After reading British Newspapers published in Canada and BBC Canada plus the questions asked on this forum it seems to me that the UK media does'nt provide too much info about Canada.

What do you think?

We're a long way from anywhere and don't poke our nasty sharp-ended shitty sticks into other people's business (well not too much anyway) so no need to be the hear all-see all-read all kinda nation. Being off the radar means there isn't too much happening, which is OK.

Less background noise means less red top media headlines about happy slapping, gang shootings, the latest antics of mass chavvery, Cherie Blair's latest scam deals, etc which all gets very tiresome.

Rich.

Don't get me wrong. Having a low key global profile similar to the Scandanavian countries for instance etc. is just fine with me.

It's just that some questions asked on this forum seem to be pretty basic.

I guess there's not much scope for stories saying 'Nothing much out of the ordinary happened in Canada again today'.

At least the Australians get drunk, wrestle sharks and chuck them on the barbie, I can't think of any Canadians who've done the same to grizzly bears .

IMHO I think people are just not travelled these days. Poor educayshun, innit. Plus what comes across appears to be a total lack of research ability and very low level confidence in getting out and finding out what it's really all about. Thus we get all the usual questions like -

'Where best to live' (Iqaluit)
'Best profession for my husband' (self employed Llama herder in northern AB)
'Can you confirm taxes are lower' (Yes. Possibly. It depends)
'I have no qualifications, can I work as a plumber/nuclear scientist/genetic engineer' (Yes, in Iqaluit)
'I have been advised to move to Vancouver to avoid the British rainy grey overcast depressing weather, is this a good move for me' (Yes, you'll be very happy there)
'Is British Columbia very British' (Yes it's just west of the Hebrides, they have tea shoppes and WI raffles and jam making and garden fetes and people still say 'jolly good')

/etc

Then once that phase is all done with, the reams of questions and concerns about availability of baby food, Heinz Baked Beans, worries about bear attacks, houses made of wood/paper/bear droppings, stringy bacon, price of cheese/chicken/Bisto etc. Whereabouts of rugby clubs, British Pubs, Masonic Temples, bawdy houses catering for SM, etc.

It's all very baffling I'm sure, thankfully the brighter and sharper ones out there work their way through the web of information/disinformation and get with the program.

zzz
Rich.

Llama farming sounds cool actually... maybe I'll give it a try .

One trusts it is not too akin to the Welsh pass time of Sheep Shagging.

I suppose if someone in Canada was caught Llama pimping it would at least get a mention in the Sun .

I once cycled past a stationary black bear - does that count?

Nope you are right . Canada is in the G8 so probably only gets a mention around summit time.


The web is a powerful thing though.

Alpacas are funkier and far prettier than sheep:

http://www.sojaa.org/

Like a furry four legged dolphin

Rich.

The Ottawa G8/Anti Globalization/Anti-Poverty/Anti-Slavery protests once wrought a bit of noise from the global media, soon went quiet though.



Rich.

Compared to Australia, that's true. But the personal ties between Canada and Britain are much weaker than those between Australia and Britain.

For example, the two-way "working holiday visa" traffic between Australia and the United Kingdom is many times greater than the equivalent UK/Canada figures. Not only does this build into personal ties over the longer term, but it of course leads to more inter-country marriages, dual citizen children etc.

I think Canada gets overshadowed by the US all the time.

I think ....... "Why would it?"

And it amazes me that some of the questions that are asked on this forum, could not be found out by the askers, who, afterall, had the wherewithall to actually discover this forum.

Personally I was rather slow to discover this site,...... so much so that I had already found most of the answers to questions I was asking myself, so find myself able to help others with their enquiries!

One person recently did point out that it was "nicer" to find things out by chatting with folks who had been there, done that, rather than the more impersonal web-searches one might do. I suppose so.