Canadian Living

[Almost There]

Oh, Canadians litter quite a bit too. If I see one more Timmie's coffee cup laying on the side of the road I'll scream!

Our roads departments and volunteers are kept quite busy cleaning up trust me.

The actual conversion from litres to US gallons is 1 litre = .26 US gallons. When we used Imperial measure for gas I always converted it to US gallons as well but that's just me being used to cross border conversations.

Most of us just use a times 4 formula and skip the .04 as it's not really significant.

Gas prices vary considerably across the country just like they do in the US. In towns and areas of larger cities gas stations tend to be all the same because of price matching. Out and out price wars are seldom seen...sigh!

I try to gas up in an area that's about 75 miles from here while on my way back and forth from Moms' place because gas can be as much as 10 cents a litre cheaper there than here at home. That's 40 cents a gallon. The further north you go in Ontario the more expensive gas gets.

Some other differences some of you may find interesting is our beer alcohol content. Always wondered why I couldn't outdrink my US drinking buddies until I figured out that they were drinking stuff with a much lower alcohol content that I was....   Once I switched to US beer I could finally keep up with the best of them! That was when I was much younger though... Now I can't touch the stuff..sigh!

 

[Canine]

I had grits once and thought that they were potatoes- the worst potatoes I had ever eaten. My buddies in basic training explained to me what they were and were displeased that I disliked them so much. Lol

 

[Canine]

I can only comment on what I've seen as far as litter goes. I'll take any stretch of highway in BC and compare it to the same mileage stretch of US interstate, hands down the Canadian roadsides are cleaner. That's what I've noticed. If back east they litter more, that's too bad but that's not here. Vancouver Island was also quite clean. Maybe there's more recycling, I saw lots of recycling bins and the campgrounds had separate bins for glass and other recyclables.

 

[skyl4rk]

Skyl4rk - I'm very curious as to what you find differences you find so striking. Maybe it's because I've spent the better part of 40 years floating between the 2 countries that it's become subconscious to me. Other than knowing how fast I can drive and how far I have to go (j/k I'm multispeed...lol), I don't find the differences that great!

The biggest difference is that the US has a paranoid mentality which disappears when you cross the border into Canada.  Paranoia about terrorism, crime, disease, better wipe the shopping cart with a sanitizing wipe type paranoia.  Keep the kids protected inside.  Driving across the border I saw kids and adults swimming in lakes that most US folks would not dare to swim in.  Snapping turtles! Bacteria!

There are different ethnic backgrounds, both of the locals and of recent immigrants.  The US culture is somewhat homogenized (melting pot), there seem to be more different types of people in Canada.  Although there are probably more different ethnic backgrounds in the US.

My experience is in northern ON, Soo, Sudbury, Timmins, etc., Abitibi QC area and Windsor, so I don't have that much experience with the rest of the country.

 

[Brian_and_Jesse]

Most things that you buy in Canada are sold at rip off prices. I wonder how poor people survive.  

Is the retail and distribution system so inefficient?  Or the distances so great? Or is everything controlled by big wheels in Toronto who are raking in the cash?

I often hear that Canadian culture is much like US culture.  I disagree. It is a very different culture, even when crossing a border between MI and ON, where there is shared media (TV, radio) and many families have relatives on both sides of the river, the differences are striking.

Agreed, but the same is true of the States.

As for the price of goods in Canada, it *is* high, but much of that is due to the fact that so many things are imported.

Canada is rich in minerals, ore, natural gas, diamonds, lumber, and so on, but we don't have much in the way of food, fruit (with the exception of a sparse few areas), and electronics, and so much more.

Try living in Aspen, Colorado for a while. The prices there are outrageous too, as they are in much of Colorado.

Popular places on either side of the border are always more expensive all the way round.

Blessings,

Jesse.