I agree with you that Coulter may have been thinking of Canadians who joined the U.S. military to serve in Vietnam... Her numbers are too close for it to be any coincidence. Given the way that other countries (like China in the Korean War) have used the "volunteers" story, you can see how this cuts the ground away from the Canadian argument. To the rest of the world, it looks like Canadians trying to run with the hares and hunt with the hounds... again.
Before launching into a series of observations about Canada, I should state that I haven't spent a lot of time in Canada - just four visits of a few weeks each. I usually visit Western Canada and have only been to Eastern Canada once. Whereas I have spent many months working in the US.
- Canada is more bureaucratic than the US. Administration in Canada seems more likely to be done locally. - Canadian laws about alcohol are state based and as arcane as America's.Drinking age is lower 18 or 19... prices are much higher. - Actually, everything costs more in Canada. - Canadian interest rates are low. - Canada is not as wealthy as the US. GDP per capita is 20% less - only slightly more than Australia. - Canadians had a poor understanding of how their own system of government works. Every time I'm there I read a newspaper article which gets it either hopelessly confused or just plain wrong. - Canadians are more interested in global issues than Americans but by world standards that doesn't amount to much. - Canadians know more about Australia than Australians know about Canada but till have misconconceptions. Australians were upset by Canadian comments along the lines of "Australia can win Olympic gold medals but has no health system". We do have a national health system goddammit! - Canada is an Atlantic country. Time and again I heard Canadian officials and media make comments that simply forgot that Western Canada existed. - Canadians are friendly and optimistic like Americans but they don't have our cynical streak. They are less reverent than Americans but not as much as we are (or as vulgar). Canadians are surprised if you answer "How's it going?" with "shithouse". - I saw no evidence that censorship was less strict in Canada than America. - I never saw any evidence of Canadian politeness. - Canadians are less religious. I don't know if it's like here where politicians will avoid saying that they believe in God. - Canadians are nationalistic but don't vent it in the same way as we do. Canadians seemed less interested in sports. - The Canadian Army is smaller than ours. And not as effective as ours or the US. Canadians have less interest in defence issues. - For all the talk about contributing to UN peacekeeping, Canada had just 239 peacekeepers on the job in 2004; Australia had more than 2,000.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
C eh N eh D eh
Date: 2005-01-30 03:13 am (UTC)Her numbers are too close for it to be any coincidence. Given the way that other countries (like China in the Korean War) have used the "volunteers" story, you can see how this cuts the ground away from the Canadian argument. To the rest of the world, it looks like Canadians trying to run with the hares and hunt with the hounds... again.
Before launching into a series of observations about Canada, I should state that I haven't spent a lot of time in Canada - just four visits of a few weeks each. I usually visit Western Canada and have only been to Eastern Canada once. Whereas I have spent many months working in the US.
- Canada is more bureaucratic than the US. Administration in Canada seems more likely to be done locally.
- Canadian laws about alcohol are state based and as arcane as America's.Drinking age is lower 18 or 19... prices are much higher.
- Actually, everything costs more in Canada.
- Canadian interest rates are low.
- Canada is not as wealthy as the US. GDP per capita is 20% less - only slightly more than Australia.
- Canadians had a poor understanding of how their own system of government works. Every time I'm there I read a newspaper article which gets it either hopelessly confused or just plain wrong.
- Canadians are more interested in global issues than Americans but by world standards that doesn't amount to much.
- Canadians know more about Australia than Australians know about Canada but till have misconconceptions. Australians were upset by Canadian comments along the lines of "Australia can win Olympic gold medals but has no health system". We do have a national health system goddammit!
- Canada is an Atlantic country. Time and again I heard Canadian officials and media make comments that simply forgot that Western Canada existed.
- Canadians are friendly and optimistic like Americans but they don't have our cynical streak. They are less reverent than Americans but not as much as we are (or as vulgar). Canadians are surprised if you answer "How's it going?" with "shithouse".
- I saw no evidence that censorship was less strict in Canada than America.
- I never saw any evidence of Canadian politeness.
- Canadians are less religious. I don't know if it's like here where politicians will avoid saying that they believe in God.
- Canadians are nationalistic but don't vent it in the same way as we do. Canadians seemed less interested in sports.
- The Canadian Army is smaller than ours. And not as effective as ours or the US. Canadians have less interest in defence issues.
- For all the talk about contributing to UN peacekeeping, Canada had just 239 peacekeepers on the job in 2004; Australia had more than 2,000.