United States and Canada. (page 3)

Ravyn

I have no criminal records of anykind, and I work for the gov.

JH isn't that an oxymoron?

Ravyn

Thirdson

Americans and Canadians are both the same except Canadians are different.

I have traveled across the border numerous times by both road and air. It's funny that you go through US immigration in Canada when traveling to the US...at least when flying from Toronto or Vancouver airports. (And what's with the airport improvement fee they stuff you with somewhere in "no-man's land?" I have never had a problem either way and I travel with a British passport and a US Green Card. I haven't driven across the border since 9/11 but that used to be a very easy and relaxed crossing.

I did sort of illegally enter Canada once. I was installing machine tools shipped from the UK (of German and UK origin) to a Canadian Auto-parts factory in Nova Scotia. I shipped all the tools I needed in the crates with the machines. It's always difficult entering countries on business if the business means "working" so I arrived in Halifax and said I was on "holiday" and visiting friends. All went well and after a weekend sight-seeing aound Cape Breton Island I commenced installation on Monday. Later in the week the Premier of Nova Scotia arrived to tour the facility and I met him and was filmed by a TV crew in blue coveralls with wrench in hand. I guess no-one from immigration recognized me from my 3 second appearance on TV.

I do feel very at home in Canada. There are plenty of ex-pat Brits there and plenty of British style products. I stock up on Canadian candy bars not available where I live and enjoy fish 'n chips 'n mushy peas.

Thirdson

PS Where can I get "Fusion" bars from on line?

talesin

Thirdson

Americans and Canadians are both the same except Canadians are different

Huh?

onacruse

Ravyn:

I have no criminal records of anykind, and I work for the gov.
JH isn't that an oxymoron?

LOLOL...JH, I think you owe her one.

Craig

Mary

Well said Inq! I'm a Canadian, but my personal opinion on the whole Iraq thing is this: The USA is our closest neighbour and friend; and Canada is still part of the British Commonwealth, and I feel as though we turned our backs on both the States and England. What would we do if terrorists attacked Canada? We don't have a real good Defense system in place up here so the first thing we'd probably do is look south-of-the-border and ask the States to help.

Before the whole Iraqi thing, it was easy to cross from Canada into the States. We'd go over shopping and the most I've ever been asked at the US border is: "Where are you going?" Shopping. "Citizenship?" Canadian. "Have a nice day."

I don't give a damn that there were no WMD found in Iraq; Saddam Hussein was an evil son of a bitch who should have been taken out years ago, so I got no problem with the US going in there.

I truly think alot of the US - Canadian relations are based alot on Bush's obvious dislike of Jean Chretien and I think the feeling is mutual. As for the common Americans and Canadians, I don't think they let it influence them a great deal.

On a rather hilarious note, I saw a Canadian program called "Talking To Americans" produced by This Hour Has 22 Mintues and I laughed my ass off. It was to show how little Americans actually know about Canada. The "reporter" went to Harvard, Berkeley and Princeton Universities and asked profs and students what they thought about the Canadian Seal Hunt that they have every year in Calgary. He asked others if they thought Canada should get a Navy because we don't have any water around Canada and the responses were either "no, you don't need a Navy.....we'll look after you" or "yes, you should have a Navy even if you don't have any water." He got George Bush when he was Govenor and running for the Presidency and told him that Prime Minister Tim Horton supported his run for president. George didn't bat an eyelash.

Pathofthorns

Hey, Canada's one cool country
SAMANTHA BENNETT You live next door to a clean-cut, quiet guy. He never plays loud music or throws raucous parties. He doesn't gossip over the fence, just smiles politely and offers you some tomatoes. His lawn is cared-for, his house is neat as a pin and you get the feeling he doesn't always lock his front door. He wears Dockers. You hardly know he's there.
And then one day you discover that he has pot in his basement, spends his weekends at peace marches and that guy you've seen mowing the yard is his spouse.
Allow me to introduce Canada.
The Canadians are so quiet that you may have forgotten they're up there, but they've been busy doing some surprising things. It's like discovering that the mice you are dimly aware of in your attic have been building an espresso machine.
Did you realize, for example, that our reliable little tag-along brother never joined the Coalition of the Willing? Canada wasn't willing, as it turns out, to join the fun in Iraq. I can only assume American diner menus weren't angrily changed to include "freedom bacon," because nobody here eats the stuff anyway.
And then there's the wild drug situation: Canadian doctors are authorized to dispense medical marijuana. Parliament is considering legislation that would not exactly legalize marijuana possession, as you may have heard, but would reduce the penalty for possession of under 15 grams to a fine, like a speeding ticket. This is to allow law enforcement to concentrate resources on traffickers: If your garden is full of wasps, it's smarter to go for the nest rather than trying to swat every individual bug. Or, in the United States, bong.
Now, here's the part that I, as an American, can't understand. These poor benighted pinkos are doing everything wrong. They have a drug problem: Marijuana offences have doubled since 1991. And Canada has strict gun control laws, which mean that the criminals must all be heavily armed, the law-abiding civilians helpless and the government on the verge of a massive confiscation campaign. (The laws have been in place since the '70s, but I'm sure the government will get around to the confiscation eventually.) They don't even have a death penalty!
And yet, nationally, overall crime in Canada has been declining since 1991. Violent crimes fell 13 per cent in 2002. Of course, there are still crimes committed with guns — brought in from the United States, which has become the major illegal weapons supplier for all of North America — but my theory is that the surge in pot-smoking has rendered most criminals too relaxed to commit violent crimes. They're probably more focused on shoplifting boxes of Ho-Hos from convenience stores.
And then there's the most reckless move of all: Just last month, Canada decided to allow and recognize same-sex marriages. Merciful moose, what can they be thinking? Will there be married Mounties (they always get their man!)? Dudley Do-Right was sweet on Nell, not Mel! We must be the only ones who really care about families. Not enough to make sure they all have health insurance, of course, but more than those libertines up north.
This sort of behaviour is a clear and present danger to all our stereotypes about Canada. It's supposed to be a cold, wholesome country of polite, beer-drinking hockey players, not founded by freedom fighters in a bloody revolution but quietly assembled by loyalists and royalists more interested in order and good government than liberty and independence.
But if we are the rugged individualists, why do we spend so much of our time trying to get everyone to march in lockstep? And if Canadians are so reserved and moderate, why are they so progressive about letting people do what they want to?
Canadians are, as a nation, less religious than we are, according to polls. As a result, Canada's government isn't influenced by large, well-organized religious groups and thus has more in common with those of Scandinavia than those of the United States, or, say, Iran.
Canada signed the Kyoto global warming treaty, lets 19-year-olds drink, has more of its population living in urban areas and accepts more immigrants per capita than the United States.
These are all things we've been told will wreck our society. But I guess Canadians are different, because theirs seems oddly sound.
Like teenagers, we fiercely idolize individual freedom but really demand that everyone be the same. But the Canadians seem more adult — more secure. They aren't afraid of foreigners. They aren't afraid of homosexuality. Most of all, they're not afraid of each other.
I wonder if America will ever be that cool.

Samantha Bennett is a columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.