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/wiki/Canadawork

"Mon pays, ce n'est pas un pays; c'est l'hiver." —Gilles Vigneault

Canada is the second largest country in the world by area, and has a population of just under 37 million people as of the 2021 census. Compared to other countries, its population is pretty small, boasting a population density of only 4.2 people per square kilometre (the UK squeezes 255 people into the same amount of space). Despite being few, historically the provinces and territories like to fight with one another, in more modern times resorting to snide jokes and CFL rivalries. The Western provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) like to hate on Central Canada (Ontario and Quebec), the Maritime Provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island) have severe inferiority complexes and resent that they never get any of the good stuff, Newfoundland and Labrador sort of still collectively wishes they hadn't joined Confederation, while the Francophones in Quebec look poorly upon the Anglophones in the rest of the country (the "ROC" as it's known). Meanwhile the Anglophones in Quebec just quietly try to subvert the language laws. Every province likes to bash Ontario, and all Canadians who don't live there like to talk about how much Toronto sucks. Why is it like this? Mainly because of the confusing origins and exacerbated regional differences. That said, Canada is still a unified country, and the rivalry that goes on is similar to that of any country.

Three of the most memorable moments to most Canadians in their history include: the The War of 1812; the Battle of Vimy Ridge in World War I, using tactics by Canadian General Arthur William Currie to capture the ridge from the Germans; and finally, Game 8, 1972, Canada v. Soviet Union.

Insisting that Canada is still a Dominion of the United Kingdom (it hasn't been since 1949 and the UK completely gave up any sort of legislative rights in Canada in 1982) or is in any way in some sort of union with the United States is bound to stir up some backdraft amongst Canadians, as will suggesting Quebec should be independent (outside of Quebec, minus certain parts of Montreal).

Culturally, Canadians are perceived as being modest, quiet, and a bit like a backwards rustic neighbour. The Canucks With Chinooks page shows just how inaccurate that is. Similarities to America are profound, but those similarities are heatedly protested by Canadians. If one is asked to think of "Canada", generally the idea of plaid-wearing lumberjacks in a snow-filled pine forest where moose and beavers frolic about and bears savagely roam is imagined. Somewhere, ice hockey is filled in. Maple syrup (as well as the maple leaf, which is on Canada's flag) is commonly associated with Canada, and--like Alaska--it's hard to imagine not covered in snow and freezing.

Canada isn't all wine and roses (or beer and skittles), though. The "residential schools" -- a systematic program of cultural genocide against the native peoples -- is a part of living memory... but, while we're willing to admit it, taking steps to atone is something that has barely if at all started. And, in our own way, we're just as racist as the USA; we're just better at convincing ourselves (and the rest of the world) that we aren't.

If you're looking for Hollywood Canada, see Canada, Eh?.

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Flag of Canada

Canada is the Trope Namer for:

• Canada, Eh?

Canada provides examples of the following tropes:

• Beware the Nice Ones / Beware the Quiet Ones: Canada has a reputation for being polite and prefers to take an international role out of the spotlight, but the Canucks With Chinooks page exists for a reason. Also, Canada's "Joint Task Force 2" is considered by The Pentagon to be a Tier One special forces unit.

Whenever the Germans found the Canadian Corps coming into the line, they prepared for the worst. —British Prime Minister David Lloyd George

• The British Empire / The Commonwealth: Canada was part of the Empire and is part of the Commonwealth. It's one of the Commonwealth's biggest boosters, not that that's saying much.
• Bilingual Bonus: Speaking both English and French helps you tremendously in Canada. Quebecois can't complain that you're one of the maudit Anglos, the Anglo-Canadians can't complain that you're one of the stuck-up Quebecers, and a lot more government jobs are open for bilingual people. This is also the reason why most successful Prime Ministers were all from the "Laurentian Elite", i.e. people from the Ottawa to Montreal region - they grew up bilingual.
• The Federation: Canada is a fairly centralized example of one - crime prevention, for example, is entirely controlled by the federal authorities, not the provinces (though the provinces may also have their own police service - the Sureté de Québec is probably the most famous). This is due to the Constitution Act of 1867 laying out a very wide set of powers the federal government explicitly has. Another good example is marriage - most family law is provincial law, but marriage regulation is a federal power. It's also the reason Canada became the fourth country in the worldto allow same-sex marriages on a national scale in 2005 - because regulating marriage was a federal power, all it took was three readings in the House of Commons, three readings in the Senate and Governor (well, Royal, but it's de facto Governor) Assent, rather than the long-term state-by-state approval process seen in the US.
• Canadians Love Curling: Curling originated from Scotland, yet it's Canada that dominates curling in international competitions.
• Good Bad Translation: According to legend, when Jacques Cartier asked the Huron-Iroquois people where he was, they replied that they were taking him to "kanata", meaning "the village". He interpreted it as "we are in the nation of Kanata". So he wrote "Canada" on all the maps.
  • Lampshading this, one of the suburbs of the nation's capital is named "Kanata."
• Memetic Mutation
  • "Just watch me." ~ Pierre Trudeau
  • "The state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation." ~ Also Pierre Trudeau
  • "Fuddle Duddle" ~ an Unusual Euphemism that is officially attributed to Pierre Trudeau
  • a "walk in the snow" ~ again, Pierre Trudeau
  • "You had an option, sir." ~ Brian Mulroney, speaking Canada's equivalent of "You're no Jack Kennedy"
  • "Conscription if necessary but not necessarily conscription." ~ attributed to William Lyon Mackenzie King, who actually said "not necessarily conscription, but conscription if necessary."
  • "They're going home!" ~ Bob Cole
  • "A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven." ~ Jean Chretien
  • "He shoots, he scores!" ~ Foster Hewitt
• National Stereotypes: Beer, bears, beavers, and lumberjacks are most of the biggest Canadian stereotypes. Moose, modesty, maple syrup, and hockey cover the rest.
  • Although as of the mid-2010s Canada has a monopoly on the singing astronaut stereotype, despite the existence of non-Canadian singing astronauts. One of his performances graces this very page!

Associated tropes:

• Canada, Eh?: how the rest of the world sees Canada
• Canadian Accents
  • Canadian Accent Influences
• Canadian History
• Canadian Music
• Canadian Politics
• Canadian Series
• Canucks With Chinooks
  • The Poppy
• The Common Law
• Ice Hockey: The national winter sport. (We passed a law saying so, back in 1994.) The "ice" part is always assumed in Canada, so just call it "hockey" when visiting.
• Labour Day in North America

Places:

• Montreal, the largest French speaking city in the Americas.
• Toronto, the biggest city and the financial hub of Canada, but is not the national capital (that's Ottawa, also in Ontario but a bit to the east-northeast; Toronto is the provincial capital), and definitely not the centre of the universe no matter how much Torontonians may wish for it.
• Vancouver, the financial centre for Western Canada, with a massive Pacific port. It is the city that is not Seattle no matter how much Hollywood wants to convince you otherwise.
• Niagara Falls: There's one of these in the USA, too, but the Canadian one gets all the publicity.

People (an incomplete list):

• CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
• Cirque Du Soleil
• Emily Carr
• Group of Seven
• Only So Many Canadian Actors