I liked most of this post, except just a few things.

I think that our bilingualism is a burden, not a grace. I would much prefer a solid english-speaking country with an english national laguage. We are a British commonwealth, after all.

I think we should have term limits for our elected politicians, like they do in the States. If we did, we wouldn't be stuck with people in office like Chretien.

Canada has been involved in plenty of aggresive actions against other countries, even in un-peacekeeping causes. The Juno Beach Foundation is building a monument in France for the Canadians that helped to liberate France in WW2.

The UN is propped up almost exclusively by US funds. If the US backs out of the UN, the UN will fold. The UN could learn a lot from this. The US doesn't need the UN, the UN does need the US.

I am Canadian.



Originally posted by Fox
Mr. Beale,

As a Canadian, I take exception to your comment that Canada is “little America”. That is akin to calling The Netherlands “Little Germany” because they share a common border and similar language.
Canada and the United States are very different countries, just as the Netherlands and Germany are different.

We have a bilingual government, with two official languages. We have deep roots in France and England. We follow British parliamentary system and British common law principles. Ours is a nation founded on the principals of “order and good government”, a federation of provinces and territories who have joined together to share in mutual beneficial programs.

Canadian standards and values are not the same as those of our neighbours to the south. Ours is a multicultural society, as opposed to the melting pot. We have free universal medical service from cradle to grave. We do not believe the average person has a right to bear arms, and in fact, deplore violence and the use of force. We do not have the death penalty, anywhere. We have a single criminal code which applies across the entire nation – in fact, those powers not specifically designated to the provinces are automatically ceded back to the federal government, which is the opposite of the American system.

Our Prime Minister (not president) is elected from within his own political party, which must win a majority of representation across the entire country. This is the same in England and other countries which follow the British model. The situation where a president can have 1,000,000 fewer votes than his rival but be declared the winner because he won a tiny poll in a single area, cannot happen in our system.

Canada stands proud for never having been involved in an act of aggression against any country in the world. Canada stands proud for its history of defending the rights of weaker nations and peoples and for its peacekeeping efforts throughout the past 100 years. Canadian troops lay dead on the beaches of Europe and starved in prison camps in Asia years before the United States government became involved in a war against true oppressors.

Canada has lobbied for world peace through the United Nations, through the international agreement banning land mines (not signed by the US), through the World Court (not signed by the US) and through countless other initiatives not supported by “The land of the free and brave”.

Recently, Canadians have taken a lot of abuse from our neighbours to the south because we did not support an invasion of Iraq. This offends me. We are a sovereign nation, as Boccaccio points out, and have the right to make our own decisions.

Do not preach of American culture and how we want to be like you. Mr. Beale, the world does not hold Americans in the esteem that you think. Why else would American students traveling in Europe place red maple leafs on their knapsacks?

Think of the hypocrisy in watching American television: many programs have Canadian writers, producers and actors, the cameras used are made in Japan and Asia, and you are most likely watching a set manufactured by a Japanese owned company in Singapore or China.

Even this webiste is replete with Canadian writers, and I notice that your BDSM Tourguide hails from Alberta, not Alabama.

Do your homework, Mr. Beale, and learn about your neighbours to the north. Discover our history, our culture, and our contributions to the world, and consider that we have done these things with a population one-tenth the size of your own.
We are not “little Americans”, and by the grace of God, we never will be!

Fox - a very proud Canadian living in the True North Strong and Free.