Call me biased, ignorant or insensitive but I've never really paid much attention to America's northern neighbor. The very fact that I call the USA America is reason enough to develop strong opinions against me, seeing that America is not just the USA but two actual continents! But I don't care. I am an American and as such I tend to feel that I and my country are way better than everyone else around the world regardless of how true that may or may not be. The USA after all is the only former part of the British Empire whose people don't still talk somewhat like Brits. Right? No?
Oh yeah, there is that place up north that I always forget about, Canada. Canadians after all sound a lot like Americans, never mind the fact that we already established that technically they actually are Americans, no technically about it. They are Americans as well. But you get my drift. Don't you? A Canadian should have his own accent but listen to them and beside the occasional aye his speech is an impeccable USA. In fact Canada's cities and suburbs could pass in many ways for those in the USA.
The Canadian spirit of independence flies in stark contrast to the British crown that still seems to hold sway over their vast northern territory. Canadians much like any person state side does not like to be told what to do. Their urban metropolises crawl with savvy urbanites that could be at home in any US city. Yet despite all that I still forget they are up there. They grow and export many of their crops into the USA. Americans love to go up there for cheap medicines and low cost surgical procedures. Border towns often have families on either side for generations and see the border as a mere formality.
The Canadian way of life seems so much like the US way of life that in many ways they could be us. They would make a fine collection of states. Of course Quebec would have to give up that silly notion of Nationality and speaking French and learn to speak English because God knows that we are not going to learn French. We don't want to learn Spanish why would we want to learn French? We are Americans. People learn to speak American not the other way around. Then there is that little thing about their national flag and national anthem. Yes they got to go. So maybe Canada is not so forgettable after all, at least not if it is the USA.