Well it would really vary by city or region. But by and large as established as you would find in mid-sized US cities. Toronto and Montreal have a subway and extensive bus service. Vancouver has extensive bus service and the SKYTRAIN (it's a train in the sky) because we're cool like that.
Most of us Vancouverites like to bitch about Translink but in reality it does a pretty good job. Also the Skytrain is pretty damn awesome.
It is a big mouthful of custard flavoured butter icing that just makes me wanna puke from the over richness
Yep. Store bought or homemade they are far too rich for my tastes.
Public Transportation in Ontario is pretty good. You'll find bus transport in the cities around Toronto such as Barrie or Newmarket. You can get to other cities of Ontario by using GO transit. Canada's first and Ontario's only interregional transportation for the GTA. They've got the GO Train and buses.
Also this is not only the best Tragically Hip song, but the most Canadian song I can think of that doesn't involve some hockey reference (many of which also written by The Hip).
There are as many "Canadas" as there are provinces. (by the way, I hope that comment about French Canadians was made in jest...). Perhaps it would be useful to describe our provinces?
I can talk about Québec. It's the second largest province in population I believe, with roughly one fifth of Canadians living here. Québec had an identity crisis in the sixties and seventies and went from a very religious, conservative province where most people had little education to become a very left-leaning one, with organized religion on a precipitous decline and with a wealth of social services, including the most affordable education in Canada. It is very much the most "european" province of Canada, with Montréal and Québec city having a very distinct atmosphere from most other cities.
Sovereignty and language is a big issue here, largely because for most of our history, our British rulers were openly attempting to "assimilate" us. This pretty much went away when Canada became a country, and most definitely stopped during the "Silent revolution" towards the end of the sixties, when we built a bunch of French universities and made big changes to our culture (it's "silent" because essentially no one died, despite being a complete 180 of our culture.)
As a result of this history, there's a non-negligible population of separatists here, although they have lost both referendums on separation. You'll find that they're mostly older people, who saw how things were before the silent revolution, since the younger generation has always known a francophone-administered Québec where the church has little political power. This is the result of some friction between our province and the others.
We have the oldest and most storied franchise in all of hockey. The Montréal Canadiens. 24 championships in 100 years, and a powerful icon of our culture (mostly because the team was the first one to embrace francophone players, and because they are a symbol of excellence). Just as reference, the Toronto Maple Leafs are second with only 13 Stanley cups.
Hockey may be a national past-time, but it is a religion here. There are riots after every round of the playoffs, and our fans are known to travel to other stadiums and loudly cheer on our team.
I believe we produce something like 98% of the world's supply of maple syrup. If you spend some time in Canada, try to get some maple syrup from Québec, it's the best thing ever.
Our french isn't really like what they speak in France. It's far more... rustic. If you have the idea that we are the stereotypical Frenchman, get that out of your head. There's certainly a big "settlers" vibe when you talk to people from the rural areas of the province.
Oh and, unfortunately for you, Québec probably wins the palm for the province with the most disdain for america. Other Canadians may playfully make fun of you guys, but it's not so playful here. You should be fine if you ever come to visit though, we still have good old Canadian politeness. Although, since language is such a big issue here, all you need to do is attempt to speak French. Seriously, people will instantly like you. Most NHL players now know that you have to learn French if you play in Montréal, and they make it a point to say something in French to the cameras every now and then. One guy we acquired here said a whole sentence in French the first day he got interviewed and that was basically everything the sports media talked about. And he's an American. (There you go, hockey again. We are mad about this sport.)
We have a big emphasis on culture. Movies produced here actually do fairly well and receive a lot of attention in other countries with Francophones. Québec is the part of Canada that exports its culture the most. Our artists have an international presence in other French speaking countries. All of our TV programming is in French, of course, and we import nothing from France: it's all produced here. Some of our TV shows have actually become successes internationally. Québec invests a lot of its money in culture. Fun fact: Québec has more stand up comedians per capita than any other place in the world.
Other fun fact: we swear by using church objects. This isn't a joke. People drop "chalice" in the middle of a sentence to swear, for example. Yeah, it's kind of weird, it's a relic of the time when we were uneducated farmers clinging to our priests' robes. Organized religion is pretty much dead here now (essentially everyone who goes to church has gray hair) but there's still small relics of it.
Despite what many foreigners seem to think, we have no love for France. It's another country to us, and we feel no special bond with them. We even think that they're a bit arrogant. We have basically the same French stereotypes as you do.
I'm not gonna make this any longer. This is a good overview of my province. Maple syrup. Hockey. Europe. French.
I believe we produce something like 98% of the world's supply of maple syrup. If you spend some time in Canada, try to get some maple syrup from Québec, it's the best thing ever.
On that note, try not to admit to the American assumption that Canada:Syrup::China:Toys. I'm not sure if it's a thing outside New England, but I've recently heard a good bit of speculation on the possibility of global warming pushing the good syrup climate out of Vermont and into Maine and Canada.
Nobody else in Canada (Especially western) really likes em. Especially not politically considering that the bloc fucks up our political system so god damned hard.
We learned Canadian French in Nova Scotia and Ontario. I remember when the super brain students were eligible for a trip to France they were practically fluent here but found quite a few differences with how things were done there.
We learned France French but in elementary school this was supplemented with a healthy dose of Telefrancais. Which is like, Quebecois French. Talking pineapples ahoy!
Alberta I know a little bit about what with having lived here forever. Rural Alberta is definitely hicktown, and some Calgarians like to affect the stereotype with Stompede and dumbass-looking cowboy hats, but Edmonton is not hick at all. Lots of immigrants. Northern Alberta is all about the oil, and as such there are tons of uneducated twenty-somethings making bank and using it to buy cocaine. Fort McMurray isn't as bad as it used to be, but still pretty drug-heavy.
I believe we produce something like 98% of the world's supply of maple syrup. If you spend some time in Canada, try to get some maple syrup from Québec, it's the best thing ever.
On that note, try not to admit to the American assumption that Canada:Syrup::China:Toys. I'm not sure if it's a thing outside New England, but I've recently heard a good bit of speculation on the possibility of global warming pushing the good syrup climate out of Vermont and into Maine and Canada.
Wait, I don't really understand this. Are you implying that people in New England think Vermont has better climate for maple syrup than Québec?
From Wikipedia:
Canada makes more than 80 percent of the world's maple syrup, producing about 26,500,000 litres (7,000,000 US gal) in 2004.[19] The vast majority of this comes from Quebec: the province is the world's largest producer, with about 75 percent of the world production totaling 24,660,000 litres (6,510,000 US gal) in 2005.[19] Production in Quebec is controlled through a supply-management system, with producers receiving quota allotments from the Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec, which also maintains reserves of syrup.[20] Canada exports more than 29,000 tonnes (64,000,000 lb) of maple syrup per year, valuing over C$145 million.[21]
Alright, my numbers were off. We make 75% of it.
Man, we have a damn maple syrup reserve, how awesome is that? I didn't even know that. If there ever is some kind of global catastrophe, we Québecois can rest well, knowing that we will still have something to pour on our pancakes and toasts.
OP, try to acquire a can of maple syrup from Québec, if you have the chance. It's the right time of the year for it. It really tastes great and it's natural.
Yeah that's actually a relatively popular thing here is the musical comedy acts. We have Captain Tractor, Arrogant Worms, Bowser and Blue, André-Philippe Gagnon, John Wing with enough alcohol, and the list goes on.
Paul and Storm really should do some shows in Canada. They'd be a smash!
Check out the show Departures. A show about 3 Canadians traveling the world. It's actually pretty good. The first and last episodes of Season 1 cover Canada and are worth a watch.
If you visit Saskatchewan, you need to know this song. When I used to go to the bars, it even got played in them from time to time
You really should be familiar with that song if you go to any pub/bar (maybe not the dance clubs and discos as much) in the country... I can't count the number of times I've been in another province (not even just Alberta--Nova Scotia, for one!) and heard it come on. It's a good way to see how many ex-pat Saskatchewan folk are in the place, actually... we just can't resist that song.
(I love when there's a bunch of us out somewhere in another province and the song comes on--usually one of us requests it. We all go crazy enjoying it and everyone else is like o_O)
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lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
edited April 2011
While living in Maine I learned a few things.
Quebecois can be both the nicest and the rudest people in the world. They will treat you like the nasty american dirt beneath their feet, until you say something in French. And then, all is forgiven you are a human again. They also have the best glare.
also, Red Green. And that teenager show that I can't remember now dammit. It was a teenager after school soap opera back in the like 80s and then it got revamped in the early 2000s to basically continue with the old cast/characters kids.
watched that all the time.
Oh, and CTV had the best coverage of any Olympics. ever.
I am slightly joking about the Quebequois. My best friend on ships, the Band Leader who got me promoted to BL myself, and who changed my current contract so as to work with him is Quebeqois. So yeah, I actually do know about the Quebeqois people a little.
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Rear Admiral ChocoI wanna be an owl, Jerry!Owl York CityRegistered Userregular
Okay, wasn't going to say anything, but some of the posts about Alberta are a little ridiculous.
Alberta is actually a very nice place, geographically we have everything except an ocean, as a trade off however, our weather tends to be on the high end of temperamental. There are two main cities in the province, Edmonton and Calgary, neither of which can be considered "hickish" or anything like that. Basically, Edmonton is the capital of the province while Calgary is the business center, with many of the oil industry basing out of there.
Rural Alberta is not full of hicks, despite what people think. There tends to be an idolization of the cowboy in the country, but in many places with good reason, as there is a lot of cattle farming across Alberta and many of the people who live in rural Alberta are themselves involved in the cattle industry. But really, talking about the rural area as if it is all the same is ridiculous, small town Alberta near the Saskatchewan border is much more different than small town Alberta near the Rockies.
Either way, don't listen to people, Alberta is great. From what I gathered we have a lot in common with Northern Texas. But really, you can't stereotype an entire province, we have a great deal of diversity. Except in political opinion, we are mostly Conservative.
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what the fuck did you really
white rock Elementary or HT Thrift?? WHAT YEARS.
No I'm an imposter
I really went to school on the edge of South Surrey
also private school
i think that narrows it down to one school, haha. not hard to figure out
Sex in a bottle.
really
Really
you're from that school and you tried to pretend you went to a White Rock School?
hissssss
Okay back on topic. I think we have filled OP's head to bursting with Canadian knowledge.
Most of us Vancouverites like to bitch about Translink but in reality it does a pretty good job. Also the Skytrain is pretty damn awesome.
Well much like the US it can vary from city to city, with a scale ranging from Satisfactory to Abject Shit
I never finish anyth
I'm partial to the Highland Cask version myself.
Wait. The Highland Cask version is the one that's sold at the BCLC for about $5 a bottle in those green cases?
That's the one I meant :P Tried a few about a month ago and fell in love. Delicious.
Yep. Store bought or homemade they are far too rich for my tastes.
Public Transportation in Ontario is pretty good. You'll find bus transport in the cities around Toronto such as Barrie or Newmarket. You can get to other cities of Ontario by using GO transit. Canada's first and Ontario's only interregional transportation for the GTA. They've got the GO Train and buses.
Some Canadian comedy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcPzRDlLO5c
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_comedians
Steam | Live
Only half my cousins there live on farms!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agr_wTBvhJs
It's about this. So yeah, listen to some Tragically Hip
I never finish anyth
I can talk about Québec. It's the second largest province in population I believe, with roughly one fifth of Canadians living here. Québec had an identity crisis in the sixties and seventies and went from a very religious, conservative province where most people had little education to become a very left-leaning one, with organized religion on a precipitous decline and with a wealth of social services, including the most affordable education in Canada. It is very much the most "european" province of Canada, with Montréal and Québec city having a very distinct atmosphere from most other cities.
Sovereignty and language is a big issue here, largely because for most of our history, our British rulers were openly attempting to "assimilate" us. This pretty much went away when Canada became a country, and most definitely stopped during the "Silent revolution" towards the end of the sixties, when we built a bunch of French universities and made big changes to our culture (it's "silent" because essentially no one died, despite being a complete 180 of our culture.)
As a result of this history, there's a non-negligible population of separatists here, although they have lost both referendums on separation. You'll find that they're mostly older people, who saw how things were before the silent revolution, since the younger generation has always known a francophone-administered Québec where the church has little political power. This is the result of some friction between our province and the others.
We have the oldest and most storied franchise in all of hockey. The Montréal Canadiens. 24 championships in 100 years, and a powerful icon of our culture (mostly because the team was the first one to embrace francophone players, and because they are a symbol of excellence). Just as reference, the Toronto Maple Leafs are second with only 13 Stanley cups.
Hockey may be a national past-time, but it is a religion here. There are riots after every round of the playoffs, and our fans are known to travel to other stadiums and loudly cheer on our team.
I believe we produce something like 98% of the world's supply of maple syrup. If you spend some time in Canada, try to get some maple syrup from Québec, it's the best thing ever.
Our french isn't really like what they speak in France. It's far more... rustic. If you have the idea that we are the stereotypical Frenchman, get that out of your head. There's certainly a big "settlers" vibe when you talk to people from the rural areas of the province.
Oh and, unfortunately for you, Québec probably wins the palm for the province with the most disdain for america. Other Canadians may playfully make fun of you guys, but it's not so playful here. You should be fine if you ever come to visit though, we still have good old Canadian politeness. Although, since language is such a big issue here, all you need to do is attempt to speak French. Seriously, people will instantly like you. Most NHL players now know that you have to learn French if you play in Montréal, and they make it a point to say something in French to the cameras every now and then. One guy we acquired here said a whole sentence in French the first day he got interviewed and that was basically everything the sports media talked about. And he's an American. (There you go, hockey again. We are mad about this sport.)
We have a big emphasis on culture. Movies produced here actually do fairly well and receive a lot of attention in other countries with Francophones. Québec is the part of Canada that exports its culture the most. Our artists have an international presence in other French speaking countries. All of our TV programming is in French, of course, and we import nothing from France: it's all produced here. Some of our TV shows have actually become successes internationally. Québec invests a lot of its money in culture. Fun fact: Québec has more stand up comedians per capita than any other place in the world.
Other fun fact: we swear by using church objects. This isn't a joke. People drop "chalice" in the middle of a sentence to swear, for example. Yeah, it's kind of weird, it's a relic of the time when we were uneducated farmers clinging to our priests' robes. Organized religion is pretty much dead here now (essentially everyone who goes to church has gray hair) but there's still small relics of it.
Despite what many foreigners seem to think, we have no love for France. It's another country to us, and we feel no special bond with them. We even think that they're a bit arrogant. We have basically the same French stereotypes as you do.
I'm not gonna make this any longer. This is a good overview of my province. Maple syrup. Hockey. Europe. French.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_City,_Montreal
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On that note, try not to admit to the American assumption that Canada:Syrup::China:Toys. I'm not sure if it's a thing outside New England, but I've recently heard a good bit of speculation on the possibility of global warming pushing the good syrup climate out of Vermont and into Maine and Canada.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_Accord#The_Kitchen_Accord
Nobody else in Canada (Especially western) really likes em. Especially not politically considering that the bloc fucks up our political system so god damned hard.
My ears arent attuned enough to notice the difference, but its like the old school hating the new school (montreal).
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god damn eastern canada
Alberta I know a little bit about what with having lived here forever. Rural Alberta is definitely hicktown, and some Calgarians like to affect the stereotype with Stompede and dumbass-looking cowboy hats, but Edmonton is not hick at all. Lots of immigrants. Northern Alberta is all about the oil, and as such there are tons of uneducated twenty-somethings making bank and using it to buy cocaine. Fort McMurray isn't as bad as it used to be, but still pretty drug-heavy.
Everyone here hates Quebec, sorry Quebec
Steam | Live
Wait, I don't really understand this. Are you implying that people in New England think Vermont has better climate for maple syrup than Québec?
From Wikipedia:
Alright, my numbers were off. We make 75% of it.
Man, we have a damn maple syrup reserve, how awesome is that? I didn't even know that. If there ever is some kind of global catastrophe, we Québecois can rest well, knowing that we will still have something to pour on our pancakes and toasts.
OP, try to acquire a can of maple syrup from Québec, if you have the chance. It's the right time of the year for it. It really tastes great and it's natural.
If you visit Saskatchewan, you need to know this song. When I used to go to the bars, it even got played in them from time to time
It's also filmed in West Edmonton Mall on the Santa Maria.
[tiny]I'm just going to leave that sentence there and let you figure it out lol.[/tiny]
I never finish anyth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLMkV7VyPns
Paul and Storm really should do some shows in Canada. They'd be a smash!
I never finish anyth
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Oddly enough, my girlfriend hadn't heard of them.
I also actually knew about the Canada French thing too.
Almost everything else is super-useful though, thanks again guys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAVnEC8c8e4
You really should be familiar with that song if you go to any pub/bar (maybe not the dance clubs and discos as much) in the country... I can't count the number of times I've been in another province (not even just Alberta--Nova Scotia, for one!) and heard it come on. It's a good way to see how many ex-pat Saskatchewan folk are in the place, actually... we just can't resist that song.
(I love when there's a bunch of us out somewhere in another province and the song comes on--usually one of us requests it. We all go crazy enjoying it and everyone else is like o_O)
Quebecois can be both the nicest and the rudest people in the world. They will treat you like the nasty american dirt beneath their feet, until you say something in French. And then, all is forgiven you are a human again. They also have the best glare.
also, Red Green. And that teenager show that I can't remember now dammit. It was a teenager after school soap opera back in the like 80s and then it got revamped in the early 2000s to basically continue with the old cast/characters kids.
watched that all the time.
Oh, and CTV had the best coverage of any Olympics. ever.
Democrats Abroad! || Vote From Abroad
Red Green is incredible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPkx3r_yAlc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwUq7jYyXzM
Steam | Live
The TTC in Toronto is really pretty good. Any time I've stepped outside its bounds it's absolutely awful. I wouldn't know otherwise.
Alberta is actually a very nice place, geographically we have everything except an ocean, as a trade off however, our weather tends to be on the high end of temperamental. There are two main cities in the province, Edmonton and Calgary, neither of which can be considered "hickish" or anything like that. Basically, Edmonton is the capital of the province while Calgary is the business center, with many of the oil industry basing out of there.
Rural Alberta is not full of hicks, despite what people think. There tends to be an idolization of the cowboy in the country, but in many places with good reason, as there is a lot of cattle farming across Alberta and many of the people who live in rural Alberta are themselves involved in the cattle industry. But really, talking about the rural area as if it is all the same is ridiculous, small town Alberta near the Saskatchewan border is much more different than small town Alberta near the Rockies.
Either way, don't listen to people, Alberta is great. From what I gathered we have a lot in common with Northern Texas. But really, you can't stereotype an entire province, we have a great deal of diversity. Except in political opinion, we are mostly Conservative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZbygmWKpP8
And yes, when compared globally, Vancouver public transit is pretty crap. But then again, so is the majority of North American public transit.
That being said I'd rather take the Skytrain than buses everywhere. Or those goddamn trains in the Northeast US.