What unites Canadians?

[Keepitsimple]

Like as if that's a bad thing Bob? Have a look at the gong show to our south where each state finds ways to screw the others. No real standards for the country but poverty and starvation wages in the south which can't be addressed by the feds because each state thinks it has the right to make it's own laws and set it's own standards.

What's really important to Canada and Canadians is that we try to make our fellow citizens aware of what Harper wants to do with our health care system.

Before it's too late. Because if he's given a majority we'll be in the same mess US is in. Conservatism's agenda has never been a mystery, ask the creeps at the Fraser Institute. Harper's friends!

Monty - you don't seem to be able to comprehend....it's the provinces who deliver Healthcare services - and pay for at least 75% of it......not the Feds. Do you get that? It's the provinces who will decide whether to implement user fees or let the private sector deliver more services. Sure, the Feds can withhold some of their 20-25% of healthcare funding if they feel that a particular province has grossly violated the Canada Health Act but with the Supreme Court decision that the provinces must deliver timely healthcare, there is a lot of leeway for the provinces to be creative. All Harper has done is guarantee an escalating federal amount of Healthcare for all time - or until another government changes it. On this Canada Day Monty, how about learning how Healthcare actually works in Canada?

Edited July 1, 2014 by Keepitsimple

[Argus]

Respondents were asked:

"What keeps Canada united?"

They had 11 options to choose from.

Here they are along with the percentage of first place votes:

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (25 per cent)

Universal health care (22 per cent)

Hockey (12 per cent)

I think most Canadians don't even think about what binds Canadians, and were responding as per what the headlines have been over the past some years. The Charter and health care have been much in the headlines, so that's what they selected from the list.

But government programs don't bind anyone together. A shared culture, language and value set is what binds a people together.

[Argus]

It is an obvious point to make ... that the things Canadians choose that "unite" us are the things that Harper attacks.

It's just sad to me, this era of the politics of division. I hope it ends soon.

I hadn't realized you were only eight years old. I congratulate you on posting so intelligently as an eight year old!

But you see, before there was Stephen Harper, there was a man named Jean Chretien. Ask your mom to look him up for you. And before him there was a man named Mulroney, and before him, a man named Trudeau, and every one of them practiced politics of division.

[Argus]

No he didn't. 25% of Canadians is not "broad support".

He targeted specific ridings and ethnic voting blocks to get his fake majority.

.

Right. The Liberals and NDP never do that.

[Argus]

This is nonsense. Nothing unites us (excluding things that would unite us with the majority of the rest of the developed world, such as freedom of speech) other than geographic location.

Canadian nationalism is a lie.

Drivel. We are united by a shared history, language, culture and value set. Do Canadians think and act differently than Americans or Germans or Japanese? Of course we do.

[-1=e^ipi]

But government programs don't bind anyone together. A shared culture, language and value set is what binds a people together.

Except Canadians do not have a shared culture, a shared language nor a shared value set.

Drivel. We are united by a shared history, language, culture and value set.

Proof?

Do Canadians think and act differently than Americans or Germans or Japanese? Of course we do.

Everyone thinks and acts differently from everyone else. I do not understand your comment.

[Bonam]

Do Canadians think and act differently than Americans or Germans or Japanese?

Oh? Let's see, coming from Vancouver, people here in "America" (Seattle) act a heck of a lot more similarly than the people over in Montreal or Ottawa when I lived there. Canada has a lot of geographic and cultural diversity, and more often than not you are gonna find much more similar culture by driving an hour south across the border into the US then you will by going to the next province over. There is no thinking and acting that is unique to Canadians.

[Bob Macadoo]

Oh? Let's see, coming from Vancouver, people here in "America" (Seattle) act a heck of a lot more similarly than the people over in Montreal or Ottawa when I lived there. Canada has a lot of geographic and cultural diversity, and more often than not you are gonna find much more similar culture by driving an hour south across the border into the US then you will by going to the next province over. There is no thinking and acting that is unique to Canadians.

I find those that think we are common have never really experienced Canada or are so municipally-centric they actually believe everyone islike them.

[Argus]

Oh? Let's see, coming from Vancouver, people here in "America" (Seattle) act a heck of a lot more similarly than the people over in Montreal or Ottawa when I lived there. Canada has a lot of geographic and cultural diversity, and more often than not you are gonna find much more similar culture by driving an hour south across the border into the US then you will by going to the next province over. There is no thinking and acting that is unique to Canadians.

You're completely wrong. Oh, on an individual level, people can vary widely from the mean, but there are telling differences between the way Americans think, and the way Canadians think.

Americans tend to be much more individualists, while Canadians tend more towards a community orientation. That's why Canadians see a problem and think the government (as our representatives) ought to take care of it. Americans look much less to government to solve things and are much more likely to suggest people take care of themselves. Americans are much more likely to embrace guns, not for hunting but for self-protection, much more suspicious of government, much more religious.

You might not be able to instantly tell a Canadian from an American, but put a few of them together and the differences will show up fairly soon.

[Argus]

I find those that think we are common have never really experienced Canada or are so municipally-centric they actually believe everyone islike them.

I'm not sure what you mean by "common" but there is a commonality in how the majority of us think and behave.

[Argus]

Except Canadians do not have a shared culture, a shared language nor a shared value set.

We pretty much do. The bulk of us anyway. You're right that Quebecers don't share our language - thus the continuing threat of separation.

But the rest of us do have a shared history, culture and value set into which newcomers need to be drawn. So what if your ancestors weren't here a hundred years ago? You grow up in the same pack, the same group, the same tribe, having many of the same experiences (or similar) and while there will always be variations, there tends to be a general sense of who and what we are and what we believe and that we are together for the ride.

[Bonam]

You're completely wrong. Oh, on an individual level, people can vary widely from the mean, but there are telling differences between the way Americans think, and the way Canadians think.

Americans tend to be much more individualists, while Canadians tend more towards a community orientation. That's why Canadians see a problem and think the government (as our representatives) ought to take care of it. Americans look much less to government to solve things and are much more likely to suggest people take care of themselves. Americans are much more likely to embrace guns, not for hunting but for self-protection, much more suspicious of government, much more religious.

There may be such differences in culture on average between the two nations, but they are much more pronounced when you compare region to region within each nation rather than one nation to another. Compare BC to WA state and you'll find much greater similarities in culture, including the aspects you discussed, then you will between some Canadian provinces. Furthermore, even if America's culture is somewhat more "individualistic" as you put it and this in some way differentiates Canada from the US, it certainly does not differentiate Canada from much of Europe where people also have more of a "community" mindset. The differences in these views simply vary far more individual to individual, region to region, city to rural, north to south, east to west, than they do between countries. These do not set countries apart nor bind their people together. If anything, political beliefs regarding individuality vs community are some of the strongest points of disagreement and argument within many nations cultures and political systems.

[Big Guy]

What unites Canadians?

I believe that one of the factors is our acceptance of multiculturalism. About 40% of Canadians are of the first or second generation. While there are a few who are still bigots the vast majority embrace the idea of and the strength of the mixture of cultures and the diversity of experiences in other countries.

[The_Squid]

Mostly what unites Canadians is an accident of where the people here happened to be born.... Nothing more. We like to make up reasons for nationalistic pride, but if those reasons weren't there, we would still be Canadians and just make up different reasons to be proud Canadians.

I have less in common with someone in Toronto than I do with someone in Seattle.

http://cascadianow.org

Edited July 1, 2014 by The_Squid

[Argus]

What unites Canadians?

I believe that one of the factors is our acceptance of multiculturalism. About 40% of Canadians are of the first or second generation. While there are a few who are still bigots the vast majority embrace the idea of and the strength of the mixture of cultures and the diversity of experiences in other countries.

I have watched how people react to government and media prodding on things like multiculturalism for decades, and have noted this sort of smug sense of confidence in those whose weak minds are simply empty holes which obediently regurgitate whatever the CBC and the Heritage Ministry pour down on them. No thinking required. Must be so peaceful for them.

The British Prime Minister has admitted multiculturalism has been a huge failure.

The French Prime Minister has admitted multiculturalism has been a huge failure.

The Nordic countries are now backtracking on their own multiculturalism after discovering, like the British and French, that they now have large native born citizens who bear them little love, do not feel part of them, and have sympathies elsewhere.

Canada, fortunately, has done much better, almost entirely because people like me have strenuously objected to much about multiculturalism, and tried to push things more towards the melting pot, towards where newcomers blend into the mainstream and become part of us, rather than sitting on the outskirts in the quaint ethnic villages the Left so cherishes.

If the mindless set had been allowed to get their way and we'd fully implemented the kind of multiculturalism they have in other countries we too would have riots in the streets now.

But you wouldn't know anything about that. Absent of almost all information, you simply puff out your chest in obnoxious and undeserved pride and call everyone who doesn't agree with your dedication to multiculturalism a bigot.

[Argus]

Mostly what unites Canadians is an accident of where the people here happened to be born.... Nothing more. We like to make up reasons for nationalistic pride, but if those reasons weren't there, we would still be Canadians and just make up different reasons to be proud Canadians.

I have less in common with someone in Toronto than I do with someone in Seattle.

Then move.

[The_Squid]

Then move.

Why would I move? What kind of goofy statement is that???

[Argus]

Why would I move? What kind of goofy statement is that???

If you have no attachment to this country why not go somewhere else?

[Bonam]

Then move.

Why? What kind of logic is that? If someone feels Vancouver has more in common with Seattle than with Toronto that means they should move somewhere? Huh?

[Bonam]

If you have no attachment to this country why not go somewhere else?

Cause it's a good place to live? One doesn't have to feel some kind of patriotic attachment in order to intelligently pick a place to live, or to continue living where they are.

[Argus]

Why? What kind of logic is that? If someone feels Vancouver has more in common with Seattle than with Toronto that means they should move somewhere? Huh?

He seems to have more in common with Americans. Why not go south? A person who feels no sense of kinship with Canadians would be better off going away and finding a people he likes better.

We'd be better off too.

[Argus]

Cause it's a good place to live? One doesn't have to feel some kind of patriotic attachment in order to intelligently pick a place to live, or to continue living where they are.

Yes, that's the problem I have with so many immigrants. They are just renters, without any commitment or even interest in the well-being of country beyond a place for free health care and where they can make money, then go 'home'.

[Bonam]

He seems to have more in common with Americans. Why not go south? A person who feels no sense of kinship with Canadians would be better off going away and finding a people he likes better.

We'd be better off too.

Where does the fact that he finds more in common with people from Seattle than from Toronto imply that he does not like the people in Vancouver? Your logic today has a lot of holes in it.

Edited July 1, 2014 by Bonam

[Bonam]

Yes, that's the problem I have with so many immigrants. They are just renters, without any commitment or even interest in the well-being of country beyond a place for free health care and where they can make money, then go 'home'.

ALL people that immigrate somewhere do so because they think they'll find a better life in the place they are going, not because they feel an innate loyalty to the new place. That goes for the people that settled Canada to begin with, too. But no, few have interest in going "home", because Canada is a better place to be.

[monty16]

Yes, that's the problem I have with so many immigrants. They are just renters, without any commitment or even interest in the well-being of country beyond a place for free health care and where they can make money, then go 'home'.

Immigrants in general are not anything like the way you want to characterize them. Most by far come to Canada and make good Canadians. That includes Chinese people and Muslims. Please stop expressing racist and ethnic hate on this forum. It's objectionable and should be stopped, if not by this forum's moderators then by decent Canadians who shouldn't have to hear it.