Who cares about Canada?

Hangout GupShup Cafe
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Lets be honest, a lot of us Pakistanies living abroad absorb or are interested in the characteristics of the host nation. Their literature, pop culture, history, all seep into our consciousness and shape our interests, and its an interesting diversion.

But whats wrong with Canada?

They make no TV worth seeing, they dont contribute to literature, Charles Dickens goes around sailing to and writing novels about America but does go round to Vancouver. It seems to be snubbed by fiction, classical and modern, and there seems to be no obvious reason for the snub.

Why? Is it because normal people have a natural aversion to someone who chooses to live on ice floats with polar bears? Is it because theres only so many ice-based jokes one can think of?

When I used to live in America, a friend of mine from Canada used to come south of the border. They used to go shopping for electronics. I used to smile benevolently. Yes! Share in the bounty we take for granted.

So really Canadians/canada based pakistanies. Do you have the same sense of neglect and irrelevance?

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

well, at least our banks weren't on the verge of bankruptcy like most US giants... and our bank stocks didn't become penny stocks like the stocks of some US institutions. :D

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

When you were used to live in umreeka, the US$ was equal to 1.67 CN$, now its almost equal to USD!

It can tell you every thing about Canadian growth and stability!

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

im not talking about economics. the last thing they contributed to western culture was Celine Dion. Not a good record.

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

whatever man.

we gave the world Cobie Smulders and Emmanuelle Chirqui. these two alone outweigh all of America's contributions combined to the civilized world.

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

canada's a much better and peaceful place to live in compared to the us

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

there is a part of me that wonders whether you've stooped to making names up samb.

sa-Nafooz i suppose u can learn to like any place.. i have some friends who claim they were sometimes even happy in Saudi Arabia. but Im just talking about literature and cultural contributions.

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

Canada is already giving so much to the world ( people from whole world are enjoying a first class life there ) Those who never visited "Saddar" in their life while living in their country of birth, are driving Toyota Camey and Honda accord! They have free health insurance too!

Canada also supplied the Queen of Country "Shania Twain", Under Taker, Brat Hart, and so many mods!

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

^when it comes to benefits(health insurance an all included) uk is the place to stay...

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

shania twain is an improvement over celine dion. and ten years ago i would have been deeply moved by the bret hart argument.

i was prompted on this line of thought when reading a pg wodehouse novel today, where the hero goes to america. i've never seen a story develop where someone goes to Canada. I suppose for lack of dramatic material. Doesnt seem like it would be an adventure worth telling.

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

I suppose for lack of dramatic material. Life seems so static there.<<

It might be seen due to British and French colonial factor! and add some ice in it!

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

we don't boast - that's all... - owing to our lack of industry, a lot of our talent has also been acquired by the US - too many big names to name who work in Hollywood but are Canadian citizens.

Since you mentioned a singer example in Celine Dion, you also have Bryan Adams and Shania Twain. In literature/culture of course, we've got Margaret Atwood, Marshall McLuhan etc. In Science, we got the likes of Sanford Fleming, Osler, Banting and MacLeod etc.

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

I dont recognize any of those names

i do know part of battlestar galactica was filmed in vancouver. grudging respect there.

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your folly "nothing man" :D - we're just too sophisticated for the Kobol types.

But ravage yaar, I seriously can't believe that you of all people don't recognize Sanford Fleming and McLuhan.

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

the final score is 1-0 to Canada. I believe this thread has come to its logical conclusion and can be closed. thank you.

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

Canada’s greatest export: Colonel Tigh

Upon googling McLuhan he seems interesting UT. Ill include that in the list of Canadian contribution to mankind although the one who mapped Canada seems a little bit of a stretch. Its quite a peaceful place, at best he risked running into a few bears. So we have Shania Twain, Bret Hart, Colonel Tigh and McLuhan.

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dude... he invented Standard Time and time zones...

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

Scott Abbott and Chris Haney (inventors of game "Trivial Pursuit")

Dan Aykroyd (movie actor; Elwood of "The Blues Brothers")

Bryan Adams (musician and songwriter; Grammy award winner; writer of international hit "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You")

Pamela Anderson (actress on "Baywatch")

Paul Anka (singer and songwriter; writer of song "My Way")

Louise Arbour (Chief Prosecutor, International Criminal Tribunal, The Hague)

Margaret Atwood (writer; author of "The Handmaid's Tale")

Donovan Bailey (sprinter; 100m Olympic Gold Medalist, 1996)

Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) (rock group; writers of songs "You Ain't Seen Nuthin' Yet" and "Takin' Care of Business")

Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis (co-founders of RIM, developer of Blackberry smartphone)

The Band (rock group; performed extensively with Bob Dylan)

Frederick Banting and Charles Best (discoverers of diabetes drug insulin, 1921)

Barenaked Ladies (rock group; writers of song "If I Had a Million Dollars)

Norman Bethune (medical doctor; hero in Chinese civil war)

Roberta Bondar (space shuttle astronaut)

Paul Brandt (country singer; CMA 2005 Global Artist of the Year)

Kurt Browning (figure skater; four-time world champion)

Michael Bublé (pop/jazz singer; won 2007 Grammy award)

Genevieve Bujold (movie actress; 1969 Academy Award nominee)

Raymond Burr (actor; star of "Perry Mason" television show)

James Cameron (director of movie "The Titanic")

John Candy (comedic actor; police officer Burton Mercer of "The Blues Brothers")

Jim Carrey (actor; star of such movies as "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective")

Kim Cattrall (actress; co-star of "Sex and the City"; lived in Canada for most of ages three months to 16 years)

Robert Charlebois (French-language singer and songwriter)

John de Chastelain (general; overseer of IRA disarmament)

Hayden Christensen (actor; Anakin Skywalker in the later "Star Wars" movies)

Cirque de Soleil (acrobatic circus performers)

Leonard Cohen (poet, singer, and songwriter)

Holly Cole (jazz singer; especially popular in Japan)

Douglas Coupland (writer; author of "Generation X")

H.S.M. Coxeter (world-renowned mathematician; developer of Coxeter groups)

David Cronenberg (movie director; Cannes Jury Prize winner, 1996)

Robertson Davies (author; writer of "Fifth Business")

Romeo Dallaire (general; commander of Rwanda international peacekeeping mission)

Celine Dion (ballad singer; many huge hits including "Where Does My Heart Beat Now")

Dennis Doherty (musician; founding member of "The Mamas & The Papas")

James Doohan (actor; Scotty of "Star Trek")

Atom Egoyan (movie director; 1998 Academy Award nominee)

Percy Faith (composer and arranger, esp. for movie scores)

J.C. Fields (mathematician; initiator of the Fields Medal)

Sir Sandford Fleming (creator of Universal Standard Time, 1879 & 1884)

Michael J. Fox (television and movie actor; star of "Family Ties" and "Back to the Future")

Northrop Frye (ledendary literary critic)

David Foster (prolific music producer of Whitney Houston, Barbara Streisand, The Corrs, etc.)

Nelly Furtado (singer and songwriter)

Yousuf Karsh (portrait photographer)

John Kenneth Galbraith (economist; advisor to many U.S. presidents)

Marc Garneau (space shuttle astronaut)

Frank Gehry (architect; designed e.g. the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao)

William Gibson (science fiction author; inventor of "cyberpunk" genre)

Malcolm Gladwell (writer and journalist; author of "The Tipping Point")

James Gosling (author of Java computer language)

Glenn Gould (classical piano player)

Lorne Greene (actor; star of television show "Bonanza")

Nancy Greene (skier; 1968 Olympic gold medalist)

Wayne Gretzky (hockey superstar)

Group of Seven (early twentieth century painters)

The Guess Who (rock band; writers of song "American Woman")

Monty Hall (host of television show "Let's Make a Deal")

Paul Haggis (Academy Award-winning director of "Crash")

Phil Hartman (comedian on Saturday Night Live)

Keith Hastings (inventor of Metropolis-Hastings computer algorithm)

And there are many more....

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

^ come on, no copy pasting. i cant go through all that, bring up your choiciest specimens. Monty Hall Paul Haggis Phil Hartman, who knows who they are.

UT fine maybe I undersold the timezone guy. But that really was an idea waiting to happen wasnt it? (kidding!)

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Re: Who cares about Canada?

Well...how abt James Cameron??????