2004 Year in Review

Canada: Our Friend to the North

I read or heard the other day that the absolute worst title you could give a book (i.e. you don't want anyone to buy it) would be "Canada: Our Friend to the North." If you are already asleep, hopefully someone will whisper "Iraq" in your ear before you drool all over the keyboard or see hash marks dancing across your screen.

This may come as a surprise to many folks, but not everyone thinks like we Americans do. I suppose in many ways Canadians are a lot like us, but if you believe anything Michael Moore (documentary film maker of "Roger and Me," and "Bowling for Columbine") says, they don't kill each other with guns at the same regularity as we do. Canadians have as many guns as we do and probably more per capita, and I'm sure have hunting accidents and fits of rage, but for some reason do not use them as often as we do to kill each other. Go figure.

Canadians do not lock their doors. No American would admit to that for fear that the moving van would show up and all their belongings would be gone soon after. In Canada the booze and cigarettes might go missing and it was probably the neighbor kid who took them.

I do know Canadians are taxed a lot more than we are and seem to accept it. This includes exceptionally high taxes on alcohol and cigarettes and yet they don't seem to drink or smoke any less than we do. They pay a type of sales tax called VAT which varies by province (as opposed to "state" - there's another difference) but is usually quite a bit higher. They have more benefits like universal health coverage and cheaper drugs too. In fact the outgoing Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said something like "hope you American's have fun saving the world from terrorism while I kick back and enjoy some weed." At least in some provinces, small quantities of marijuana are legal. Gay marriages are likewise legal in some provinces. Maybe we are nothing like Canadians except we both call our currency "dollars?"

I would hazard a guess that you do not know who the current Prime Minister of Canada is or that it even changed recently. We've been on the Presidential campaign trail for about 4 years here in the USA and it is heating up daily, but in Canada the head guy could change in an instant and no one would know. The new guy is Paul Martin. I'm sure the news wasn't in the Sentinel and I don't think it was in the NY Times either. How about the capitol of Canada? Do you know where that is? My guess is that 99% of Americans do not. It is Ottawa in the province of Ontario, but on the border with Quebec. I'm told it is a beautiful city.

We don't learn much Canadian history in our schools here, but I just came along an amazing (new to me) fact. Canadians had a "go west young man" attitude probably before we did. Those two white guys who paddled by Whiteside County in 1673 (Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet) began their journey in Canada. And when the government there in Canada decided sending settlers further west might be a good idea they sent a police force out to establish law and order first before letting the rabble loose on Indian lands. What a concept! That police force eventually became known as The Royal Canadian Mounted Police or "Mounties." Most Americans who don't even know their history except for old movies "respect" the Mounties.

I worked in Canada for about 4 years off the east coast of Nova Scotia and on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. The guys there seemed just like me and except for a twang in the lilt (even more pronounced in Newfoundland) sound like me too. The only perceptible difference I could see was that they learned how to ice skate before they could walk. Otherwise they are just like us, only think different. They aren't "afraid" of everything.

by Marc Adami, Guest Columnist
January 14, 2004