Canada: Difference between revisions
Updated population figures, URL
No edit summary |
(Updated population figures, URL) |
||
| (45 intermediate revisions by 9 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{Useful Notes}}
<div style="float:right; margin-left:5px; margin-bottom:3px; padding:0px; border:1px solid #ffffff; font-size:100%; line-height:120%; padding:0.4em; background-color:#eeeeee; border-bottom:1px solid #ffffff"><youtube>zuVsHt3rBnc</youtube></div>
[[File:Flag of Canada.svg|thumb]]▼
{{quote|''"Mon pays, ce n'est pas un pays; c'est l'hiver."''<ref>My country, it's not a country; it's winter.</ref>
|Gilles Vigneault}}
'''Canada''' is the second largest country in the world by area, and has a population of
[[File:Canada-Map_5014.jpg|frame]]
Three of the most memorable moments to most Canadians in their history include: the [[The War of 1812]]; the Battle of Vimy Ridge in [[World War
Insisting that Canada is still a Dominion of the United Kingdom (it hasn't been since 1949 and the UK completely gave up any sort of legislative rights in Canada in 1982) or is in any way in some sort of union with the United States is bound to [[Berserk Button|stir up some backdraft]] amongst Canadians, as will suggesting Quebec should be independent (outside of Quebec, minus certain parts of Montreal).
Culturally, Canadians are perceived as being modest, quiet, and a bit like a backwards rustic neighbour. The [[Canucks With Chinooks]] page shows just how inaccurate that is. Similarities to America are profound, but those similarities are heatedly protested by Canadians. [[Canada, Eh?|If one is asked to think of "Canada", generally the idea of plaid-wearing lumberjacks in a snow-filled pine forest where moose and beavers frolic about and bears savagely roam is imagined. Somewhere, ice hockey is filled in.]] Maple syrup (as well as the maple leaf, which is on Canada's flag) is commonly associated with Canada, and--like Alaska--it's hard to imagine not covered in snow and freezing.
Canada isn't all wine and roses (or beer and skittles), though. The "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_tcCpKtoU0 residential schools]" -- a systematic program of cultural genocide against the native peoples -- is a part of living memory... but, while we're willing to admit it, taking steps to atone is something that has barely if at all started. And, in our own way, we're just as racist as the USA; we're just better at convincing ourselves (and the rest of the world) that we aren't.
----▼
If you're looking for Hollywood Canada, see [[Canada, Eh?]].
▲----
▲[[File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg|thumb|Flag of Canada]]
{{tropenamer}}
* [[Canada, Eh?]]
{{creatortropes}}
** [[Montreal]], the second largest French speaking city in the world after Paris.▼
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]] / [[Beware the Quiet Ones]]: Canada has a reputation for being polite and prefers to take an international role out of the spotlight, but the [[Canucks With Chinooks]] page exists for a reason. Also, Canada's "Joint Task Force 2" is considered by [[The Pentagon]] to be a Tier One special forces unit.
** [[Toronto]], the biggest city and the financial hub of Canada, but is not the national capital (that's Ottawa, also in Ontario but a bit to the north; Toronto is the provincial capital), and definitely not the centre of the universe no matter how much Torontonians may wish for it.▼
{{quote|Whenever the Germans found the Canadian Corps coming into the line, they prepared for the worst.|[[The Men of Downing Street|British Prime Minister]] [[David Lloyd George]]}}
** [[Stargate City|Vancouver]], the financial centre for Western Canada, with a massive Pacific port. It is the city that is not Seattle no matter how much Hollywood wants to convince you otherwise.▼
* [[The British Empire]] / [[The Commonwealth]]: Canada was part of the Empire and is part of the Commonwealth. It's one of the Commonwealth's biggest boosters, not that that's saying much.
* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: Speaking both English and French helps you ''tremendously'' in Canada. Quebecois can't complain that you're one of the ''maudit Anglos'', the Anglo-Canadians can't complain that you're one of the stuck-up Quebecers, and a lot more government jobs are open for bilingual people. This is also the reason why most successful Prime Ministers were all from the "Laurentian Elite", i.e. people from the Ottawa to Montreal region - they grew up bilingual.
* [[The Federation]]: Canada is a fairly centralized example of one - crime prevention, for example, is entirely controlled by the federal authorities, not the provinces (though the provinces may also have their own police service - the Sureté de Québec is probably the most famous). This is due to the Constitution Act of 1867 laying out a very wide set of powers the federal government explicitly has. Another good example is marriage - most family law is provincial law, ''but'' marriage regulation is a federal power. It's also the reason Canada became the fourth country in the worldto allow same-sex marriages on a national scale in 2005 - because regulating marriage was a federal power, all it took was three readings in the House of Commons, three readings in the Senate and Governor (well, Royal, but it's ''de facto'' Governor) Assent, rather than the long-term state-by-state approval process seen in the US.
* [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|Canadians Love Curling]]: Curling originated from Scotland, yet it's Canada that dominates curling in international competitions.
* [[Good Bad Translation]]: According to legend, when
** Lampshading this, one of the suburbs of the nation's capital is named "Kanata."
* [[Memetic Mutation]]
** "[http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/1970-pierre-trudeau-says-just-watch-me-during-october-crisis Just watch me]." ~ Pierre Trudeau
** "[http://www.parli.ca/state-place-bedrooms-nation/ The state has no
** "[http://www.parli.ca/fuddle-duddle/ Fuddle Duddle]" ~ an [[Unusual Euphemism]] that is [[Bowdlerise|officially attributed to]] Pierre Trudeau
** [http://www.parli.ca/walk-in-the-snow/ a "walk in the snow"] ~ again, Pierre Trudeau
** "[http://www.parli.ca/you-had-an-option-sir/ You had an option, sir.]" ~ Brian Mulroney, speaking Canada's equivalent of "You're no Jack Kennedy"
** "Conscription if necessary but not necessarily conscription." ~ [[Beam Me Up, Scotty|attributed to]] William Lyon Mackenzie King, who [http://www.parli.ca/conscription-if-necessary-not-necessarily-conscription/ actually said] "not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary."
** "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ddPhG6EAOo They're going home!]" ~ Bob Cole▼
** "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX6XMIldkRU A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven.]" ~ Jean Chretien▼
** "[http://archives.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/clips/2048/ He shoots, he scores!]" ~ Foster Hewitt▼
* [[National Stereotypes]]: Beer, bears, beavers, and lumberjacks are most of the biggest Canadian stereotypes. Moose, modesty, maple syrup, and hockey cover the rest.▼
** Although as of the mid-2010s Canada has a monopoly on the [[wikipedia:Chris Hadfield|singing astronaut]] stereotype, despite the existence of non-Canadian singing astronauts. One of his performances graces this very page!
{{tropelist|Associated tropes:}}
* [[Canada, Eh?]]: how the rest of the world sees Canada
** [[Canadian Accents/Analysis|Canadian Accent Influences]]
* [[Canadian History]]
* [[Canadian Music]]
* [[Canadian Politics]]
* [[Canadian Series]]
* [[CBC]], the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ▼
* [[Canucks With Chinooks]]
** [[
* [[The Common Law]]
* [[Ice Hockey]]: The [https://web.archive.org/web/20160624170537/http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1444070816842#a8 national winter sport]. ([http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/n-16.7/page-1.html We passed a law saying so], back in 1994.) The "ice" part is always assumed in Canada, so just call it "hockey" when visiting.
* [[Labor Day in North America|Labour Day in North America]]
▲* [[Only So Many Canadian Actors]]
Places:
▲
▲
* [[Niagara Falls]]: There's one of these in the USA, too, but the Canadian one gets all the publicity.
People (an incomplete list):
* [[Cirque Du Soleil]]
* [[Emily Carr]]
▲* [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|Canadians Love Curling]]: Curling originated from Scotland, yet it's Canada that dominates curling in international competitions.
* [[Group of Seven]]
▲* [[Good Bad Translation]]: According to legend, when Jaques Cartier asked the Huron-Iroquois people where he was, they replied that they were taking him to "kanata", meaning "the village". He interpreted it as "we are in the nation of Kanata". So he wrote "Canada" on all the maps.
* [[Only So Many Canadian Actors]]
▲** "The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation." ~ Also Pierre Trudeau
▲** "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ddPhG6EAOo They're going home!]" ~ Bob Cole
▲** "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX6XMIldkRU A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven.]" ~ Jean Chretien
▲** "[http://archives.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/clips/2048/ He shoots, he scores!]" ~ Foster Hewitt
▲* [[National Stereotypes]]: Beer, bears, beavers, and lumberjacks are most the biggest Canadian stereotypes. Moose, modesty, maple syrup, and hockey cover the rest.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Useful Notes/The Americas]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
▲[[Category:Useful Notes]]
| |||