Canadians?

Well... As a short answer, Canada doesn't have problems on those things, in general, really. Certainly not to the degree that the U.S. does.

There are differences, though. The legal age for sex in general is 16. The legal age for anal sex, though, is 18. That's just one example. And then there can be different ages and laws depending on what province you live in (There are 13).

Still, though, same-sex couples can marry here. Something else to consider is that the U.S. has a very sizeable rural population, compared to Canada's.

 

I can perhaps offer a clue here, Canada, despite its huge landmass is a small country in terms of its population. Our history is a combination of First Nations (native)/French/British cultures and we have had to create a country together in the shadow of the US as British "subjects".

Our main success has been to take a cue from our First Nations co-citizens and their tradition of accepting foreigners to "enlarge the circle". In contrast to the US, we tend to accommodate rather than confront, and there is a strong sense of being fair and inclusive (note that none of this is perfect, but I am only trying to contrast us vis-à-vis Americans.)

Because we are small, it does not seem to us that whatever we do will affect the fate of Western civilization. The US, in contrast, has a strong tradition of exceptionalism. By this I mean, that the US has a strong sense of itself as a unique and significant bastion of Western capitalism/democracy and whatever Americans do will affect the world.

Some see this as a responsibility to uphold America's strong religious institutions and influence. America is always declaring war on something, whether it be poverty, cancer or another country, this may also be part of the culture south of our border...

 

I'd add to greatwhale's post by saying that Canada is more "peace-oriented", although not as much over the last 8-10 years or so, but we still prefer diplomacy over warmongering.

Racism, sexism and homophobia isn't as big of an issue here either. Gay Marriage has been legal for 10 years already, and we've got popular areas for gays too (like The Village in Montreal which is know world-wide).

 

We basically don't afraid/care of anything.

Well, some do, others just get their morning coffee at Tim's and continue their day.

 

I think it's safe to say that not having to convert austere units has saved us some head space :rolle!) Inches, ounces, Fahrenheit, yards, miles... Gosh.

 

Yeah, and what's with those "ounces", some are for volume, some are for weight, as a chemist I find that extremely irritating...:dry:

 

Home is home, regardless of culture.

Canada has its pros and cons and the US has its pros and cons.

The bulk of national "differences" is propaganda or artificial. People are people worldwide.

Compare hockey teams as an analogy. All exactly the same but idiots will come to blows over some perceived allegiance of superiority.

 

Gay marriage obviously hasn't been a hot topic issue in years like it is now over the border.
I don't think attitudes are much different from the US though, over all.
There is always backwards legislation cropping up.

 

Lol your not from Vancouver are you....... Lol Tim hortons is like no where in Vancouver it's all Starbucks and beginning to add some caffe artigiano

 

Ugh thats horrible, never going to Vancouver I guess.

 

Haha, wow, you two. There's quite a few Tim Hortons in Vancouver (downtown, specifically). Alexander69's from West Vancouver, which is different from Vancouver, in general (West Vancouver is north and west of Vancouver. It's odd, but they're two different places, really).

Starbucks, though, is more prevalent. At least there's much more variety than the U.S. Instead of STARBUCKSTARBUCKSTARBUCK, we have things like Blenz, Wave, Tim Hortons, and a bunch of other stuff.

 

Canada has a different set of social issues than the United States. There's the ongoing problem of xenophobia, our mistreatment of the environment, and a reluctance to consume fair trade goods. All things considered, I'd take those issues over the racism, sexism, homophobia, etc that's still problematic in the United States. Not to say those things don't exist in Canada, or that they aren't problematic in many instances, but our Charter of Rights goes to great lengths in protecting citizens.

Ironically, we don't seem inclined to include our First Nations people within that "circle".

 

Montreal isn't in Canada though, it's in Quebec. And as a lot of Quebec people would tell you, Quebec is NOT Canada. They want to separate.

That said, the real Canada has gay friendly cities too, like Toronto and Vancouver.

 

Except Montreal DEFINITELY is in Canada. Until they officially separate they are still a part of the country.

 

Er... Quebec is a province in Canada. They do want to separate, but it's not like it'd be without overt difficulty. Overall, it just seems like Quebec's best interests lie in staying a part of Canada, in general. Thus, the 'real' Canada includes Quebec. I don't know how much you know of Canadian history and politics and all, but I'm inclined to believe that I know a fair bit more than you.

You're right about Vancouver, for sure. People can hold hands on the street and it's no big deal (In downtown, at the very least).

Well, the U.S. has those problems, too. One potentially larger issue, as you've said, would be about people's attitudes towards First Nations people, just because they're a more prevalent part of society, in general.

I don't mean for this to sound offensive in anyway, by the way.

 

Quebec is definitely still a Canadian province.

 

Pretty much this. Besides, it's highly unlikely that the separation will happen any time soon (if ever). It's just a silly attempt supported mostly by the older generations (and I presume their inability to speak English as well).

 

At the height of the sovereigntist movement in 1995, Montreal residents voted overwhelmingly against separation, and modern polling shows that well under 50% of the residents of Québec support separatism, so despite the vocal minority of separatists, Québec is very much part of Canada.

 

Well, most Quebecers hate Canada, and want nothing to do with English speaking Canadians, so umm.. why should we accept them as a part of Canada when they clearly don't want to be associated with Canada? hmm..