What is Canada Like?

Off Topic
61

[quote]bond james bond wrote:

[quote]jasmincar wrote:

[quote]bond james bond wrote:

Most folks from the other provinces think people from Quebec are arrogant assholes.

[/quote]

and lot of folks form Quebec think people from the rest of Canada are morons[/quote]

Re read you post smart guy lol.

I’ve been to Quebec three times to snowboard and a bunch of times here in Ontario. Commen courtesy on a chair lift for example, there is a beginning, middle and end. I lost count how many assholes would just butt in line. I don’t encounter this bullshit here in Ontario on the slopes.

I met some great people there Jasmincar and have some great memories but courtesy seemed in short supply there, just an opinion.

I have always been envious of QC for one reason…you get all the best rock shows! Bands can bypass TO and Vancouver etc but never ever ever Montreal…fuckers.

edit/ you fixed your spelling error…poop, my dig is ussless now :frowning:

[/quote]

I agree with that. People here drive like assholes too.
I don’t like Quebec very much

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Movies from english Canada are horrible

just saying

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[quote]fraggle wrote:

[quote]js385787 wrote:

[quote]fraggle wrote:

[quote]js385787 wrote:
I don’t really see what you guys are talking about with the no differences bit. I drive over to maine to go to walmart there or get gas sometimes and there’s a huge difference just with that little experience, for instance the products sold are way more processed, and a lot different that those sold 20min across the border. The people are fatter and look more like rednecks. The gas is cheaper. All anyone does in that town is drive up and down the main street with their chevy trucks and congregate in parking lots for something to do. Overall it seems like a less interesting place.

I never lock my car door or my house.

I’d wager and say anyone past quebec is not very patriotic in canada, and wish they were american, which is pretty pathetic. Quite different in atlantic provinces in terms of culture and experience. [/quote]

A few questions:

  1. How old are you?
  2. Have you spent more than a week or two in other parts of Canada?
  3. Have you spent any significant time in more than a couple regions of the USA?
  4. Do you have any friends who grew up in other parts of Canada or the USA?
  5. Is this place in Maine a large or small, rural or urban area?

Your description of Maine sounds like just about any little town I’ve been in from BC to Ontario.[/quote]

People like you are quite annoying. You should move to the states since you obviously have a hard on for it. I really can’t see any other reason why you would be trying to discredit what I’m saying to prove that canada is just like the states - you should learn some patriotism.

My “description” of maine isn’t a description of the entire state of maine in the first place - it’s a comparative example to highlight that there are differences between the us and canada with as little as a 10min car drive from one town in canada to one town in the us. So despite close proximity and a similar population size and geography, a border gives rise to lots of differences - that is the point.

I’d like to know what I said there that sounds like every little town in ontario/bc anyway? What, everyone hangs out in a parking lot? That’s the only descriptive piece in that entire statement. How that one statement can characterize every town from ontario to bc is beyond me. The rest is a comparison between the 2 towns.

I’ve lived in more provinces then most of you I’d imagine, at least a couple years in each of ab, on, nb, ns, nl. Done a fair amount of travelling down into the eastern states and I know quite a few people from various places in the world from doing 3 different degrees at 3 different schools.

[/quote]

I could be a giant toolbag and respond similarly, but I make it a rule to not blow up over an e discussion.

You are quite sensitive though aren’t you? Ask a few questions and you jump to a number of conclusions that incorrect.

For one, me saying that there aren’t that many differences does not equal Canada is just like the States. Mans DNA is somewhere around 98% identical to a chimps DNA if I remember correctly.

Saying that there are a large number of differences between your town and a place across the border is kind of meaningless by itself don’t you think? I’m pretty sure you could find a number of places in the states that have relatively the same proportion of fat people, and amount of processed food on the store shelves.

My question about how small/large, etc that the cross border town was? If it is a small rural town, it would be similar to other small rural towns across the continent, barring any features such as ski resorts etc that some might have.

If you would have responded to my questions like a normal person, I would have simply said, “hmmn, that’s interesting, as my experience has been quite different”.
[/quote]

I doubt you would have, you seem pretentious and your post is passive aggressive.

I find it highly irritating being asked a bunch of personal questions, yet you yourself have not listed the answers for yourself nor have you asked anyone else.

I mean if you’re going to ask a bunch of questions about me specifically and where I’ve been, in an attempt to discredit my personal observations, why don’t you list the answers off to your own questions first? I would have been more inclined to answer you more politely then.

Any observation here in this entire thread could be meaningless as well, so what is your point? At least I have an illustrative example to support what I’m saying, which is better than a bunch of broad generalizations. FAct of the matter is the us is the fattest country there is: Countries Compared by Health > Obesity. International Statistics at NationMaster.com so ya they are fatter. Also all towns are small, towns are less than 10,000 people, I thought it was obvious I was talking about rural areas. Gas is cheaper there, http://www.mainegasprices.com/ vs nb http://www.newbrunswickgasprices.com/ by over a $1 a gallon and as far as processed food go that is harder to prove, but it’s kind of apparent given they’re fattest country in the world, and here’s article as well Americans eat more processed food than, well, anyone | Grist

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[quote]js385787 wrote:

[quote]fraggle wrote:

[quote]js385787 wrote:

[quote]fraggle wrote:

[quote]js385787 wrote:
I don’t really see what you guys are talking about with the no differences bit. I drive over to maine to go to walmart there or get gas sometimes and there’s a huge difference just with that little experience, for instance the products sold are way more processed, and a lot different that those sold 20min across the border. The people are fatter and look more like rednecks. The gas is cheaper. All anyone does in that town is drive up and down the main street with their chevy trucks and congregate in parking lots for something to do. Overall it seems like a less interesting place.

I never lock my car door or my house.

I’d wager and say anyone past quebec is not very patriotic in canada, and wish they were american, which is pretty pathetic. Quite different in atlantic provinces in terms of culture and experience. [/quote]

A few questions:

  1. How old are you?
  2. Have you spent more than a week or two in other parts of Canada?
  3. Have you spent any significant time in more than a couple regions of the USA?
  4. Do you have any friends who grew up in other parts of Canada or the USA?
  5. Is this place in Maine a large or small, rural or urban area?

Your description of Maine sounds like just about any little town I’ve been in from BC to Ontario.[/quote]

People like you are quite annoying. You should move to the states since you obviously have a hard on for it. I really can’t see any other reason why you would be trying to discredit what I’m saying to prove that canada is just like the states - you should learn some patriotism.

My “description” of maine isn’t a description of the entire state of maine in the first place - it’s a comparative example to highlight that there are differences between the us and canada with as little as a 10min car drive from one town in canada to one town in the us. So despite close proximity and a similar population size and geography, a border gives rise to lots of differences - that is the point.

I’d like to know what I said there that sounds like every little town in ontario/bc anyway? What, everyone hangs out in a parking lot? That’s the only descriptive piece in that entire statement. How that one statement can characterize every town from ontario to bc is beyond me. The rest is a comparison between the 2 towns.

I’ve lived in more provinces then most of you I’d imagine, at least a couple years in each of ab, on, nb, ns, nl. Done a fair amount of travelling down into the eastern states and I know quite a few people from various places in the world from doing 3 different degrees at 3 different schools.

[/quote]

I could be a giant toolbag and respond similarly, but I make it a rule to not blow up over an e discussion.

You are quite sensitive though aren’t you? Ask a few questions and you jump to a number of conclusions that incorrect.

For one, me saying that there aren’t that many differences does not equal Canada is just like the States. Mans DNA is somewhere around 98% identical to a chimps DNA if I remember correctly.

Saying that there are a large number of differences between your town and a place across the border is kind of meaningless by itself don’t you think? I’m pretty sure you could find a number of places in the states that have relatively the same proportion of fat people, and amount of processed food on the store shelves.

My question about how small/large, etc that the cross border town was? If it is a small rural town, it would be similar to other small rural towns across the continent, barring any features such as ski resorts etc that some might have.

If you would have responded to my questions like a normal person, I would have simply said, “hmmn, that’s interesting, as my experience has been quite different”.
[/quote]

I doubt you would have, you seem pretentious and your post is passive aggressive.

I find it highly irritating being asked a bunch of personal questions, yet you yourself have not listed the answers for yourself nor have you asked anyone else.

I mean if you’re going to ask a bunch of questions about me specifically and where I’ve been, in an attempt to discredit my personal observations, why don’t you list the answers off to your own questions first? I would have been more inclined to answer you more politely then.

Any observation here in this entire thread could be meaningless as well, so what is your point? At least I have an illustrative example to support what I’m saying, which is better than a bunch of broad generalizations. FAct of the matter is the us is the fattest country there is: Countries Compared by Health > Obesity. International Statistics at NationMaster.com so ya they are fatter. Also all towns are small, towns are less than 10,000 people, I thought it was obvious I was talking about rural areas. Gas is cheaper there, http://www.mainegasprices.com/ vs nb http://www.newbrunswickgasprices.com/ by over a $1 a gallon and as far as processed food go that is harder to prove, but it’s kind of apparent given they’re fattest country in the world, and here’s article as well http://www.grist.org/article/americans-eat-more-processed-food-than-well-anyone[/quote]

Wow, I was quite prepared to let this go, but you are such a narrow minded and ignorant prick that you had to make more personal attacks, and bring up either MEANINGLESS or INSIGNIFICANT differences to fuel your hatred of Americans.

Gas is not the same price? OMG!!! That alone proves we are SOOOO different from Americans.

They eat more processed food? Well pardon me as I run a second flag on my house.

Yes they are more likely to be obese according to BMI, but according to the most recent stats Canada data, we arent that far behind at 23%.

I won’t bother picking apart the rest of your poorly written posts, as you aren’t worth the time I’ve already spent on you.

65

Other than a slight lean to the political left I don’t think there’s much difference really. Our cultures have been pretty tightly intertwined for a long time. Immigration is supposedly a bit different (they say that in the U.S. America makes YOU better and your expected to become an “American” with an “American lifestyle”, and “American beliefs” and whatnot, while in Canada YOU make us better (on acount of we like our chinese people to make chinese food instead of hamburgers or whatnot). The gas price is cheaper in the states, but as far as I can figure that has to do with road maintanance costs, and the way it’s paid for. I.E. there’s less need for snow plows, less road deterioration from frost, etc… so the average piece of u.s. highway costs less to maintain than it’s Canadian counterpart. And in the U.S. there seemed to be more toll roads (upkeep paid by toll) whereas here the roads are paid through fuel taxes.

My girl from Jersey says it’s wierd that I say Hello to people walking down the street, or ask how things are going to the stranger behind me in line at Tim Horton’s (coffee shop), but I don’t think that’s so much a difference of U.S. vs. Canada as it is big city vs. country. I’d imagine people are pretty friendly in the midwestern U.S. aswell. She also says I have an accent, but she’s from Jersey and says things like “Watamellon” so what does she know?

Quebec is like Texas. It’s like a whole nother country. Only instead of cowboys with oil rigs, there’s frenchman with maple syrup spigots.

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[quote]fraggle wrote:

Wow, I was quite prepared to let this go, but you are such a narrow minded and ignorant prick that you had to make more personal attacks, and bring up either MEANINGLESS or INSIGNIFICANT differences to fuel your hatred of Americans.

Gas is not the same price? OMG!!! That alone proves we are SOOOO different from Americans.

They eat more processed food? Well pardon me as I run a second flag on my house.

Yes they are more likely to be obese according to BMI, but according to the most recent stats Canada data, we arent that far behind at 23%.

I won’t bother picking apart the rest of your poorly written posts, as you aren’t worth the time I’ve already spent on you. [/quote]

Ya b/c you can’t find anything to pick apart, so go ahead and make a retarded blanket statement. Where do I have resentment towards americans? I mean if i did, what am I doing over there shopping at walmart and buying gas? Resentment is towards morons like you that don’t know how to be patriotic about your own country.

Talk about narrow minded, who’s the one taking my illustrative example of a couple of towns and applying it to a nationwide level as if those were the only differences that existed. As I already said I was contrasting 2 towns, not the province vs the state, and not the whole of canada and america, why is that so hard for you to understand? I gave you a few differences from my own experience, those are i’m sure a sampling of differences, not all of them.

What stats, fuck at least I bothered to run a 2sec google search and provide a link. Link I provided has canada at 11th for obesity.

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Canadians have a sense of ‘enough’, which I find lacking in the states. The ‘more-is-always-better’ philosophy is not as prevalent here.
I visit the states a few times a year and have noticed that, we prefer to walk a lot more, or we don’t walking. Folks in the US are a nanosecond away from pulling out car keys.

Canadians are also more likely to accept the status quo, where as US citizens are a lot more risk taking.

Overall, Canadians (atleast in the in the east) identify more with Europe than the States

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js385787 can you tell me why you would wager anyone past Quebec “wishes they were American”?

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[quote]js385787 wrote:
I’d wager and say anyone past quebec is not very patriotic in canada, and wish they were american, which is pretty pathetic. Quite different in atlantic provinces in terms of culture and experience. [/quote]

You sir, are misinformed.

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[quote]majik wrote:

[quote]js385787 wrote:

[quote]fraggle wrote:

[quote]krayon wrote:
Quebec is the athletic powerhouse of Canada. They produce disproportionate amount of athletes. I guess they’re the Canadian equivalent of blacks in America with regards to athletics.[/quote]

I don’t suppose you have any stat’s to back this up, because I just looked at a breakdown of CFL, NHL, and 2010 Olympic stats by province, which refute your statement.

[/quote]

Olympic weightlifting maybe, only thing I can think of. I never saw any great performances at any cis t&f meets.[/quote]

they are strength powerhouse. Powerlifting, Olympic, strongman athletes are insanely strong from over there.
[/quote]
Strongman yes. Powerlifting not as much - at least not in the CPU.
http://www.powerlifting.ca/rankings/rank10/OpM-PL.htm
Quebec has only 1 of the top 25 all time male lifters.

71

I enjoy touring by motorcycle and have been to every state in the U.S and, of course every province in Canada. I have spent a lot of time in many U.S and Canadian cities and small towns and in my experience, there are veyr few differences between americans and canadians. In fact I would say there are greater differences in the regions of each nation than the nations themselves.
The only noticeable difference that I see (and this is a broad generalization) is more americans than canadians seem to be brought up and educated to see the world through and either/or, right or wrong perspective. Perhaps it’s a reflection of the political system of the U.S that you must choose, wholy, one side or another and to choose to cherry pick the things that simply make sense to you, is seen as weakness. Of course, the truth almost always lies in the grey or in the middle and is rarely at one end of the spectrum.

Again, this is a sweeping generalization and I do know many americans who don’t fit the above discription.

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I find sometimes that Canadian culture defines itself by negative representation. For example we define our nationality by being distinctly “not American”. If you’re Canadian your less likely to be obese (questionable), don’t pay for HMO, aren’t gun loving (again questionable), etc.

Now I imagine this happens because we are positioned right next to a country that garners more international attention than ourselves and it there is a need to set ourselves apart. I don’t partake in this but it’s noticeable amongst the Canadian population.

Other than that were a bunch of bad-ass lumberjacks who brew great beer and mass produce Canadian bacon.

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[quote]js385787 wrote:
I’d wager and say anyone past quebec is not very patriotic in canada, and wish they were american, which is pretty pathetic. Quite different in atlantic provinces in terms of culture and experience. [/quote]

LOL, epic stupid remark.
Have you traveled past the end of your own driveway? Have you ever visited the province or met any people from Quebec?

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ONE TWO THREE FOUR CANADA DESERVES MORE…money.

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[quote]dianab wrote:

[quote]js385787 wrote:
I’d wager and say anyone past quebec is not very patriotic in canada, and wish they were american, which is pretty pathetic. Quite different in atlantic provinces in terms of culture and experience. [/quote]

LOL, epic stupid remark.
Have you traveled past the end of your own driveway? Have you ever visited the province or met any people from Quebec? [/quote]

Stupid how? I’d say you’re stupid to make a comment like that if you can’t bother to explain why you disagree and then bother asking a question I’ve already answered above. I already told you all where i’ve lived in the past, and ya i’ve been to quebec more than a few times living up near edmundston, nb, it isn’t that far. Where have you lived?

From my observations Atlantic candians are more patriotic about where they’re from. Quebecers are also more patriotic about where they’re from as well, however perhaps not in terms of wanting to be part of canada specifically since they have the bloc party there, but certainly I would say they have more of a distinct identity from the US than those in the west. Likewise atlantic canada seems to have more of a distinct identity from the states than those out west.

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[quote]colin1168 wrote:
js385787 can you tell me why you would wager anyone past Quebec “wishes they were American”?
[/quote]

I don’t really see why everyone is focused on this remark like I said it in a factual matter (not you specifically). That is why I said I’d wager on it. You can all disagree if you want, it’s an opinion.

I would wager on it b/c 1) anyone I’ve ever met who has had a disdain for their own country was from ontario and westward and in my travelings and living arrangements atlantic canada is more patriotic. Come live in NL and tell me you disagree after living here a couple years.

77

[quote]Shipshape wrote:
I find sometimes that Canadian culture defines itself by negative representation. For example we define our nationality by being distinctly “not American”. If you’re Canadian your less likely to be obese (questionable), don’t pay for HMO, aren’t gun loving (again questionable), etc.

Now I imagine this happens because we are positioned right next to a country that garners more international attention than ourselves and it there is a need to set ourselves apart. I don’t partake in this but it’s noticeable amongst the Canadian population.

Other than that were a bunch of bad-ass lumberjacks who brew great beer and mass produce Canadian bacon.[/quote]

Obviously there’s lots of similarities, as well as differences. Celebrating the differences is one of the things that makes someone patriotic.

YOu guys saying there’s no big differences are out to lunch. How about healthcare, military and the government structure, climate, language? There’s a couple of big ones for you all.

78

I’ve lived all over Canada, here is my take:

Atlantic provinces - friendly provinces, largely rural, mostly white, income is lower overall, NB also has alot of french people, close to the ocean, lots of trees.

Quebec - the only french province, alot of english in montreal, compared to the rest of Canada I find most of them to be assholes with an inferiority complex, welfare state mostly - lots of social programs (ex: 7 dollar a day daycare) and cry babies for government money.

Prairies - flat and boring mostly, alot of rural areas, eastern Manitoba is nicest I think, the rural areas look poor to me, the people are friendly though, saskatoon and winnipeg have alot of crime, which imo is due to their large indian population.

West coast - BC is prob the most scenic province, having mountains and ocean both, lots of dope smokers, and lots of hikers and skiers, etc given the natural environment there. Alberta has some nice areas on the border of BC but really its mostly flat and boring. Alot of people associate it with cowboys but that is not reality at all. Lots of big game hunting there also.

North - never been there but there are lots of indians, inuit etc, it’s obviously cold, you get a northern allowance just to live there, high rate of suicide also.

Overall the large cities have highest proportion of immigrants, vancouver, calgary, toronto, montreal, etc), and are generally filled with more assholes and idiots. Generally the cites are filled with liberal pansies and politically correct morons. The rural areas are more conservative, and much more manly. On that note alot of people associate Canada with hating guns but where I grew up everyone had rifles in their house and this is pretty common in the rural areas. The laws here favour crooks though, you cannot really defend your property with lethal force without getting in trouble with the law.

Canada also has alot of leeches that come here, since we have free health care, welfare, and pander to immigrants, if you’re one of those please fuck off. If you can contribute something to our society than welcome.

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^ Where i believe your regional generalizations are over bearing and moronic, i agree with the gun part. I hope legislature passes that rifle/shotgun bill in which they do not require registration due to our large population of hunters/farmers. A shotgun in the house should be the right of every law abiding citizen without the hassle of registration or being looked down upon, but some people aren’t realists.

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[quote]OBoile wrote:

[quote]majik wrote:

[quote]js385787 wrote:

[quote]fraggle wrote:

[quote]krayon wrote:
Quebec is the athletic powerhouse of Canada. They produce disproportionate amount of athletes. I guess they’re the Canadian equivalent of blacks in America with regards to athletics.[/quote]

I don’t suppose you have any stat’s to back this up, because I just looked at a breakdown of CFL, NHL, and 2010 Olympic stats by province, which refute your statement.

[/quote]

Olympic weightlifting maybe, only thing I can think of. I never saw any great performances at any cis t&f meets.[/quote]

they are strength powerhouse. Powerlifting, Olympic, strongman athletes are insanely strong from over there.
[/quote]
Strongman yes. Powerlifting not as much - at least not in the CPU.
http://www.powerlifting.ca/rankings/rank10/OpM-PL.htm
Quebec has only 1 of the top 25 all time male lifters.[/quote]

They also dominate Olympic weightlifting. I seriously think they have half the lifters at the nationals.