Canadian identity

excerpt from an email to Luana:

Did you vote today? I have thought less, and more, about Cdn identity since moving here. We are always reflected in light of the US. How we compare. I have also often thought that our international reputation is interesting--for Europeans, we represent nature, nature, nature. I've only had a few students say that Canada is the same as the U.S. My response was that Austria and Germany are the same, then? But you have the same language? They get the point immediately. They feel towards Germany as we do to the U.S. Yes, big powerful neighbour (Germany is the economic, sports, medicine, science, technology powerhouse of Europe. It's the second largest country in Europe--France is the biggest--but Germany is the clear leader in everything) But Germans are big and loud and wear ugly clothes, and Austrians are soft-spoken and charming and much more stylish and petite and have a sense of humour. Or so the Austrians believe. But I have to agree. A different history makes for a different folk. I love the Austrians, but I find the Germans somehow comforting. They're so damn competent. Brisk. No room for error. Precise. CK says that if he ever gets sick he's heading for the border immediately. My point is that the parallels between US/Canada and Austria/Germany are significant. We're a bigger country than the US geographically, but smaller in population and pop culture. Austria is smaller than Germany, but used to be much, much bigger (Austro-Hungarian Empire) in living history. But never as dominant. A student in my evening course said something interesting tonight. She's doing her PhD in International Criminal Law, in English, her boyfriend is Norwegian also doing his PhD in Vienna. They use English at home as their common language. Her view as to why the Scandinavians and the Dutch have such fantastic English, and why the French and Italian and Spanish have none, and Germans/Austrians/Swiss are somewhere in the middle, is due to TV. The S. and D. don't have dubbing on TV. They have English-only(American) programming, with subtitles. Other than the sad fact that T.V. is such a big part of our lives, it also struck me that it is AMERICAN t.v. That also explains why I am told over and over and over that people here understand my Cdn (vs. British) accent so well. I'm told almost daily how clearly I speak. Wasn't aware of it before. They're used to t.v. with accents like mine. Which is why Cdns have difficulty establishing identity. Next to a neighbour with such incredible world presence, how do you be yourself without being a faint, slightly bland shadow of your neighbour, who happens to be the leader of the free world? And the most powerful country in the entire world? And the richest? and the most wasteful? and the fattest? okay, added the last one out of spite. But it is true. Yet the American scientists, doctors, athletes, movie-makers dominate the world stage. Why? I think it's all marketing and promotion. And having a population from which you can glean the best then train them. I think middle America--the vast majority-- is made up of right-wing daft morons. Dumb as toast, as Tova says. But you are likely to get some stars out of a population of 340 million. Statistically impossible not to.

Promotion: Self-promotion, in particular. One thing that has struck me over and over and over in Austria is how they work damn hard on making sure people buy Austrian products. Every grocery store, and each product packaging, has a little red-and-white Austrian flag on the package and on the price sticker. The message is loud and clear--buy Austrian. Made in Austria. Unique to Austria. I could not tell you one single thing that is made or produced in Canada. Can't Canada market itself better to its inhabitants? Okay, bananas are not viable, nor kiwi fruit. But how about Cdn beans, or berries, or pasta from our breadbasket, Saskatchewan? Or fish from our 3 oceans? or apples from our orchards? Milk from our cows in Chilliwack? Cheese from Quebec? All that mustard grown on the prairies. Can't we process it ourselves then proclaim it loud and clear that this product is not sold to the U.S. which then manufactures it then sells it back to us? granted, our distances are oh, just a bit farther to transport than in Austria. No question. But there's no import/export taxes, no fighting internally about lumber/NAFTA disputes, free-trade agreements. Just ship the damn stuff within the country and have local companies produce it and sell it back to Canadians. I'll bet if that on every price sticker on every store shelf there was a proud little Maple Leaf flying, people would want to buy it. Then there's the issue of pricing. Why is it more expensive to buy (sadly, sometimes still inferior) Canadian wines than Californian wines? It makes no sense. Taxes, schmaxes. In France it's cheaper to buy French wine, in Italy it's cheaper to buy Italian wine, in Austria it's cheap to buy all wine (and that would be why I'm living here!!!) but especially Austrian wine. So WHY is it more expensive to buy Cdn wine in Canada than other countries? Do they not WANT to sell? okay, this has become a rant.

about Cdn style: Particularly loved the mag you sent me last year. That was great. Made me so proud. The problem with such a large country is that it means different things to different regions. I think our style is not fussy. Cosy. Warm. For me that means wood and creamy white. For Jody that means orange and red. As to rustic, as much as I love Tawnya's gorgeous products and drool-worthy website (I was on there again last night, dreaming of being as talented as she is), I'm not earthy rustic girl. I'm essentially urban Canadian woman. And that brings me full circle to your email. What is Cdn femininity? it's a good question you pose. (A digression: Maple syrup doesn't exist as a product in eastern nor northern nor western Cdn. It's Ontario/Quebec. So I do balk at that as being symbolic of Canada:)

back to topic: I think the Cdn woman is sensual, a bit reserved (oh! how like me!), elegant, but practical. And witty. But that might just be my friends:) I think of Pam, chopping down trees with her axe to make tent poles for us each night while driving to the Yukon, setting up camp while I made cocktails on the tailgate. She would go hack down a sapling, strip it, hone the ends into points, drive it into the ground, then start dinner on the campstove, looking chic all the while in her cute black hat and sweater, without breaking a perfect, polished nail. And she's absolutely elegant. I, however, was camping-retarded. But I slept well. Being refreshed must be a style statement of its own. Of course, she did attempt to kill my snoring, and by default me, one night by forcing a pillow over my face and screaming "shut UP, shut UP for God's sake", but she was still elegant, if dementedly so at that sleep-deprived minute.

CK is pondering the issue of what he thinks is the Canadian identity, from the perspective of him as a person and a German. Will get back on the topic when he gets back to me.