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50 Facts for Americans about Canada

by Liv | Published on November 11th, 2007, 7:59 pm | Travel
I'm sure several of you living in the arctic circle will come along in a second and approve or dispel these. I laughed, which is never a good thing when you have the flu. Thought I'd share, and just to beat Matt to the punchline, yes.... I'm one angry, mean American. I suppose I should blog about fluffy puppies, and lipstick? Right...

Obviously written by a Canadian him/herself:

I have collected certain facts about Canada. If you use only two or three of them, to a Canadian it will look as if you know a lot about our country. They will be impressed.

THE LIST

1. We DO NOT have snow all year round. We DO NOT live in igloos. We DO NOT ride around on dog sleds. We DO NOT have to check the back yard for polar bears, before we let our kids go out to play.

2. Stop asking if we know somebody in Canada, when you find out we're Canadian. We DON'T know everybody in Canada.

3. Canadians do not find, "Say 'eh' for me," to be particularly funny.

4. Our president is called a Prime Minister.

5. We have never had a Prime Minister assassinated. Although we've been tempted, a few times.

6. We're a lot bigger than you, in land mass, but our population is considerably less. The populations of Los Angeles and New York City would be around 30 million people. The entire nation of Canada has around 32 million people. Due to the fact that most of our country is in the northern latitudes, we huddle close to the border, for warmth.

7. In the War of 1812, we kicked your butts. The reason why your Whitehouse is white is because we set fire to it and it was whitewashed to hide the damage (for propaganda purposes). The west wing was almost completely gutted. Some Americans will say that THEY won the war. However, to win, a party must reach their objective. Your objective was to take over British North America (what Canada was called then), our goal was to stop you. You don't have any more northern territory along the Canada/US border than you did before 1812. So who won? (Alaska doesn't count, you BOUGHT that state from Russia.)

8. A form of baseball was played in Toronto three weeks before Alexander Doubleday played the 'first' game of baseball in your country.

9. We do not find the term "Canuck" derogatory, like Americans find "Yank" derogatory. It apparently originated during World War One. Your soldiers were call "dough-boys" ours were called "Johnny Canucks". I think the British coined the term, but I'm not sure.

10. We did not have a "Wild West". The forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Mounties), the Northwest Mounted Police, kept the peace. Due to the fact that they were a national police force, you could not escape their jurisdiction. They always got their man. Or woman. We have had our share of outlaws, though. Many famous pirates had their headquarters on the east coast of Canada.

11. Speaking of Mounties, they do not all ride horses. So don't try to outrun them if you see their lights in your rear view mirror.

12. We get the same TV shows and channels as you do. So don't ask "Do you get [name of show] up there in Canada?"

13. We are not "just like Americans", we have our own national identity, we just haven't figured out what it is, yet. Someone once said that, "Canadians are unarmed Americans with health care." That pretty much sums it up, I guess. We are internationally (but unofficially) known as the "World's Most Polite Nation."

14. Our national animal is the beaver. Sure it's just a rodent, but they're not even CLOSE to being extinct. You can still get money for beaver pelts. It is NOT our main unit of exchange, we have money, just like you.

15. We do not find the fact that Americans wear Canadian flag pins (so they can get better treatment in Europe) very amusing. So stop it.

16. Contrary to popular belief, the Klondike Gold Rush happened mostly in Canada, not Alaska. American prospectors were stopped at the border and had their liquor, gambling paraphernalia and firearms confiscated by the Mounties.

17. We have Thanksgiving in October, so we don't look like copycats (it IS an American originated holiday, after all). However, we celebrate Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Passover and other holidays at the same time you do.

18. We were formed, as a nation, in 1867.

19. We do not trade in beaver pelts, blankets and gunpowder. We have currency. Unlike you, however, we have a two dollar bill. (Although you had them during your bi-centennial celebration.) Actually, our two dollar bill is a COIN. Our bills have pictures of birds on them and are multi-coloured. Our one dollar coin has a picture of a loon on it, so it's called a "Loonie". The two dollar coin has a picture of a polar bear on it, so it's called a "Toonie". (Don't ask, I'm as confused as you are on this one.) There are plans afoot to mint a five-dollar coin, we have no idea what to call it.

20. November the 11th is called Remembrance Day, up here. It is a day when all Canadians honour our war dead and the veterans who are still amongst us. It's significance is that on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month the Armistice was signed, ending World War One.

21. Not every Canadian speaks French. In fact, Canada is the only country where speaking French is not cool.

22. We spell words differently. Honour, valour, defence, neighbour, colour, centre and other words are from the British way of spelling. We also pronounce the last letter of the alphabet "zed", not "zee".

23. The Queen of England is not our national leader. She's' just a figure head and somebody to put on our money with the birds. (Some Royalists in Canada will have something different to say about his, but they're a minority.)

24. In Canada the term "bilingual" does not mean the person can speak two languages, it specifically means "speaks both English and French". Canada has two official languages, they are (coincidentally) English and French.

25. Members of our Senate are appointed by the national party in power. It is a life time position. Even though they are not elected by the people, they can still control government legislation.

26. Our states are called Provinces. We even have three Territories.

*

A territory is created through federal law. In this case, Crown (government) lands in the territories are retained by the federal government in the Crown in right of Canada. This differs from the provinces, which own provincial lands in the Crown in right of the province.
*

Secondly, in a territory, federal Parliament may enter into provincial-type affairs, such as school curriculum.
*

Thirdly, territorial governments are not included in the Constitutional amending formula (this is the way Canada decides if we want to change something in the Canadian Constitution). Provinces get a vote when a change is proposed — territories don't.

The provinces and territories are, from east to west:

PROVINCE "PROVINCIAL KNICKNAME" & CAPITAL

Newfoundland and Labrador, "The Rock", St. John's

Nova Scotia, "Canada's Atlantic Playground", Halifax

New Brunswick, "Picture Province", Fredericton

Prince Edward Island, "Home of Confederation", Charlottetown

Quebec, "La Belle Province", Quebec City

Ontario, "Canada's Heartland", Toronto

Manitoba, "Keystone Province", Winnipeg

Saskatchewan, "Canada's breadbasket ", Regina

Alberta, "Wild Rose Province", Edmonton

British Columbia, "Pacific Playground", Victoria

Yukon Territories, Whitehorse

Northwest Territories, "The beautiful land", Yellowknife

Nunavut, "Our Land" (the Inuit homeland), Iqaluit (formerly Frobisher Bay)

27. Our governors are called Premiers.

28. Our Federal Governments are formed by the party who received the majority of votes (just like your system). Unlike your system, we do not vote for the person who we would want to be leader of our nation, we vote for the local representative in the territory they are responsible for (called a Riding). The party who had the most local representatives (seats) voted in -- is the ruling party. The party who came in second is known as Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. (This is done because we have more than two national parties.) The Opposition's job is to keep the ruling party honest and prevent them from getting into any skulduggery. (It doesn't always work.) We have elections every four years, but the ruling party can call an election earlier, if they so choose.

29. Our Prime Minister does not have a limit on how many terms in office they can do. The record is held by Liberal leader Pierre Eliot Trudeau who stayed leader of the country for around 16 years. It is known as the Trudeau Era.

30. We have had a women Prime Minister. Her name was Kim Campbell. She was Deputy Prime Minister (that's what we call our Vice President) when the Prime Minister of that time, Brian Mulroney, quit. There was an election shortly after that (the Deputy PM is not allowed to finish the term, like the Vice President is).

31. You don't have to be born in Canada, to be Prime Minister.

32. Many Canadians have never played hockey in their lives. There are many who do not like hockey.

33. Besides, our national sport is not hockey, it's lacrosse. It's one of the few sports that originated on the North American continent, it was played by the natives.

34. We didn't invent hockey, we just made it better.

35. Canadian football is different. The Canadian Football League (CFL) has larger end-zones, the football is bigger, and they have one more 'down'. We don't support it much and a few teams have gone bankrupt. Despite the fact that many say it is better than American football, others (who don't particularly like Canadian football) use the expression "run, pass, kick" to describe the game. Apparently, they feel this best describes every offensive strategy in the CFL.

36. Even if an "American" team wins the Stanley Cup (the "World Series" of hockey) it doesn't matter to us, because all your best players are Canadian.

37. On the other hand, if a "Canadian" team wins the World Series we ignore the fact that all our baseball players are American.

38. New York City has more murders in a week than the entire nation of Canada does all year.

39. We have no right to keep and bear arms. So leave your guns home if you're visiting, otherwise they'll be confiscated at the border. We have very strict gun laws, and fully automatic weapons are pretty much illegal. It almost takes an Act of God to get a licence to own a pistol. (This may be a contributing factor as to why we only have about 600 homicides a year, nation-wide.)

40. The border between Canada and the Republic of the United States holds the title of the "World's Longest Undefended Border".

41. Our side of Niagra falls is nicer looking than your side. In fact, even when Americans use images of the Falls in advertising and movies, they film the Canadian side. It's called Horse Shoe Falls, by the way.

42. That movie you thought was filmed in New York, or Seattle, or Chicago, or Los Angeles -- may have just been filmed in Vancouver, Montreal or Toronto.

43. On average four hundred thousand Americans visit Canada each year.

44. Canada has rednecks, too.

45. We pay anywhere from forty to forty-five percent income tax. This does not include Provincial Sales Tax (from 0% to 11% of many purchases, dependent on the particular province) or the national sales tax, the Goods and Services Tax (7% of any purchase over $1.00). Visitors to our country can get the GST they paid reimbursed by filling out a simple form.

46. Our country got its name by mistake. When Jaques Cartier, a French explorer, came to the new world (around where present day Nova Scotia is) they met with local Natives who invited them to their 'kanata' or village. The Jesuit priest with Cartier's party (who was supposed to be providing translation services) misunderstood the native's meaning and told Cartier the name of the country was "Kanata" or Canada.

47. Canada is the only nation to have committed genocide (the complete eradication of a race of people). The Beothuk (bee-ah-took) natives of Newfoundland were hunted like animals. The last one died in prison in the early 1800's. There are no more Beothuk natives left in the world.

48. We call Eskimos "Inuit", because that's what they call themselves.

49. We own the North Pole, and therefore Santa Claus is Canadian. The internationally recognized mailing address for jolly old St. Nick is:

Santa Claus
North Pole
Canada
H0H 0H0

So you better not pout, you better not cry, you better not shout, I'm telling you why: Santa Claus is a Canuck.

50. Forget about Columbus and Plymouth Rock. Canada was the first place in North America to be settled by Europeans. There was a Viking colony, established by Leif Ericson, circa 1000 B.C. However, natives attacked the settlements and the Vikings decided that it would be better for everybody if they just went home.

 
 
zzzzzzzz.....
November 11th, 2007, 10:28 pm
Matt
 
haha..love'em all...as a Canadian I love reading this stuff...
Cheers! *Bottom's up*
November 20th, 2007, 3:50 pm
John
 
There are so many factual errors and distortions that I haven't bothered to itemise them.

e.g.

'Own the North Pole' indeed! The North pole is a point in the Arctic Ocean and Canada has no more jurisdiction than the US, Denmark or Russia.

"18. We were formed, as a nation, in 1867." is incompatible with "47. Canada is the only nation to have committed genocide (the complete eradication of a race of people). The Beothuk (bee-ah-took) natives of Newfoundland were hunted like animals. The last one died in prison in the early 1800's."

Canada obviously could not 'as a nation' committed genocide 50 years before it was formed as a nation.

The Beothuk were a tribe not a 'race', they were not 'hunted like animals' and the last known Beothuk was Shanawdithit who died of tuberculosis on June 6, 1829 on a trip back to her people after helping William Cormack at the Beothuck Institute - founded to foster a positive relationship with the Beothuk, and study and support their culture. Unfortunately it was reduced to documenting their extinction.

30. We have had a women Prime Minister. Her name was Kim Campbell. She was Deputy Prime Minister (that's what we call our Vice President) when the Prime Minister of that time, Brian Mulroney, quit. There was an election shortly after that (the Deputy PM is not allowed to finish the term, like the Vice President is).
A party in office can elect any leader at any time and that person can lead the party as Prime Minister until the next general election which can be when the term is up, at the Premier's discretion or if they lose a vote of confidence.

i.e. it's the usual Internet emailed 'did you know' misinformation. Some right some wrong, mostly 'so-what?'
November 20th, 2007, 6:59 pm
User avatar
A Person
 
Location: Slightly west of the Great White North
Uh, the Queen is our Head of State and in that sense is most definitely our "leader". She is the head of the all military forces and she must sign all bills that have been passed by a majority of both houses of parliament (which can become quite a political role when you have a minority government). She is not purely symbolic, as she embodies the people and is their to ensure that democracy is maintained.
November 26th, 2007, 4:34 am
Caroline
 
Caroline wrote:Uh, the Queen is our Head of State and in that sense is most definitely our "leader". She is the head of the all military forces and she must sign all bills that have been passed by a majority of both houses of parliament (which can become quite a political role when you have a minority government). She is not purely symbolic, as she embodies the people and is their to ensure that democracy is maintained.


She is technically our head of state, but she is not our leader. She does not tell us when to go to war, she does not control ANY aspect of our lives. She does indeed sign bills and the like through the governor general, but she would rarely if ever say no. If she did try to say no or command Canadians to dos something that the government or people do not want to do, do you really think we would go along with it? We would cut our ties with the monarchy in an instant, unless of course it was small matter we are polite. A leader she most definitely is NOT.
November 19th, 2008, 4:48 pm
Somethinorother
 
Caroline wrote:Uh, the Queen is our Head of State and in that sense is most definitely our "leader". She is the head of the all military forces and she must sign all bills that have been passed by a majority of both houses of parliament (which can become quite a political role when you have a minority government). She is not purely symbolic, as she embodies the people and is their to ensure that democracy is maintained.

ummmm no shes not shes only symbolic she has no connection with canada other wise canada in no longer controled by the british and i know i'm crackin right because i've been doing canadian history for 2 years now
January 7th, 2009, 4:06 am
amanda
 
amanda wrote:ummmm no shes not shes only symbolic she has no connection with canada other wise canada in no longer controled by the british and i know i'm (expletive) right because i've been doing canadian history for 2 years now

Perhaps you should look at the current crisis, where the Governor General held the unilateral power to prorogue parliament, rather than allow the Conservative minority government to face a confidence vote they would certainly have lost. The Prime Minister, Steven Harper, had to go cap-in-hand to the Queen's representative to ask her to prorogue parliament, he could not do that himself. This is not symbolic power, it directly determined who would govern Canada.

History is happening right now, (expletive) pay attention and maybe you'll pass your history course.
January 7th, 2009, 11:08 am
User avatar
A Person
 
Location: Slightly west of the Great White North
"Yank" is derogatory? Hmmm, I didn't know that. I'll remember to be insulted next time I hear it ;) Seriously, I just thought it was a short way for folks across the pond to say "American."

BTW we don't have a real designation. "American" applies to people from Argentina to Alaska, and "North American" applies to Canadians as well as us. Yank actually sounds a bit patriotic to me. Maybe we should take that "derogatory" term and make it our own. We already adopted the song.

Anyway, great job on the humor. I corrected an Australian a number of years back who thought all Americans ran around carrying sidearms. We all have our preconceptions.
March 17th, 2009, 10:12 am
Pam
 
the CFL has one less down (3 downs instead of 4 in NFL)
March 20th, 2009, 7:33 pm
canuck
 
Trudeau doesn`t hold the record, Mackenzie King does he had it for 28 years but it was in different time frames
August 28th, 2009, 2:55 am
lajgldjöldgj
 
We pay anywhere from forty to forty-five percent income tax
. This does not include Provincial Sales Tax (from 0% to 11% of many purchases, dependent on the particular province) or the national sales tax, the Goods and Services Tax (7% of any purchase over $1.00). Visitors to our country can get the GST they paid reimbursed by filling out a simple form. "



Where the hell are you in Canada? I have never paid 40-45% income taxes in my life in Canada and I make over 100k a year. Try like 30% max. Then again I live in Alberta. There is no sales tax as well. We are allergic to taxes.
February 24th, 2010, 2:26 am
JaneH
 
He's talking about the top marginal tax rate, and while he is correct, it's a bit misleading
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html

The federal marginal income tax rate is 29% on income above $126,264
The provincial marginal income tax varies from 10% in Alberta to 17.6 in Manitoba

So he is correct that some Canadians do pay between 39% and 46.6% on the portion of their taxable income over $126,000.

Let's use as an example a person with a net taxable income of say $200,000 ($230,00 gross before deductions)

$48,103 federal income tax and
$20,000 Provincial income tax in Alberta for a net tax rate of 35%
or
$31,080 Provincial income tax in Manitoba for a net tax of 40%

For someone with a net taxable income of $100,000 ($130 gross) the numbers would be
$18,891 federal income tax and
$10,000 Provincial income tax in Alberta for a net tax rate of 30%
or
$13,680 Provincial income tax in Manitoba for a net tax of 33.5%

So you're both right 8)

And it's not that Albertans are allergic to taxes - rather that with massive oil and gas royalties, taxes are subsidised by the energy industry.
February 24th, 2010, 11:36 am
User avatar
A Person
 
Location: Slightly west of the Great White North
As a dual citizen of both countries I can say that the way in which this is written is grating. Canada wants to hold onto their special British roots. Americans are from these same roots.
Both countries were stocked with the same fish- British peoples who wanted to get the heck out of the UK. But then instead of being a milking cow for the British- Americans decided taxation without representation is the worst! Canadians liked having a daddy. Canadians are somewhat desperate to think they are unique from Americans but I can tell you they are the same. You cannot tell if someone is Canadian by looking at them which makes them secretly furious as they want to feel superior. Now of course both countries are full of people from places from all over the world and that freshness is the best thing for both countries health.
September 3rd, 2010, 11:26 am
carbon based life form
 

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