Star Spangled Canadians Canadians usually like to think of themselves as distinct from that race of heathens to our south, the "damned Americans." Thank God we are so different from those barbarians, with their guns and social problems. If you look carefully, life in Canada is not all that different from life in the States, and the boundaries are significantly less pronounced than they were even just one generation ago.
We like to pride ourselves on our "Universal Health Care" and "Accessible education"; however, these ideas are becoming more and more removed from the everyday realities faced by people in the Canadian state. As we close hospitals and apply user fees, deregulate tuition and contract public assets out to the highest bidder, we become more and more like our neighbours to the south.
What used to be distinct touchstones for Canadian culture enthusiasts, the CBC and the National Film Board of Canada, have fallen by the curb as government funding dries up for such added extras as culture and identity.
United States
United States
United StatesInstead, we are encouraged to see the private sector as those best able to provide for the cultural development of Canada. Blockbuster Video, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and McDonald's. More and more American businesses are coming into Canada, while many Canadians are emmigrating to America for more successful and higher paying jobs.
In sports, American teams are so highly paid that Canadian teams can not compete with them. The result is our sports markets are slowly dying, as we can not pay the high salaries compared to U.S teams.
Canadians have never been more like Americans, and Canadian society has never been more similar to that of the United States. If the two countries are becoming more alike, and they are, this drawing together does not arise because Americans...