ctraveler

Canadians are not nearly as LOUD as Americans
Canadians do not live in Igloos contrary to what many Americans think
Canada has EI
Canada is more expensive to fly to and around than the USA
Canada does not have housing projects like they do in the American cities
Canadians are not as FAT as Americans (although many are heading this way)
Canada has the natural resources that the USA wants
Canadians have a higher percentage of citizens with passports then Americans (and they use them)

Almost Canadian

I believe that that is a myth that Canadians spout to make themselves feel better.

I have never met an American that does not feel proud of their country or their flag. To suggest that they would swap it for the flag of a country they believe is inferior is ludicrous.

ExKiwilass

No it's not.

I have met several. They have emigrated here by choice as they don't want to live in the US anymore or raise their children there. Why? MarylandNed covered a lot of the reasons. Overall they like Canadian values better than American ones, and choose to be here. It's actually not that easy for Americans to emigrate here either unless they have the required skills.

I really think it's a myth that "Americans" think Canada is inferior. Either that or I keep meeting Americans that love a lot of what Canada has to offer. I also think it depends a lot on which Americans you're talking about. For instance, the OH has cousins in Alabama who are surrounded by people who really believe Alabama is the best place on earth, that girls should do cheerleading and get married, et.c etc. They have to take trips abroad every year to keep sane. But there's plenty of people in the US who don't think that way.

Lychee

You're talking about two countries that are CONTINENTAL in scale with huge regional differences. (Somebody living in Vancouver has more in common with somebody living in Seattle than they do with somebody living in Toronto, for example.)

In any case, I think the person who said "attitude" is spot on.

The general attitudes of Americans vs. Canadians are the main day-to-day differences.

That, and in Canada, there's French and English on every label.

cxx

The cost of pretty much everything is lower in the US - all the more annoying given the parity between the two dollars!! A lot of retailers show both prices - greetings cards are a good example - then complain that Canadians head to the US to go shopping

dbd33

Eh? I'm not sure why you suggest they couldn't contend in Canada. A partial list of frothing loons elected in Canada is: Stephen Harper, Jason Kenney, Preston Manning, Stockwell Day. Right of Bush, thicker than Palin. She's more photogenic of course but I don't think it would be impossible for a physically attractive person to be elected in Canada. It just hasn't happened yet.

dbd33

Three, in Toronto: St. Jamestown, Regent Park, City Place.

Got a link for that? It seems extremely improbable.

triumphguy

DBD you're wearing the wrong specs again:

Percentage of Canadians with passports versus Americans

That would be 30% of Americans versus 60% of Canadians.

Firearms deaths:
Approximately 70 percent of the total murders in the U.S. are committed with firearms, versus about 30 percent in Canada.[11]

Day to day differences: we have the Queen on the money, French on labelling, kilometres on the roads, and less flags flying!

Alan2005

Must be a backpacker thing. None of the americans I knew in thailand pretended to be canadian. The one canadian I did know was puzzled as to why on earth I would want to move to canada.

Novocastrian

A bit off topic, but here's an important year to year difference:

Christmas Day 1981 in Riverside California; +25 C. Spent sipping gin and tonics with limes fresh from the tree in the yard.

Christmas Day 1982 in Toronto Ontario; -28 C. Spent wondering what the hell I was doing here.

Joe_Sleepy

I know of two totally unrelated American couples who always traveled with Canadian patches on their luggage & jackets..

They both explained they felt safer if any potential terrorists thought they were Canadian.

A couple of Aussie friends used to travel wearing white T-shirts with "I am an Australian, I am not an American" emblazoned across them in red ink & translated into various Arabic languages...

Americans don't understand that much of the world doesn't really like them..

fledermaus

Just back from a week in North Carolina

NC inhabitants don't tailgate, Ontarians do.
NC less scruffy looking
NC more diverse population-apart from Toronto, nowhere beats that.
Better disabled facilities
NC rural is mostly run down shacks and trailers, but not surrounded but old cars, trucks and garbage. Ontario rural, run down houses and old cars
NC has better roads
Everything cheaper, tax etc but you pay out in other ways
You pay at the gas stations before you fill the car.

Alan2005

Doesn't the first half of this post contradict the second?

lgspoke

On the gun ownership.. absolutely agree, gun related homicides, U.S. is worse. See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ted_death_rate

However, this data is quite old(ish)

JamesM

People in the US earn more money and can also purchase a greater selection of goods that are cheaper.

Canada is safer but has much worse radio.