How similar is Canada to the USA?

 Allan:

How similar is Canada to the U.S.A.

I lived in Canada for 28 years, and have lived in the USA for 31.

At first glance they are so similar that someone dropped into the downtown of most major Canadian cities (Montreal, Quebec City, and a few others are different enough to stand out from typical US cities) would not immediately realize they are not in the USA. The same could be said of someone dropped into many rural area in Canada (again there are distinctive rural areas, but many look just like US rural areas).

But the more you look and the longer time you spent there, the more differences you would note.

The first things I noticed when moving to the USA was the number of homeless people in the city (Washington DC), how quickly a “good” area of town transitioned into a “bad” area of town (within a block), and the fear those in the US had of walking alone in a city at night (most simply don’t do it, they walk back to their cars in an indoor parking garage and drive everywhere). I used to walk anywhere and everywhere in Ottawa, at 2:00am, when I couldn’t sleep. Never once had an issue.

Another obvious difference is how many people are armed. In Canada the RCMP use (or at least used to use) closed holsters. I seem to recall that most local police forces do as well. In the Washington DC every police officer, and every security guard, is carrying in an open holster. I still remember the first time I saw a firearm in the open in Canada. I was driving West on Wellington Street in Ottawa, past the US Embassy (old site), and there was a uniformed officer standing guard outside, openly carrying a firearm. I was so shocked I nearly swerved out of my lane.

The things that take a little longer to notice are:

Canadian commitment to universal health care versus US commitment to corporate profits (those insurance company CEOs NEED their bonuses!!).

USA Today “man in the street” interviews. I don’t know if USA Today still does this, but every time there was some sort of international incident, USA Today would briefly interview ten people and at least 6 out of 10 would want the US to nuke the bastards. If anyone tried this in Canada it would be 0 out of 10, and Canada VOLUNTARILY gave up nuclear weapons shortly after WWII.

The differences go much further. While there are wide ranges of opinions in each country, the majority of Canadians see themselves as working together for a better society for all, while the USA is far more tribal (and racist), and there is rather more fear of crime, and fear of others in the USA.

There is far far more hate and anger in the USA.

Canadians have more choices in political parties, and all national parties that actually get reasonable support from the electorate are generally more middle of the road (by western democracy standards, left by US standards) than the two US parties. Just as an example, no national Canadian political party would support undoing universal health care. They might differ on how to organize it.

While many Canadians have strongly held religious views most WOULD NOT DREAM of imposing their views on anyone else. Religious views are NOT a justification for discrimination. It is — in general — a polite, considerate society. If you stand on a street corner yelling out your hate for a specific group, you will be mostly ignored, but some Canadians will come to the defense of the group you are hating. If you continue with hate speech and threats, you will probably be arrested and charged.

By and large Canadians believe in alliances, believe in working with other countries, and support the UN. Nothing is perfect, but reasonable people (and countries) can negotiate reasonable compromises. The USA first helped create the mess the UN is in by limiting what the UN could actually do (the USA did not want the UN telling it what to do), and then complains (ad nauseam) about how ineffective the UN is (at least in accomplishing what the USA wants).

Canadians are generally extremely well informed about what is going in the USA (Canadians get most US channels and radio stations, and follow US politics) and elsewhere in the world, whereas many US citizens know rather little about what happens outside the USA.

There is greater wealth in the US and greater inequality in wealth. Salary scales are more compressed in Canada, and taxes are higher (you would have to dig in to this, because things are taxed differently) in Canada, at least partly to support the social safety net. My annual income had greater purchasing power after I moved to the USA.

There is less variation in quality of education at the public school and University level in Canada. A great public school in Canada is somewhat better than a merely average, whereas the differences (at least in part due to the vast differences in local taxation that fund public schools) are much greater in the USA. Canadian Universities cost far less than US universities and they are not considered to have as great a difference in the quality of education as that perceived in the USA.

Alexander Meller