Canadian Refugee Kit

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It's only fair

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Killed in the line of duty

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Molson Canadian Beer commericals

Some of my favourites:





Embedding not allowed on this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y09YOkVmGg0
















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Is politness dead?

If you've ever heard someone say that Canadians are polite (or even if you haven't), consider the following:

The other day, I stopped for gas. After I paid inside, I opened the door to exit, and right at that moment, I spotted a woman approaching the entrance from the right, so I held the door open for her and gestured for her to enter. At that same moment, another young lady arrived from the left. The lady on the right gestured to the girl on the left to enter. Ms. Left said "Thank-you", Ms. Right said "You're welcome", and as Ms. Left entered, she thanked me and I said "You're very welcome". Then the original woman stepped inside and we repeated the polite exchange. Just as I was about to finally exit, a guy had come to the door. Again, I stood there holding the door, but I guess he had seen me holding the door for the two before him and he said "Thanks--you go ahead". I exited through the door and said "Thanks". He said "You're welcome".

I won't say this scenario can't or doesn't happen elsewhere, but I imagine there's often the odd person who spoils the whole thing by either not holding the door or not saying "Thank-you" or "You're welcome". Anyway, the experience had me smiling for a while, and proud of my community and even my country. Am I too easily impressed?


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Canadian humour

An RCMP officer stops at a ranch up in Iron Mountain, B.C. and talks with

the old ranch owner.

He tells the rancher, 'I need to inspect your ranch for illegal grown

drugs.'

The old rancher says, 'Okay, but don't go in that field over there.'

The RCMP officer verbally explodes saying, 'Mister, I have the authority of

the Federal Government with me.' Reaching into his rear pant pocket and

removing his badge. The officer proudly displays it to the farmer. 'See

this badge? This badge means I am allowed to go wherever I wish..on any

land. No questions asked or

answers given. Have I made myself clear? Do you understand?'

The old rancher nods politely and goes about his chores.

Later, the old rancher hears loud screams and spies the RCMP officer

running for his life and close behind is the rancher's bull.. With every

step the bull is gaining ground on the officer. The officer is clearly

terrified.

The old rancher immediately throws down his tools, runs to the fence and

yells at the top of his lungs.....'Your badge! Show him your f***ing

badge!'

It's no wonder people call it Faux News

I can easily imagine a few of the lines in the following video taken from a late night Fox News show being used in a Canadian comedy production. Making light of our army is as much a part of our identity as the fact that the Canada's military has participated in more U.N. peace missions than any other country, including the United States. But given that there's a war going on in Afghanistan, a war where Canadians have had more soldiers there than any other country except for the U.S., I find it to be in very bad taste. This coupled with the fact that this aired while we were honouring the latest four fallen soldiers, bringing the total number of Canadians lost in this war to 116, elevates the statements to deplorable.

Imagine that a Canadian news program went on the day after 9/11 and participants joked and laughed about how Americans can't build office buildings properly, etc. How appropriate would that be? In comedy, it's all about timing. And this segment's timing was way off. How funny does it seem now?

Now, you know

This video is so compelling, it just flies by. It explains the urgency with which we need to act to prevent a catastrophic meltdown of the planet--not necessarily due to global warming, but to many of the systems we take for granted every day--financial, food production, globalization, density, consumption, environment, etc. These systems are all based on infinite expansion, which is not only unsustainable, it can and will come to a screeching halt much sooner than most people think. World renowned Canadian author, broadcaster, environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki explains:

Are you smarter than a (Canadian) fifth grader?

The show has migrated north, and in like style, Canadians turn out to be no smarter than their neighbours to the south. I watched the show for the first time the other night and the first contestant missed this question:

How many syllables are there in the word "Elementary"?

The question remained on the board, the host spoke the word several times (in five syllables), the contestant repeated it several times and then confidently said "Four". Her little classmate couldn't save her, having written "4" as her answer.

I know a lot of people pronounce it as four syllables, but I presumed it was mostly due to laziness. Staring at the word on the board, how can one reasonably pronounce "tary" as "tree"?

The second contestant decided to "drop out" with $175,000 when the valedictorian was presented with the "difficult" $300,000 question "What is the most southern point of the Canadian mainland?", a question his fifth grader helper got right despite the fact that I noted (but the host did not) that she had spelled it incorrectly. I have mentioned this place several times over the years explaining that it is at the approximate latitude of Northern California. The place is Point Pelee (Ontario).