Stereotypes of Canada

I lived in a state that bordered Canada and used to be able to go back and forth without a passport.

As far as I could tell, Canadians are Americans that live further North. Not much different, other than it was more expensive there and they weren't as wasteful as we were. Not sure how much of that has changed. I'm sure they are more like they were than we are like we were during the decades that I went over there. Also - I've noticed that Eastern Canadians are more like Eastern Americans and Western Canadians seem to be more like Western Americans.....and believe that comes from the Geology -- in living in less populated regions, etc.

With the advent of the necessity of a passport to get back and forth, and certain other emerging political climates, we might start becoming more different.........but for now, not so much so, I don't believe.

I love Canadians One of my favorite people is from Canada (working in the US now).

I've found them to be polite and actually do say "eh?". I've spent some time in Toronto and walked the streets to get an idea of the country and city. They're really not that different from Americans, though I'm sure they'd disagree

I went to Toronto, one of the bigger cities in the country, and it was probably slightly more expensive than the US at the time. Things were sold in whole numbers. Gas was interesting to try to price since they do it by the liter and not the gallon. Gas in Toronto was high, over $4 converted to US$ and that was about 2 years ago. I think the richer people in Toronto, at least in the downtown area. Once you get to the edges of the cities it first becomes a smaller town(looks like Montgomery, AL in places), outer highways, and then all countryside.

In the part of Ontario I was at there seemed to be vineyards every other Exit or so. I found this interesting because I figure the only place you'd see that many vineyard exits would be in California.

The Canadians I know love hockey. It's like football, or baseball, for us. I can't say if they're good or bad at sports, I've never seen them play, but aside from the change in sport(like soccer in Europe) they're like us here in that they'd sit in front of the TV during a hockey game, shout at the TV, cheer, the whole thing we do with Super Bowls

I'm not sure I helped, but I like Canada and wish I could go back a lot.

The closest I've been to Canada was northern Michigan, unlike Sarah Palin where she could see Russia from her house, I couldn't actually see Canada.

Now you know that.

Canada = Very big, very cold, and very empty.

Canadians = Sound a bit like Americans, but are more polite; some of them speak French; most of them like ice hockey.

Okay, definitely falling back on stereotypes there, but I'd be willing to make a guess that, for Europeans at least (or, more specifically, non-British Europeans), Canada could probably ramp up the PR machine a bit. It tends to get lumped in with America, which is something most Canadians probably don't appreciate too much.

In terms of attracting foreign investors, I'm guessing the US is Canada's biggest competitor too, which probably makes getting lumped together with them more problematic that it first seems. :confused: