This post is intended to correct certain fallacies on both sides of the Canadian issue.

CaptainPrefrences Said:

"I know most of you guys think of us Canadians as people that live in igloos, eat caribou, and steal from the States. (All of that is false)"

First of all, I doubt very many people on this site, and less than 10% of Americans, think we live in Igloos. The inuit people (who are part of the larger group known as Eskimo) who still want to live with a certain connection with their ancestral ways will still live in igloos. They don't don't live in them on a permanent basis, but when they go hunting in the winter, that is what they build and live in. Modern tents would not be viable and why bring modern construction materials (which would pollute the landscape) when a perfectly suitable building material (high-density snow) can be found around you and melts away cleanly in the spring. And what do Inuit hunt? Seals, some polar bears and, you guessed it, caribou. By the way, certain speciality restaurants and butchers do carry caribou (and bison) meat.

So Inuit, who are Canadians, as much as you or I, sometimes live in Igloos and eat caribou.

SO you saying that "most" Americans think we all live in Igloos and eat caribou is wrong and those that do think that are not 100% wrong.

I've never heard that we steal from the States, so I won't address that except by saying that we don't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igloo

RAcCoOnErOuS Said:

"Canadian chicks are Hawt.....lol"

I can't argue with that, though like any population, we also have some ugly ones. Sexual liberalism is a large part of what makes Canadian, especially French-Canadian, chicks hot.

DMeisterJ said:

"Don't you guys speak french? "

Out of a total Canadian population of 33.2Million, 7 million Canadians have French-Canadian ancestry (most still speak it). 85% of those 7 million live in the province of Quebec, where I live. Outside of a few larger english communities. such as Montreal and the Eastern Townships, most cities and town have a non-French population of less than 5%. Don't let this discourrage anyone who wants to visit though, since any tourist destination will speak English.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Canadian

fkusumot said:

"Aren't Canadians kind of just like Americans (except Quebec, but I'm not sure if that's still part of Canada). "

The way of live of an average American (in New England) is not very different from that of the average Canadian. Both live mostly in suburbs and commute to larger employer towns. Both have a heavily mortgage house, lease a car they can hardly afford and work in jobs they dislike. Both go home and watch American television (CBS, FOX, ABC and NBC) The only difference is the sports they enjoy,Hockey vs (American and Canadian) football. (Though both have a niche following on either side of the border).

As for Quebec, we have gone through 2 referendums: one in 1980 and one in 1995. The first was defeated by 59% of the votes and the second by 50.58% (close call). At any one time, support for sovereignty is between 40% and 56% with 25% on both sides of the issue being stable and the undecided voters flip-flopping according to the issues of the moment. On November 22nd, 2006, the Canadian government approved a motion to "recognize that the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Quebec_referendum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Quebec_referendum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distinct_society

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9cois_nation_motion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_sovereignty

Grey Acumen said:

"I think of cheap, but poor medical service, low religious tolerance, and hazardous military."

I will get into the medical service later as you expand on it later in the thread.

I don't know where you get low religious tolerance from. Religious freedom is constitutionally protected. We are generally a very open society who are tolerant of other people's believes (especially when it does not effect us directly, so of like live and let live). We attract many immigrants from all over the world because of our openness. Do we have rednecks that fear and hate others because their religion, sexual orientation or skin colour is different? Of course, but they are not the majority and they are a dying breed. Also most societies are a little xenophobic, especially ones that have been so homogeneous for as long as Canada has been. But we are and have accepted with open arms multiculturalism, not assimilation, for decades now.

We even have a doctrine of Reasonable accommodation, which is the guidelines, set forth by the Supreme Court of Canada, by which government bodies must take reasonable steps to accommodate their policies to ethnic minorities. Last year, in the province of Quebec, there was a provincial Commission whose goal was to get public opinion on how the concept of reasonnable accommodation could be reconciled with the concept of Quebec Identity(the definition of which also was a mandate of the Commission). Unfortunately, since all members of the public could participate, many hateful bigots had an opportunity to voice their opinion in a public forum. While I do respect their freedom of speech, it saddened me to think that I was a contemporary of these people.

If you do have specific examples of "low religious tolerance" please share them with us and I may be forced to review my perception of our openness.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_freedom_in_Canada

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiculturalism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_accommodation

As for the military, I agree with you in the past, but I would have you note that things are changing. The Liberal government in power from 1993 to 2006 (2 different leaders) did in large part neglect military expenditure (in favor of other policies) which led to an ever worsening of our military capacity through the obsoleteness of our military equipment and infrastructure. The Conservative government in power since 2006 has had as a policy to rejuvenate our ageing equipment to better protect our soldiers, but it is a long and expensive ordeal which is not always popular with the opposition parties. Since the Conservative government is in the minority, it cannot vote the necessary budgets without the approval of at least one other parties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_forces

d21lewis said:

"our huge American penises!"

Actually, according to the source below, France's penile size is the biggest. Since 20% of Canadians have French blood, I would say our average would be higher. According to that survey, Americans rank .1 inches smaller than Japanese.

http://www.altpenis.com/penis_news/global_penis_size_survey.shtml

tarheel91 said:

"The US won WWI and WWII"

Canada sustained a greater % of casualties in WW2 than the US in terms of their 1939 populations. .4% of the 1939 Canadian population died at war in WWII, as opposed to .32% in the US. By the way, you don't win wars, you just lose less then your enemies.

In WW2, Canada declared war on Germany on September 10th 1939. (Germany invaded Poland on September 1st 1939). America did so on December 11th 1941. Being that Canada was a member of the British empire in WW1, it was a participant as of the signing of the declaration of war by Britain on August 4th 1914. We suffered 67 000 Casualties and 173 000 wounded in WW1 despite only having a population of 7 million. By contrast, America suffered 117 000 casualties and 206 000 wounded out of a population of 92 million.

In WW1, America Declared war on Germany on April 6th 1917.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Canada_during_the_Second_World_War

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#Casualties_by_country

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war_by_the_United_States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Canada_during_World_War_I

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties#Casualties_by_country

Grey Acumen said:

"If there are three things government has ALWAYS sucked in, it is response time, cost maintanence and taking responsibility for liabilities."

About health care, I do agree with what you say. That is why I am a proponent of a universal health care system where the govenment is the payer, but where the administration is by private companies which would have to bid ( and the best quality/price ratio would get the contracts) and they would have civil liability. This would address some of the issues you bring up, without having a detrimental effect on the policy that every human has a right to the health care he/she needs to sustain a healthy and enjoyable life.

"We may have one of the worst policies, but we actually FOLLOW it 90% of the time. On top of that, people have lost a grip on what actually constitutes pollution."

I partially agree with your statement as well, and I am one of those environmentalists you loathe (Though a rational one). ;)

American environmental policy sucks... on a Federal level. Luckily, many states and municipalities take it upon themselves to implement stringent policies, in spite of the lack of cooperation or even of hindrance at the federal level. People tend to forget that and therefore see American policy as not being environmentally friendly, without bothering to see what is going on at the state and municipal levels.

You also hit the issue on the head when you allude to the fact that a lenient rule that actually gets applied is more effective then a stringent rule that is not enforced.

Moongoddess256 said:

"Canada is great. But cold."

I can't argue with that. As I was telling Konnichiwa last week, summers here get to between 25 and 32 degrees Celsius (77F to 90F) down to -10C to the occasional -35C (14F to -31F) in the winter, but that is nothing a good coat can't fix when your outside( or a think blanket and a lover can't fix when you're inside).

@ Maple Syrup lovers.

What you get in the store is not pure maple syrup from Canada unless it looks like this

since 80% of the world's maple syrup comes from Canada and most of that is from Quebec. In Quebec, all maple syrup is under the control of a producer's union (la Fédération des producteur acéricoles du Québec) which fixes the prices. The usual cost at retail in the province, I live in Quebec, is between 5$ and 6$ per 540ml (18oz) can. So unless you are paying around that price + shipping, and that it says pure maple syrop and "product of Canada (or Quebec), yours is a cheap alternative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple_syrup

http://www.siropderable.ca/Afficher.aspx?page=1&langue=en