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What I Love Most About Canada

Posted: 09/22/11 10:34 AM ET

What I love most about Canada and being a Canadian is that I'm always asked what I love most about being a Canadian. I honestly believe that Canada is the only country in the world that sits around and asks that question. I refuse to believe that Argentines sit around asking each other what they love about Argentina. They just love it. I also refuse to believe that the second Bob Newhart show was better than the first -- but that is a topic for another blog.

We Canadians think and worry too much -- and thus we think and worry too much about ourselves. If countries were comedians, the U.S. would be Andrew Dice Clay and Canada would be Woody Allen. Yes. I see Canada as a short, balding man with thick glasses who stutters when talking to a girl.

We think and over-think things and say no a lot. Wayne and Shuster, Canada's most popular comedy team ever, did The Ed Sullivan Show more times than any other act except for Topo Gigio. Yes, only a rat puppet beat them out. The mighty American Network CBS offered them to come to Hollywood and do a TV show. They thought about it and thought about it (like any good Canadian would do) and said "No, we'd rather stay in Canada and make a lot less money." For doing this, they became national heroes. Only in Canada are people celebrated for saying no.

I do love being a Canadian. I really do. And I am a typical one. When asked to do this blog, I thought about it and thought about it and said no. I was Canadian enough to like the fact that I wouldn't make any money for it. But I said no. Yes, I am spiritually balding, short and wear thick glasses (in a few years, I will actually be that). It was only on a trip to the States, feeling the aggressiveness of Americana that I changed my mind and said yes. I love being a Canadian. A thoughtful Canadian who says no -- because at least we do think before we talk. Now if you excuse me, I have a re-run of The Bob Newhart Show to watch.

Kevin and fellow Kids in the Hall member Scott Thompson are currently on a national U.S. tour with their new comedy show "Two Kids, One Hall."

 
What I love most about Canada and being a Canadian is that I'm always asked what I love most about being a Canadian. I honestly believe that Canada is the only country in the world that sits around an...
What I love most about Canada and being a Canadian is that I'm always asked what I love most about being a Canadian. I honestly believe that Canada is the only country in the world that sits around an...
 
 
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08:08 AM on 09/28/2011
The thing about Canada I liked (Vancouver specifically), is that I could I go into a coffee shop, roll some easily procured bud into a J, and smoke up. The Blunt Brothers is one establishment that is sorely missed by this out-of-place Seattleite. Me and my buddies smoked up and chatted with the others who were there and never once felt out of place and learned a great deal about the city and the people who live there. Vancouver is one of the cities other than Seattle, Portland, or San Francisco/San Jose that I wouldn't actually mind living in. As I write this, I'm watching George Stromboulopoulos.

/Waiting for the hockey season to start so the Canucks can go kick some backside and serve some revenge to those punks Chara and Marchand.
04:26 AM on 09/28/2011
US is more like Rodney Dangerfield and Canada like a ham sandwich!
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c-tom
Badges we don't need no stinking badges
10:17 PM on 09/27/2011
Canada is like the guy who dumps his wife for his trophy step-daughter.
I thought you were all like Red Green.
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Glass Cannon
Let every eye negotiate for itself.
01:45 PM on 09/27/2011
We Canadians sure do like to blow smoke up our own ....

All sizzle and no steak, so I propose that Canadians get known for doing things that we talk about doing, instead of just talking about them. You know, upholding those humanitarian ideals, etc.
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JackHoffman
Pundit
01:42 PM on 09/27/2011
George W. Harper is a Canadian In Name Only. (CINO)
07:32 AM on 09/27/2011
Anyone figure out what a Canadian is yet?
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PortlandZoo
Wait... what?
02:18 PM on 09/27/2011
a Canadian is not you - and that makes them better already. Posting on a Canadian blog? Your compatriots in America don't want you either I guess.
08:13 AM on 09/29/2011
I'm what they call an ashamed Canadian.

Ashamed to be part of a country that hates my other half, America.
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cdncommentator
03:41 PM on 09/27/2011
Someone who calls Canada home, eh?
09:39 PM on 09/26/2011
What I Love Most About Canada by Kevin McDonald
11:06 PM on 09/26/2011
We San Franciscans ask the same questions and get the same answers..
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Carol from Buffalo
ohfercryinoutloud...
05:08 PM on 09/26/2011
Anyone who says Canada is inferior to America has obviously never been there for any length of time... not to say America is inferior to Canada, either. We're just different countries who share a long undefended border so travel back and forth has always been a part of all our lives. Americans and Canadians both visit each other for shopping, entertainment, vacationing, various items or services one cannot get from home and even just for a nice drive. Being from Buffalo, with a father who was born in Montreal and with half of my maternal grandfather's Polish immigrant family settling in Toronto, well..... Canada is like family next door, even while it is A Whole Other Country. Yours to Discover! :)
07:47 AM on 09/27/2011
"We're just different countries"

That's a myth.

Canadians are Americans other than the Marxist politics that Canadians enjoy.

Canadians are "taught" to pretend they are "different" but again I ask how?

How is the average individual Canadian different than the average American?

Wayne Gretzky is the most famous and loved athlete in Canadian history. He is now an American and raising his family in the USA.

Are you telling me that Wayne Gretzky cannot be a legitimate American?

Canada is a "Marxist State". That is the only difference. Kids in Canada are taught that anti-Americanism and Karl Marx is the way to go.

In America, kids are taught to be individuals and free.
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PortlandZoo
Wait... what?
02:13 PM on 09/27/2011
weak and mostly wrong. next.
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viennawoods
An optimistic cynic.
07:13 AM on 09/29/2011
A colleague of mine noted yesterday that Windsor, Ont has yet to have a single murder this year. Right across the river, Detroit has averaged one a day. So there's a difference we Canadians can celebrate.
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Jazmo
Cause they're hip to the bull and hip to the lies.
12:08 PM on 09/26/2011
I miss KITH. When I read this blog I could hear your voice and it made me laugh, but it's Monday and I am looking for a laugh ....
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liberalsrheros
GOP's voter suppression, an insult to veterans.
11:54 PM on 09/25/2011
i resent my country being compared to andrew dice clay. how about canada is doug and bob mackenzie and america is bill maher and george carlin? i think that puts things in better perspective.
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PoliticalJunkie65
"Buzzinga!"
06:43 PM on 09/26/2011
Take off eh!
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PoliticalJunkie65
"Buzzinga!"
06:55 PM on 09/26/2011
Take off you hoser! :-)
sunnydee07
"Your micro-bio is empty". Yes, yes it is.
08:35 PM on 09/25/2011
In trying to read something coherent in TomasJefferson's hate filled tirades masquerading as posts, it sounds like "he" might actually be an American living in Canada? If so, and if you hate it so much, feel free to use the longest undefended border in the world and head somewhere where you'll be happier.

But for me, my stereotypically Canadian patience is done. You seem to hate Canadians because we're NOT like Americans. You just don't understand us, and it sounds like you've never tried.
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Joe Hesk
10:26 AM on 09/27/2011
I read most of the posts, and failed to understand his point. He is flying the US tea party flag, so that explains a lot. Anyhow....Fanned.
01:09 PM on 09/27/2011
"You seem to hate Canadians because we're NOT like Americans.'

That's the problem.

Canadians are so much like Americans that they pretend their "different".

Tell me how an individual Canadian is different than an individual American.

Canadian University students wear American college clothing so there is one more example.

Do Canadians spend anyt ime telling the world how different theya re from teh "Chiense". Or the Bulgarians? Or the Russians?

The very fact you feel the need to tell others you are different proves your anti-American.

There is no difference between the two peoples.

Canadians do what Americans do every single day of the week.

I admit that Canada is a Marxist country but Canadians suck up American culture like no other.
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cdncommentator
03:46 PM on 09/27/2011
French speaking Belgians will tell you how they're different than the French, as will French speaking Swiss. People often confuse two nationalities that speak the same language. Like Germans and Austrians. What's the difference someone might say? And the differences are as unique and subtle as the differences between Canadians and Americans. Hey Tomas, what's the difference between an Uruguayan and a Paraguayan? Do you know? They both speak Spanish and watch South American produced TV when they're not watching American TV. They also wear American college clothes.

If you gave some thought to all of this, maybe you'd consider how asinine your comments are. No, Canadians and Americans aren't as different as say someone from Malawi and someone from Finland, but were as different as a German and an Austrian.
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06:22 PM on 09/25/2011
What I like about Canada is that there are no real Canadian celebrities. Doesn't matter how successful some guy gets, we think to ourselves "yeah, but he's still just Canadian."
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the grange gorman
Rachel Corrie is the greatest person since Lennon
10:21 AM on 09/26/2011
Pammie Anderson ?

Arcade Fire ?
07:52 AM on 09/27/2011
Wayne Gretzky? Famous American Wayne Gretzky?
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ringmaster
I know I spelled it wrong.
11:16 AM on 09/25/2011
Canada is Jay Sankey.
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msanonymous222
Dismiss whatever insults your own soul.
10:33 AM on 09/25/2011
What I love most about Canada? Marc Martel, at the moment.
12:07 AM on 09/25/2011
I think that much can be told about the personalities of Americans and Canucks by their flags. 'Nuff said. I emigrated to Canada at a tender age and before I landed, my only knowledge of Canada was two tv imports: The Littlest Hobo and Beachcombers. Sweet, forever small-town and always helpful...not far from the truth. I visited Molly's Reach in Gibsons, B.C. a few years ago and felt like I'd completed some coming of age thing. Ahh Canada :)