In spite of being the most friendly two countries in the world, with the longest undefended border, things have not always gone smoothly between Canada and the United States! (Mostly it's been the fault of the United States since they have a habit of being pushy and difficult!)
Here's a bunch of answers we got:
-Having marketing boards for agricultural products, to assure farmers a decent and stable income, while protecting the safety of the products (This caused a huge fuss at the most recent NAFTA negotiations.... including softwood lumber which the U.S. has been trying to screw us on for the past fifty years!)
-Having a carbon tax and other environmental protections (not enough, but stronger than down south)
-Having universal, public, single-payer medicare.
-Having more gun controls.
-Having the bulk of its education system public, with no subsidies to voucher, ‘charter’, or religious schools (except where Catholic schools are constitutionally protected)
-Having a non-partisan process for selecting Supreme Court justices.
-The first major irritant was during the war of 1812 when the U.S. sent a militia into S.W. Ontario (The battle of snake hill in London..., about 2 km from where I live) and instead of just fighting the Canadian forces as was normal, they burned down a bunch of houses and destroyed crops..., so we went down to Washington and BURNED DOWN THE WHITE HOUSE!
-WE DIDN'T JOIN THE VIETNAM WAR OR THE IRAQ WAR, BUT WE DID HELP GET THE HOSTAGES OUT OF IRAN!
-Having a prime minister like Justin Trudeau. The American wealthy oligarchs hate him as much as they hated his father. That’s why they are doing everything in their power to have him ousted like they did when they got Mulroney elected. The only reason they got Mulroney elected was to make sure the heavily American controlled Canadian oil industry could continue operating unimpeded by Trudeau seniors creation, Petro-Canada and the federal energy board. Mulroney and the conservatives were elected and he neutered Petro-Canada.
-We had a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) camera crew in Hanoi, North Vietnam at a time when the US was, officially, not bombing that city. The only reason that I know the detail was a friend who knew the camera crew but the public part of this story is history. They filmed an air raid then secretly returned to Toronto with the undeveloped film. The crew feared being found out by the CIA and harmed. The negatives were triplicated and dispersed for security then copies were made and delivered to the major US TV networks to be shown simultaneously with the CBC at an agreed time. That night the Pentagon was shown to be lying about its bombing of Hanoi, killing civilians, changing public opinion and the course of the undeclared war. Walter Cronkite, a famous war correspondent from WW2, as much as called the Pentagon to be liars by an alternative statement from the Pentagon about not bombing the city with CBC pictures of US navy jets showing their registration numbers.
-ALSO During the Vietnam War, Canada accepted draft evaders and deserters from the US Military. Many of those young men (almost all of the evaders and deserters were men, but many women immigrated at the same time, either with the men, or because they had become disgusted with the US government, and wanted to live in a less warlike country) have become some of our most successful citizens. They were bright, critical thinkers. Many were college-educated. The computer/digital era was in its infancy, and many of the “draft dodgers” dived in, and contributed to the success of Canada’s IT, and engineering development.
-Diplomatically, probably the biggest one, is Canada has had normal relations with Cuba always. Our government has always felt the best behaviour is to recognize their government and seek to get them working towards better human rights for their people. After fifty-plus years of a blockade by the USA, the Cuban government is still there and frankly uses the threats from the Yanqui Imperialists to gain points from its population.
-In the 1980’s Canada intended to put into production atomic-powered attack submarines. The Americans didn’t like this and used a treaty clause to block the United Kingdom from selling atomic reactors to a third party. Another treaty clause was to block Canada from accepting atomic reactors from a third party. Why Canada didn’t just make atomic reactors I’m sure I don’t know, but the programme was both costly and unpopular anyway, so it was cancelled.
-Another example is Canada’s sovereignty over the Northwest Passage, which the United States of America fails to recognize. This is going to become more and more important in the coming years due to climate change melting Arctic ice.
-During the FLQ crisis, (The October Crisis (French: Crise d'Octobre) occurred in October 1970 in the province of Quebec in Canada, mainly in the Montreal metropolitan area. Members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Deputy Premier Pierre Laporte [who was killed] and British diplomat James Cross.) Nixon sent a shitload of Army Rangers to Vermont. PM Trudeau threatened to shut down the St. Lawrence Seaway and blow up the canal and locks if the troops came into Canada. (All ships, no matter where in the Great Lakes they're from, have to go thru the Canadian section of the St. Lawrence Seaway by Montreal to get to the ocean!
-Another example is Canada’s sovereignty over the Northwest Passage, which the United States of America fails to recognize. This is going to become more and more important in the coming years due to climate change melting Arctic ice.
-Canada embraces the LGBTQ community. Canada has legalized pot. Canada has no abortion laws. Canada has single-payer healthcare. Canada has legal doctor-assisted euthanasia. Canada allows its citizens to go to Cuba. Canada is secular. Canada has paid familial leave.
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