Canada is a nation of the perpetually misunderstood. Some people think Canada is a northern utopia. Samantha Bennett, a columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is one of them:
You live next door to a clean-cut, quiet guy. He never plays loud music or throws raucous parties. He doesn’t gossip over the fence, just smiles politely and offers you some tomatoes. His lawn is cared-for, his house is neat as a pin and you get the feeling he doesn’t always lock his front door. He wears Dockers. You hardly know he’s there.
And then one day you discover that he has pot in his basement, spends his weekends at peace marches and that guy you’ve seen mowing the yard is his spouse.
Allow me to introduce Canada. *
As I snowshoed to work this morning, I thought about this article, but I was interrupted by several musket-wielding trappers. They stole all of my furs, which I had planned to take to the trading post. Now I can’t afford to buy beer, Canadian bacon (which we just call “bacon”), or firewood to heat the igloo.
It’s true that nobody carries handguns, but they’re no good for hunting buffalo. And you can’t take down an attacking grizzly with a .45. You need a good, sturdy hunting knife.
It’s also true that we didn’t send the Canadian army to fight in Iraq, but that’s only because he was busy that day. Also, our planes are only equipped with skis, which don’t work very well in the sand.
Thanks, Pete, for sending me this one. I’ll send you some seal blubber.
Link to full article: post-gazette.com: It’s not just the weather that’s cooler in Canada