Canada is the best next-door neighbor we Americans could ask for, but the U.S. media -- and populace at large -- hardly takes notice. Unless there's a natural disaster or big, multiple-fatality explosion.
The last major American daily to have a bureau in Canada's capital, Ottawa, The Washington Post, pulled out a decade ago. Time magazine, which long had a Canadian edition, closed its Canadian bureau. in 2006 and folded its 65-year-old Canadian edition.
It's a real shame and an ongoing wasted opportunity: We can learn a lot from Canada and Canadians, and not just about their health-care system. The "Great White North" is different from us in far more ways -- some quite basic -- than most of my fellow Yanks realize. Canada's far more civilized approach to the role of government in its citizens' lives and their basic civility is too important to overlook.
That's one of the main reasons I've begun a Canada blog for Dow Jones' big MarketWatch.com site. As far as I can tell, it's the only major American media outlet regularly covering the Canadian beat, which is ridiculous.
This former Montrealer can attest that Canadian politics, business and values are not congruent to America's. Just to cite one of many examples, the back of Canada's $10 bill shows...a Canadian female U.N. peacekeeper! Can you imagine anything like that on a U.S. bill?
I can literally see British Columbia across the water from our place in Washington state, and I visit Canada often to savor its pleasantness and civility. I'm probably one of the few Americans who still watches Canadian TV over the air (Canada's stations haven't gone digital yet). When people here in Washington watch Canadian TV at my place, they always comment on how different the Canadian version looks and feels -- the commercials are different, and so are the shows. Fewer explosions, not as many car crashes, fires or gunfights
How little do Americans know about Canada? I decided to test this recently, preparing a basic quiz about Canada for my Rotary Club. It's part of a unique international district that includes public-service-minded Rotary clubs across the border.
My fellow Rotarians were mostly college-educated businesspeople. Plus, Canada is a stone's throw away. But only three out of 30 members who took my written test could name Canada's current Prime Minister (Stephen Harper, a Conservative). And only nine could correctly name Canada's capital (Ottawa).
Here's a quick Canada quiz. Did you know, for example:
That's just a start. Canada is a resource-rich country, a net exporter of energy, unlike the U.S. So why are Canada's gasoline prices so much higher than ours? Because Canada does not heavily subsidize oil companies like BP. Prices are based on the world market price.
Canadians know far more about their large, powerful neighbors than we do about them. But the differences can be telling, even fascinating. We really need to know more about our northern neighbors. They set a good example for us in so many ways.
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Rep. Ed Markey: Waking America From the BP Nightmare
BP's spill safety response plans include references to protecting walruses, which have not called the Gulf of Mexico home for 3 million years. The American people deserve oil safety plans that are ironclad and not boilerplate.
~We spend more time on the internet than any nation, and pay the most for cell phone use.
~When our dollar's at par with the US, bookstores continue to charge the higher Canadian price.
~People spontaneously appear with flags on bridges over HWY 401 to honour our returning war dead.
~Prior to the creation of our flag (1965), many of us were proud of not having one.
~Our current Prime Minister has hit the "pause" button on Parliament twice, once to avoid a coalition that would topple his government, and again to try and quell a growing scandal regarding Afghan detainees we handed over to be tortured. Most of us didn't know he could do this.
~Our 1st PM was a drunken megalomaniac. We owe him our existence as a country.
~Our history is fascinating. Very few of us know any of it.
~We don't have a strong unified national identity, but we are all definitely *not* Americans.We didn't know we needed a Canadian broadcasting system until American radio signals started coming over the border.
~The government agencies that fund our filmmaking have also recently begun funding ad campaigns for them, resulting in the unusual phenomena of Canadian theatrical releases that have a shot at making money.
~Almost 90 years went by before we got our own Supreme Court.
~ Our justice system has incorporated the healing circles and restorative justice traditions of aboriginal peoples.
~We rock.
...quite funny...perhaps a little bit sad...but it does pretty much prove the point eh?
good day
My recommendations for the U.S. - buy oil at market price. The costs of producing the oil is the producer's problem.
Either way, Bill Mann, you are my best media news of the day, and for that I am grateful. I share your dismay at the lack of news -- period -- from our northern frontier, where Canadians seem to conduct themselves very decently in these chaotic times.
As for your fellow Rotarians, for shame, for shame, for shame. Where were they educated?
Frankly, it suits me fine. The less Americans know about Canada the better. Just some vague image of moose and mounties and canoes - that's all they need to know. Nothing to see here. Move along.