Anti-American attitudes in Canada

Unfortunately, one of the most defining features of Canadian society is its staunch anti-America attitude. While anti-American feelings in Canada are nowhere near as passionate or violent as those in say, Iran, Canada's Anti-Americanism is nevertheless a very powerful, underlying force that shapes and defines many key aspects of Canadian society.

As any American who has visited Canada will tell you, there is not a whole lot of difference between the two countries. Obviously while there are enough unique Canadian customs and traditions to fill an online guide, overall the culture, people, and values of the two societies are pretty much the same. This idea, though clearly understood, is hotly contested by most Canadians. "Oh, we are different from America," they say, "you'd be a fool to think we're exactly the same!" What all this means, however, is that a lot of so-called Canadian values and ideas are defined purely as being "not American." And when your country places such a high emphasis on "not being American," it is only natural for such feelings to gradually evolve into a profound dislike- or even hatred- of all things America.

To be fair, I should mention that anti-Americanism is not a universal thing. There are plenty of Canadians who love the US, and have nothing but praise for Canada's southern neighbor. Canadian history has certainly been marked by far more US-Canadian co-operation than antagonism.

There is, however, an underlying sort of feeling in Canada in which liking America too much is equated with favoring annexation. Though there is not much evidence to suggest the American government has even a passing interest in formally annexing Canada to the United States, Canadian culture as a whole tends to think otherwise. The "fight to prevent annexation" is one of Canada's most cherished national myths, and a goal all Canadians are expected to rally around. Needless to say, bashing America plays a big role in this fight.

Politics

Many good examples of anti-American attitudes can be found in Canada's government. Whenever a policy is unpopular, critics will be quick to denounce it as an "American-style" policy. For example, a politician who advocates changes to Canada's current healthcare system will often be denounced for "favoring an American-style system." Changes to gun laws create fear that we may be adopting "an American-style approach." Turfing the Queen of Canada in favor of an elected President is likewise unpopular, as it would mean Canada would be adopting "American-style" government.

It seems that a lot of Canada's current policies were created by carefully studying what was being done in the United States, then doing the exact opposite. For whatever reasons, a lot of Canadian politicians consider American society to be deeply flawed, and thus a country that Canada should go out of her way to avoid emulating.

The "we shouldn't do things like America" mantra has in a large part been adopted by the ruling Liberal Party of Canada, which as the name suggests, is a fairly left-of-center party. Canada's conservative parties tend to be more supportive of "American-style" attitudes, and thus do not usuaully vilify American policies to the same extent, and may even encourage their adoption (although no politician would ever openly say he wanted to make Canada "more like the U.S."). Among parties of the Canadian left, however, it's generally accepted that taking a hard-line against "American-style" policies is nessiary for electoral success. See also: Canada's political parties.

TV and the Media

Along with politically-motivated anti-Americanism, there is another form, something that may be best described as "cultural" anti-Americanism. This has less to do with American society and the American government, and more about "Americans" in the abstract sense. For example, here is a chart showing common Canadian perceptions of themselves, versus their perceptions of Americans:

The Canadian media has a large hand in fostering these sorts of biased perceptions, and thus anti-American attitudes. In many Canadian TV shows, especially comedy ones, "the American" is an instant puchline, and a source of many jokes and stereotypes. Canadian standup comedians regularly perform routines in which they explain just why Americans are stupid, or recount hilarious anecdotes about dealing with stupid, ignorant Americans.

In Canadian TV shows and sitcoms, Americans are characterized as being loud, boorish, and stupid. All Americans are inevitably southerners, and will usually have extremely pronounced, exaggerated accents. Think of "Cletus" on the Simpsons, and you will have a good idea of how the Canadian TV shows generally portray Americans. There is, for example a show called An American In Canada (which has probably been canceled by the time you read this, but oh well) which is a sitcom generally based around the premise of an arrogant, self-centered American whose life is a never-ending series of frustrations and confusions as he attempts to adjust to the peaceful Canadian society.

As mentioned in the Entertainment section, one of the most popular shows in Canada is a CBC special known as Talking to Americans. As I explained, the show basically consists of the Canadian host asking random Americans embarrassing questions, designed to highlight their ignorance of Canada. The show is popular because it: a) humiliates Americans, and b) reinforces stereotypes that Americans are all stupid, especially about matters concerning Canada.

Canadians often like to say they are not really anti-American by choice, but rather have anti-Americanism thrust upon them in response to the boorish behavior of actual Americans. Well, Talking to Americans seems to prove the opposite, as it is a sort of pre-emptive anti-American strike.

The Molson's Commercials

In 2000 the Canadian-run Molson's Beer Corporation released an extremely popular 30-second television commercial. The ad, later dubbed "the Rant" became an overnight hit. In it, a plaid shirt-wearing Canadian man named Joe aggressively denounces a series of perceived American stereotypes of Canada. "I am not a lumberjack or a fur trader, and I don't live in an igloo," Joe proclaims. The ads were enormously popular, especially among young Canadians, many of whom quickly memorized the Rant. Canada's minister of Heritage, Sheila Copps, even went so far as to book "Joe" to perform the rant at a variety of Canadian events and functions. She also insisted on showing the beer commercial at several American gatherings and conventions, supposedly to prove that the commercial was the very "expression of the soul and identity of who we are."

You can watch / read the entire rant here

The success of this ad quickly made Molsons the defacto Broadcaster of Official Canadian Values. They made their official company slogan "I Am Canadian" and sponsored all sorts of Canadian-Pride events. Many follow-ups to the Rant were soon released, but sadly, they failed to capture the quirky charms of the first one, and instead turned aggressively and openly anti-American. The new ads featured ridiculous caricatures of Americans hassling Canadians at work, with insults such as "where is your pet beaver?" and so forth. The ads always end with the American getting beaten up or humilated.

You can view some of the other Molson's Ads on this site.

Why?

Attempting to find an explanation for Canada's subtle hostile feelings for the United States is a complicated topic which many Canadians have written about at length. Generally, a commonly held belief is that by vilifying America, Canadians are able to create a collective identity for themselves. That is to say, when it is difficult to define ourselves for what we are it can often be easier to define ourselves based on what we are not. We are not Americans. Therefore, we are Canadians.

As I mentioned, the left/right schism of Canadian politics is also largely responsible, with Canada's present political status quo having been defined by mostly liberal governments while America's has been defined mostly by conservative ones. It is thus becoming somewhat fashionable to see Canada as a fundamentally "liberal" country contrasted with the fundamanetally "right wing" United States.

There are other explanations too, of course. Canada has a lot of immigrants, many of whom have made a concious decision not to immigrate to the more popular United States. Though this is often done for reasons of convience, it can also be done out of a dislike of some aspect of American society, the American government, or Americans in general.

There are also those who interpret Canada's history as being a constant struggle against the US, and thus see disliking the United States as part of a proud Canadian tradition. This is why the War of 1812, as I mentioned in the history section, is so beloved by many Canadians, even today. That war forever created one of Canada's most popular national myths - that the United States has both a strong desire to control Canada, but also an inability to win over its people.

Regardless, Canada and America are probably more alike than any other two nations on earth. Though we certainly have our differences and disputes, the two countries and their people will always share a very special and close bond.