it nostalgic reverence for the UK (excluding Quebec), or is it more like a Czechoslovakia of the New World?
 
RE: Impressions of Canada
⁜→ pismoe, et al,

Well, I'm not sure this is true at all.

thing with 'canooks' is that they have no military and what they do have is falling apart . -------------------- --- We've given up on Canada's military, so let's abandon it altogether - Macleans.ca ---
(COMMENT)

In what universe is it sound Political-Military (POL-MIL) advice to "abandon" our most closet neighbor? (What country event thinks like that?)

Canada, whose sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II, is a member of the British Commonwealth; which includes the UK, Australia, and New Zealand [(together they represent the Five Eyes (FVEYs)]. If we lose Canada, it is more than likely we lose the remained of the alliance.

While the United States ranks #1 in terms of military power, it is very closely followed by the Russian Federation (Ranking #2 Globally). The FVEYs Australia (Ranking #19), Canada (Ranking #21), New Zealand (Ranking #87), the UK (Ranking #8), and the US collectively represent the most formidable Military Force on the Planet.

Canada has a population of approximately 36+ Million people. Its Military Force is composed of 0.34% of the overall population. That is only slightly different than the US which has 0.43% of its overall population in the military.

The US is in a decline. Where it was once a giant of manufacturing and Mecca of scientific research and development, it is now, relegated to a nations whose astronauts must hitch-hike into space.

The US is not the towering strength of industry, commerce, science, and technology that it once was. It cannot stand alone in a global population of 137 sovereign nations. It needs to keep what allies it has. The US is no longer the leader of the free world. While it still maintains some influence in each of these vital areas, it ranks 13th on the Human Development Index (HDI) → and Canada Ranks 12th.

Just my thoughts.

..........View attachment 285522
Most Respectfully,
R
--------------------------------- and that's why I always say that I am happy to be an old guy Rocco .
 
Canada got fat rich and happy by being next door to a giant economic powerhouse that no one else could invade; they essentially ride off the U.S.'s prosperity, plus they have always made keeping out brown people one of their highest priorities. It isn't called The Great White North because of the snow. As for our 'decline', it can be easily reversed, and its 'problem children' deported, as Thomas Jefferson would advocate doing if he were around today.
 
Canada got fat rich and happy by being next door to a giant economic powerhouse that no one else could invade; they essentially ride off the U.S.'s prosperity, plus they have always made keeping out brown people one of their highest priorities. It isn't called The Great White North because of the snow. As for our 'decline', it can be easily reversed, and its 'problem children' deported, as Thomas Jefferson would advocate doing if he were around today.
Jesus. Lucky Canada to have such gracious neighbours.
 
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Canada got fat rich and happy by being next door to a giant economic powerhouse that no one else could invade; they essentially ride off the U.S.'s prosperity, plus they have always made keeping out brown people one of their highest priorities. It isn't called The Great White North because of the snow. As for our 'decline', it can be easily reversed, and its 'problem children' deported, as Thomas Jefferson would advocate doing if he were around today.
Jesus. Lucky Canada to have such gracious neighbours.

Damn right. Surprised a commie would notice. They would be speaking Iroquois and torturing each other for sport if it weren't for the U.S. coming along and taking care of their problems for them.
 
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Just got back from touring Quebec and the Maritime Provinces, and read a Short History of Canada while doing so. I was surprised to learn that so many Canadians were British loyalists who left America after the Revolutionary War. I was also surprised that the Canadian Confederation of 1867 was largely influenced by a continuing fear of invasion by the U.S.

Having also spoken with many Canadians from the West, I am left with an impression that the Canadian Confederation more resembles the United States prior to the Civil War:
Widely different interests united primarily for defensive purposes.

I would like to hear from some Canadian posters as to what their history means for their future.

I HOPE you got to ingest more there than politics and political history. Did you get to Cape Breton?

I've been to Québec and to Cape Breton many times, always to soak up the music. Both of them are home to unique styles of music that literally live nowhere else. It's a treasure trove, both of them.
 
MUSTA been 45 - 50 years ago that I learned in public school that the 'canooks' were nothing more than ' english' , british butt kissers and were TORIES that were disloyal , traitorous Americans .

The millions of Francophones in the areas mentioned in the OP would be surprised to hear they're "British".

I guess in a broad sense you could consider the Highland Scots who populated Nova Scotia as "British" in the sense that the island of "Britain" includes Scotland. That was the end result of the British (English) doing what they do best --- kicking people out of their homeland. The local Acadians called it Le Grand Dérangement -- the great upheaval. After kicking out the agrarian French Acadians and burning their homes, sending them down the coast to eventually become the "Cajuns", Nova Scotia was populated by agrarian Catholic Scots who themselves had been uprooted from Scotland in the Highland Clearances.

Coming to Nova Scotia (New Scotland) they were isolated there for decades, accessible only by water until 1955 when the Canso Causeway opened, retaining their Gaelic language and culture to the point where people from Scotland now come to Cape Breton to find out what their own culture is, because it's been preserved so well. You can still hear children speaking Gaelic there today, and it's home to the world's only Gaelic college. And there's a wonderful village up the coast called Chéticamp where the common language on the street is French (legacy of the Acadians) while the music is decidedly Scottish.

And then there's Québec and ITS whole history, separate from the Acadian experience and older, and those Francophones spread well out beyond that province into New Brunswick, PEI, Ontario and elsewhere. None of them would consider themselves "Brits" and definitely not "British butt kissers".

Ignorance must be bliss, eh?
 
I don't wish to denigrate Canada; I'm trying to understand what holds it together. The threat of being taken over by the US is long gone, and many of the the Provinces seem to have little in common. Is it nostalgic reverence for the UK (excluding Quebec), or is it more like a Czechoslovakia of the New World?

I suspect it's mostly having a good look at what's directly to their south and thinking "this could happen to us if we're not careful". The threat of being taken over by the US culturally is still very real and in the forefront.

That's what makes places like Québec and Cape Breton so cool --- here are cultural incubators right over the border with distinctly different cultural values. It's like Christmas crossing that border.
 
RE: Impressions of Canada
⁜→ pismoe, et al,

Well, I'm not sure this is true at all.

thing with 'canooks' is that they have no military and what they do have is falling apart . -------------------- --- We've given up on Canada's military, so let's abandon it altogether - Macleans.ca ---
(COMMENT)

In what universe is it sound Political-Military (POL-MIL) advice to "abandon" our most closet neighbor? (What country event thinks like that?)

Canada, whose sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II, is a member of the British Commonwealth; which includes the UK, Australia, and New Zealand [(together they represent the Five Eyes (FVEYs)]. If we lose Canada, it is more than likely we lose the remained of the alliance.

While the United States ranks #1 in terms of military power, it is very closely followed by the Russian Federation (Ranking #2 Globally). The FVEYs Australia (Ranking #19), Canada (Ranking #21), New Zealand (Ranking #87), the UK (Ranking #8), and the US collectively represent the most formidable Military Force on the Planet.

Canada has a population of approximately 36+ Million people. Its Military Force is composed of 0.34% of the overall population. That is only slightly different than the US which has 0.43% of its overall population in the military.

The US is in a decline. Where it was once a giant of manufacturing and Mecca of scientific research and development, it is now, relegated to a nations whose astronauts must hitch-hike into space.

The US is not the towering strength of industry, commerce, science, and technology that it once was. It cannot stand alone in a global population of 137 sovereign nations. It needs to keep what allies it has. The US is no longer the leader of the free world. While it still maintains some influence in each of these vital areas, it ranks 13th on the Human Development Index (HDI) → and Canada Ranks 12th.

Just my thoughts.

..........View attachment 285522
Most Respectfully,
R
Thanks for the statistics. AS for me as a Michigander, I think Canada is just a great nation. Most of my life we traveled to Canada without passports, bought stuff cheap and enjoyed the company of a generous people of good will. I was especially impressed with Toronto and York street and the really great pubs. The Toronto phone book of the day had restaurant listings by ethnic origins. I remember one gas station attendant (boy that was a long time ago) who complained about American money because it is all the same color so the denominations were hard to figure without a careful look. But the thing that remains uppermost in my mind is the huge billboard in Detroit facing Windsor across the river that read. "Thank you, Canada" for their dangerous deception of hiding Americans during the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The current slanders and but-what-have-you-done-for-me-lately attitude by Americans who think the world began in 2016 is disgusting to me.
 
RE: Impressions of Canada
⁜→ pismoe, et al,

Well, I'm not sure this is true at all.

thing with 'canooks' is that they have no military and what they do have is falling apart . -------------------- --- We've given up on Canada's military, so let's abandon it altogether - Macleans.ca ---
(COMMENT)

In what universe is it sound Political-Military (POL-MIL) advice to "abandon" our most closet neighbor? (What country event thinks like that?)

Canada, whose sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II, is a member of the British Commonwealth; which includes the UK, Australia, and New Zealand [(together they represent the Five Eyes (FVEYs)]. If we lose Canada, it is more than likely we lose the remained of the alliance.

While the United States ranks #1 in terms of military power, it is very closely followed by the Russian Federation (Ranking #2 Globally). The FVEYs Australia (Ranking #19), Canada (Ranking #21), New Zealand (Ranking #87), the UK (Ranking #8), and the US collectively represent the most formidable Military Force on the Planet.

Canada has a population of approximately 36+ Million people. Its Military Force is composed of 0.34% of the overall population. That is only slightly different than the US which has 0.43% of its overall population in the military.

The US is in a decline. Where it was once a giant of manufacturing and Mecca of scientific research and development, it is now, relegated to a nations whose astronauts must hitch-hike into space.

The US is not the towering strength of industry, commerce, science, and technology that it once was. It cannot stand alone in a global population of 137 sovereign nations. It needs to keep what allies it has. The US is no longer the leader of the free world. While it still maintains some influence in each of these vital areas, it ranks 13th on the Human Development Index (HDI) → and Canada Ranks 12th.

Just my thoughts.

..........View attachment 285522
Most Respectfully,
R
Thanks for the statistics. AS for me as a Michigander, I think Canada is just a great nation. Most of my life we traveled to Canada without passports, bought stuff cheap and enjoyed the company of a generous people of good will. I was especially impressed with Toronto and York street and the really great pubs. The Toronto phone book of the day had restaurant listings by ethnic origins. I remember one gas station attendant (boy that was a long time ago) who complained about American money because it is all the same color so the denominations were hard to figure without a careful look. But the thing that remains uppermost in my mind is the huge billboard in Detroit facing Windsor across the river that read. "Thank you, Canada" for their dangerous deception of hiding Americans during the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The current slanders and but-what-have-you-done-for-me-lately attitude by Americans who think the world began in 2016 is disgusting to me.

Well said. I thought Bullwinkle was from Minnesota though. ;)

Talking of Detroit and Windsor reminds me of this -- quoting myself from some five years ago:


I give you two cities, split by a river, kinda like Minneapolis and St. Paul are but this is a different pair of cities.

Obviously being next to each other, these cities have much in common regionally, climatically, industrially and so on. They are less than a mile apart, connected by a bridge and a tunnel. But the two cities show a stark difference in one area.

The city to the west recorded 377 total homicides in 2011 and 327 in 2010, according to police statistics(1), carrying a homicide rate of around 50 per 100,000 people

Across the bridge in the same time period, there was a total of one. For both years put together. A rate of 0.30. From September 27, 2009 to November 22, 2011 in that city, there were no murders at all. Zero.

What's going on here?

One of them is in Canada. The cities are Detroit and Windsor.

I haven't determined how many of those homicides were committed by firearm, but for a guide, out of 386 Detroit homicides in 2012, 333 were by firearm. Over 86%. (1)

And the one murder that finally broke the 2011 streak in Windsor? It was a stabbing.

People in his city of about 215,000 have a saying, Blaine said Friday afternoon: "In Windsor, when a 7-Eleven is held up, it usually is a knife. In Detroit, it is an Uzi."
It's not that there's no crime in Windsor, an industrial city that has seen its own economic challenges. "We're no different than any other major metropolitan area," Corey said. (here)

704 to 1 in homicide; several hundred to zero in gun deaths.
Detroit: at or near the highest murder rate in its country; Windsor: lowest in its country.
Less than a mile apart.

What's driving the difference? Gun control? Or gun culture?

Resources/further reading:
(1) 2012 Crime/Homicide Stats

(2) Freep.com 1/3/13

A Tale of Two Cities

Murder-Free Two Years

The fault lies not in our guns but in ourselves. To our values we are underlings.
 
i'm a 'yooper' , been to 'canada' a hundred times . I think that all I said is that the 'canooks' have NO Military BWinkle .
 

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