Hi there,

The discussion regarding the wildly fluctuating cost of car insurance across the provinces, got me thinking.

So many things are different depending on the province, e.g.

* Provision of health care.
* Services provided for children/disabled people/the elderly.
* Cost of fuel.
* Level of taxation.
* Certification/professional standards.

All these things (and more) are different depending on which province you end up in.

Also, living in a remote area in BC, I have no daily awareness of 'Canada' - it's too big and most of it is too far away.

My question is, how does Canada manage to feel like a country, when it's provinces are so independent?

Just thought it would be an interesting thread.

That's exactly why questions like "what's it like in Canada? What's the weather like, the health service, the roads, the houses, the people, the food ..... ???" tend to get such short shrift from folks here on the boards!

I tend to agree ..... the IS no Canada, from that point of view.

Apart from Rona's .... which is "Proudly Canadian"!

We went there once, 2003, not sure it exists when you aren't there though.
I hope it exists because we'll be living there next Summer.

The U.S. is the same, go from one state to another and it's like going into a different country, different rules, laws, etc. Australia is also like that. It's got to do with sheer SIZE, and manageability of ......spread out...... social structures. So my geophysics teacher implied.

Canadians (and U.S.A.ers) have flags flying outside their houses to remind them what country they're in.

I grew up in southern Ontario and now live in the Kooteneys in BC. When in Ontario, I was part of southern Ontario only, didn't know or care much about the west or east etc. Now in BC, I am part of the Kooteneys and concentrate on the area here. I think this is normal--people in most countries are regional, rather than federal. In New Zealand, where I used to live, people consider themselves from the "South Island" or "North Island" and of course consider where they lived to be the better choice. In Australia, where I also lived, one considers oneself from an area in a state, not really as an Australian as a whole. I think it is really only when you travel abroad that you consider yourself part of the country as a whole. The only country where I found people thought of themselves as part of the whole country on a day to day basis was Singapore, and what other choice do you have there? It's a bit ridiculous to consider yourself 'from the east' verses the 'west' when it is technically possible to walk from one side of the country to the other.

Well there is Newfoundland and then there is 'Mainland' Canada. The existence of which has not yet been proved to our satisfaction although many Newfoundlanders head to the mysterious mecca of 'Alberta'. What is this Alberta you speak of?

Decades ago people from all over the world went to a place called Saudi Arabia. It was a big place; rather flat, mostly uninhabited. The locals were, and still are, rather conservative in their views. Not a great place to be a poof. But a great place to be if you didn't mind sand, rednecks and making bucketloads of money extracting oil for the benefit of people that didn't like you.

Today, people from all over are going to a place called Alberta. It's big; rather flat and mostly uninhabited. The locals are rather conservative in their views. Not a great place to be a poof. But a great place to be if you like oilsands.

For now.

The crude oil price dropped below $60/bbl today. If it drops below $50 and stays there, "poof" will be the sound the Albertan economy makes.

That's the beauty of it.

What's a Canadian? A Canadian can be anything or nothing.

If you don't like the political, economic or social climate of Alberta, you can move to PEI. You can move 'country' to 'country' with relative ease and not leave your country. Never in my life have I felt so regulated and watched by a government and attempted to be made aware of what national group X should be than my 5 years in England.

Couldn't the same question apply to the UK with devolution, national parliaments and the Scottish Independence Party ?

Scottish National party but we'll let you off with that one.

Most Scots that I know have never considered themselves to be 'British' and that makes me sad...sometimes. It is an alien and awkward concept that we only acknowledge grudgingly at passport control. However, that sense of not belonging to a Catch-all political entity does not stem from geographical size but rather from 1000+ years of mistrust and garrison mentality - on all sides and is a sad and pointless throwback.

To most Scots, Britain doesn't exist. England, Ireland, Scotland (and that other one ) are however very real and very relevant and unlike someone living in say Ontario not giving a stuff about the goings on in BC, the majority of Scots are very interested in what goes on in the other countries that comprise the British Isles.

Well said big man

Raine

The same way that the US manages to think of itself as a country with its 50 states which are all independent of one another just as the Canadian provinces are.

It is federal laws that bind them together. One big brother government with power over the little brother.

Oh Sarah I hadn't read your thread and started a new one. I'm sorry but your post would have been perfect for me to throw all my ramblings at! You have hit the nail on the head here as far as I am concerned and to be perfectly honest when folks on here (me included from time to time) whinge about others who are unhappy and complaining and saying to them that they mustn't have researched enough....come on this country is the second largest in the world! How can any new immigrants ever research all that can be researched?? It is a total minefield for them, and us to an extent! I've only ever been to 3 Provinces and some people have never been to more than one.

I read the linked thread and although yes the woman did get things a bit wrong BUT that was her experience of her little part of Canada. Sad really that perhaps if any of these desperately unhappy people had the wherewithall to go on tour for a while, they may just find their little piece of heaven that they are looking for. They think that all of Canada is one place, all the same but with slightly different scenery, when in fact it is more like loads of little countries within one large area.

Maybe we shouldn't be so hard on them eh? I say this to myself too as I have also been guilty of telling moaners to just get on with life and stop whinging. I feel bad now.

I'm Scottish, born and raised there and yet I NEVER consider myself to be Scottish! I always say I am British......but I do know what you mean, I don't know many like me.

Shame on you

Raine