Biggest difference between Canada and the USA

[Stealhead]

Simple there are fewer crazy people in Canada. Here in America probably one in 4 people are crazy.

[u crank]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

Simple there are fewer crazy people in Canada.

Guess you haven't met any of my in laws...

[Torplexed]

Another Trudeau after all these years.

I'm sure just like with the Kennedys, the Clintons and the Bushs the name ultimately works both for and against you.

[Subnuts]

The man is happy because he's going to get some poutine in a minute. I live a half hour walk away from one of the few places in Connecticut where you can order poutine, and that makes me happier just knowing that.

[CCIP]

Having lived in Ottawa for a number of years, nothing stood out to me more than the difference between our Houses of Parliament and the US embassy which is just a couple of blocks away. The Parliament houses our entire government, and yet you can wander the lawn and the grounds however you want. All you see is a few RCMP cars here and there, but security presence is pretty light. You can usually go into the parliament itself for free by grabbing a ticket about an hour in advance, and the metal detector protocols there are way looser than the average airport. There are brightly-coloured shuttle buses for our parliamentarians, but often they walk around. Me and my dad bumped into the late Jack Layton, one of the federal party leaders, and chatted a couple of times on the street corner.



Meanwhile, the US embassy looks like some kind of creepy space-age weapons facility, with opaque windows, towers that look like they house some kind of secret laser weapons, a triple security barrier, and half the lanes on both streets on either side of it blocked off. There's no way anyone can even get near that building. It's an embassy that literally has several orders more security than both of our houses of government!



I was very relieved when after last year's attack on the parliament, the security protocols remain the same as before and when I visited this summer, I happily wandered the grounds on Parliament in Ottawa with crowds of people. The US embassy? Remains a creepy and ridiculous eyesore.

(To be fair, I did visit DC several times as well and although security is way tighter there, it at least didn't strike me as being completely in my face).

[Rockstar]

ya know from that angle its what a Carnival Cruise Line ship would look like if it was captained by Darth Vader.

[Torplexed]

The US Guberment probably had a far less intimidating diplomatic outpost planned for Ottawa. But it accidentally got shipped to Benghazi. ( and vice-versa)

[August]

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by CCIP

I was very relieved when after last year's attack on the parliament, the security protocols remain the same as before and when I visited this summer, I happily wandered the grounds on Parliament in Ottawa with crowds of people. The US embassy? Remains a creepy and ridiculous eyesore.

(To be fair, I did visit DC several times as well and although security is way tighter there, it at least didn't strike me as being completely in my face).

Oh its changed you just won't see, like security in D.C.

http://cnews.canoe.com/CNEWS/Canada/.../22563234.html

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by August

Hey! The big guy there...wasn't that John Candy?

Naw. He's long dead. Musta been Rob Ford.

[Bilge_Rat]

Here is another one on Parliament Hill on tuesday.

Although the Secret Service are a bit much sometimes, there is such a thing as too little security.

yup, the Trudeaus are our Kennedys. I have not seen so much excitement over a Canadian PM since his father was PM. Now lets see how he performs.

[Highbury]

Don't let these pics fool ya. He is still just "Prime Minister-designate" and taking publicity photos.

About 2 - 3 months ago I was on South Granville St. in Vancouver when a massive motorcade came by, 8-10 vehicles in all mostly SUVs and a couple limos in the middle with Canadian flags on the front corners. The SUVs all had the windows down and were full of RCMP in combat fatigues with some form of assault rifle. A friend and I figured it had to be Stephen Harper (the current PM), which was confirmed a couple hours later on the radio.

Once Trudeau is sworn in I am sure he will be much harder to approach.

[Sailor Steve]

I'm sorry, but I don't trust him. I don't trust you either. In fact, I don't trust any Canadian.

Here's why:

Ninety-percent of population is massed within 100 miles north of the United States' border.

Seems not to mind one of its provinces being almost entirely French.

Excessive politeness only makes sense as cover for something truly sinister.

Citizens seem strangely impervious to cold.

Decriminalization of marijuana and acceptance of gay marriage without corresponding collapse of social institutions indicate Canada may very well be indestructible.

Has infiltrated entertainment industry with singers, actors, and comedians practically indistinguishable from their American counterparts.

Consistently stays just below cultural radar yet never quite disappears totally.

Parliamentary government and common-law judiciary appear to function acceptably yet remain completely inscrutable.

Never had a "disco phase".

Seemingly endless supply of timber, donuts, and Scotch-plaid hats with earflaps.

Keeps insisting it "has no designs on America" and "only wants peace".

Plays a mean game of pond hockey.

Has a universal health care system considered to be Socialist and yet it's citizens remain healthy, showing the people may invulnerable to disease.




Oh, and

[Betonov]

And don't forget Vancouver can be

[Bilge_Rat]

The beauty of democracy, the election is over, time to move on.




At today's memorial service, PM Harper looks strangely relaxed now that he is "retired".