Thread "Oh Canada" in forum "Wireless Wiki"

Posted at 8:07PM, Jul. 18, 2011

Alright… as I don't find many Canadians on here, and as Wireless is a little bit of a salute to my country, I thought I'd make a thread which is basically Canada 101… as best as I can tell you. So, starting off with the basics.
1. Canadian government is called a democracy though relatively different than American government.

Our government is split into three sectors; Municipal (city) Provincial (Province duh) and Federal (the entire country)
There are maaany many government parties in Canada, however the main ones that people tend to fret over are the New Democratic Party/NDP (Big on unions and such) Conservative party (has the name of the oldest party in Canada… technically though they're several parties that kind of conglomerated… their name kind of gives things away, they like focusing on what they know works) Liberal, (Up until recently they were the conservative's biggest threat. As their name says they're very liberal. Willing to try just about anything… but mostly like making fun of the conservatives (runs and hides from people who will attack him for saying that)), The Bloc Quebecois (Their entire reason to get into power is to create Quebec as their own country…. which would then stick them out of power… and we'd have to have ANOTHER election…) and the Green party (actually, this is a European party that kind of spread to Canada. They're not very big… but they like getting the media hyped up so they get about the same attention as the others. They're about being environmentally friendly…. as for any other problems that DON"T deal with the environment…. weeell they don't talk about that)
A Prime Minister (no we do NOT have a president… stop saying we do) is not exactly voted in. Instead citizens vote for a Member of Parliament/MP in their city. The party with the most MP's voted in gets to have the Prime Minister… I see the logic there but….. yaaa not going there
There are two different kinds of Prime Ministers. There is a Majourity Government (the votes for the Prime Minister's party are more than all the other parties put together) and a Minority (the votes AREN"T more than all the parties put together)
In a majourity government, the Prime Minister's party pretty much suggests and votes for the changes they want to see happen. In a minority government……. the other parties tend to shut down most ideas the Prime Minister's party brings up
When a potential law or Bill is proposed in the Canadian Government, it is announced and the different parties argue why or why not it should be established directing all questions to one man known as the speaker. Once it has been discussed enough, the parties vote and their vote decides whether the law is or is not established.
Technically the Queen of England (being our head of state) holds the right to pretty much shut down our government if she so wishes…. however she hasn't exactly exercised that right…. ever…. which we're thankful for
I will add more about the Senate, government general, etc when I'm more awake and less cynacle

2. Canadian Cities are a touch different from Cities in other countries as we tend to integrate them into forests instead of clear cutting and paving over.
3. Canada is a multicultural country!

Now I hear a lot of other countries confused at exactly what this entails. In the most basic sense… if you ask a Canadian what nationality they are they're more likely to say "French" "Indian" "Aborigional" or in my case "Pick a country I'm probablly that too" as opposed to saying "Canadian"
It's a pretty big irony, but Canadians tend to be highly patriotic of their patriotism towards other countries. We celebrate our differences, find talking in different languages cool, you can find food or items from just about any country in the world fairly easily in Canada, the list goes on.
In a way… you are actually more likely to deal with prejudice for being a white guy as opposed to being any kind of minority.

4. We are a country about peace

We're not really so big on the whole "let's get more land" or "Another country living the Canadian way!" But at the same time, if we see another country ailing be sure we'll go close to selling our own home to help you out.
Our "War of Independance" was basically us travelling to England, asking the Queen for freedom politely and her agreeing.
We work with multiple different oversea relief teams and chances are high that if something goes wrong in the world Canada will be one of the first countries there

5. We do stand up for ourselves!

Canadians put up with a lot of flack from the world right now. From America and Britain's PAINFUL representations of us in television shows, jokes cracked about us, thoughts that our peaceful behavour is just because we're scared to fight. But this is far from the truth.
Canadians have held their own on a number of amazing battles. War of 1812, Battle of Vimy Ridge, Rwanda, Operation Manna, etc
Canadians kept the British trait of being cool headed. If you insult us, chances are we'll just laugh it off…. but historically when something's happened to get Canada riled up… we tend to be like a bull dog. We don't give up until either we're ground into powder, or your taken down.

6. Canadians have three main languages. French, English, and Sarcasim.

Yes we do try hard to hang on to the french language but more to the point of this statement… we are INCREDIBLY sarcastic
Chances are that if you're ever talking to a Canadian and they've said something abnormally mean to you, they're actually just being sarcastic
Although even here it's starting to die out, Canadians love witful humor and as such will often say something totally out of character just for the sake of the come back.