I find that I am ignorant about our Northern Neighbor. It is probably not my fault. AFter all, there is only one kind of weather, as all radar images stop at the border. I can only attribute this to the place being covered with glaciers, and thus the weather is always "Cold".
So I am hoping to start this thread so that us 'Mericans can have a place ask questions about the Great White North above the 44 40 mark.
My first question is about the RCMP. I have seen something (probably from the TV show Due South and the old circle vision theater in the Canadian exhibit in EPCOT) about the RCMP putting on a show with all of the horses and lances. Is this a frequent event? Where would one go to see such an event? What details can you provide about it?
You go to Ottawa. You can visit the stables, and stick around for the "Musical Ride". I haven't done it for about 20 years, but my spouse (also American) heard about it and had it on her Ottawa bucket list. A shortish list.
Quote from: clean on January 12, 2020, 10:23:31 PM
What details can you provide about it?
Disney used to own the marketing rights to the Mountie. As of 2000, the RCMP is back in control.
And they all sing like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n_bUSywN94
;--}
M.
Is all of your money (coinage) magnetic? My wallet has a magnet, and while in Canada I got a $2 coin and it stuck to the magnet. I thought that was interesting and have kept it since!! (And what benefit does magnetic coin money hold?)
Dollar coins in the US were never popular. Perhaps the worst example is the Susan B Anthony dollar. It was too close to the size of a quarter and the same color. Also the typical cash drawers dont seem to have a spot for the coins (or for $2 bills for that matter). Any idea how Canadians feel about the $1 and $2 coins ... are they extensively used?
They have lots better ice cream (or used to). When I was growing up in Northern Maine the big thing was to go over the border (which was easy back then) to get ice cream.
Quote from: clean on January 13, 2020, 08:12:40 AM
Is all of your money (coinage) magnetic? My wallet has a magnet, and while in Canada I got a $2 coin and it stuck to the magnet. I thought that was interesting and have kept it since!! (And what benefit does magnetic coin money hold?)
They're all made of steel with a coating (usually nickel, zinc, or copper), so... yes. They should all be at least ferromagnetic, and possibly properly magnetic, depending on the coating. No idea about the benefits--I rather imagine it's an incidental consequence of not using precious metals to make them.
QuoteAny idea how Canadians feel about the $1 and $2 coins ... are they extensively used?
They're pretty extensively used, and you can pry them from our cold, dead hands. One of these days we'll add a foonie to the loonie and the toonie.
Where do Canadians go for cheaper pharmaceutical drugs?
Quote from: dr_codex on January 13, 2020, 04:02:18 AM
You go to Ottawa. You can visit the stables, and stick around for the "Musical Ride". I haven't done it for about 20 years, but my spouse (also American) heard about it and had it on her Ottawa bucket list. A shortish list.
As someone who lives in Ottawa (and really, really likes the city, to be honest), I find the idea of an Ottawa bucket list kind of amusing.
As for dollar and two-dollar coins, good luck finding bills. They're not in circulation at all any more, although I do get tired of all the change I get here. Like nearly everyone else, I typically just use my Interac card (a bank debit card) for everything.
I'm in the US, and got a dollar coin in change the other day when I bought something. I hope it doesn't adhere to anything!
I used to live in the UK, and loved having pound and two pound coins instead of bills.
I also have lived in Canada. It's a country I like.
Meghan and Harry may become part-time Canadians. How common is it for Canadians to be royalists?
Some part of Canadian identity must have to do with the monarchy being an essential difference from the southern neighbor. If the monarch's main role is to appear on coins, there isn't much cost to being a superficial royalist.
dp
Why is the food so much better in Canada?
Quotegood luck finding bills.
What denominations do the bills come in?
somehow I am under the impression that the 'paper' currency is now plastic. Is that true?
IF I understand correctly, the US 'paper' currency is not exactly paper, but more closely a type of linen.
And What exactly is a Tim Hortons? (Isnt that the national fast food chain?)
Quote from: Volhiker78 on January 13, 2020, 10:57:37 AM
Where do Canadians go for cheaper pharmaceutical drugs?
Nowhere, really. Our only land border is with the US, so there's nowhere to go. Rich people occasionally go overseas for medical treatment, but nobody's shipping off somewhere else to get drugs. Incidentally, the fact that Americans go to Canada for cheaper drugs
drives up our costs, thank you very much.
Quote from: Hibush on January 13, 2020, 01:17:44 PM
Meghan and Harry may become part-time Canadians. How common is it for Canadians to be royalists?
Some part of Canadian identity must have to do with the monarchy being an essential difference from the southern neighbor. If the monarch's main role is to appear on coins, there isn't much cost to being a superficial royalist.
We're pretty divided, although my sense is that the anti-royalist side has gotten stronger over the last twenty or so years. When I was a kid, my impression was always that pretty much only Québec was anti-royalist, and the ROC (rest of Canada) was pro.
Quote from: spork on January 13, 2020, 01:26:54 PM
Why is the food so much better in Canada?
Dunno, but it's true.
Quote from: clean on January 13, 2020, 01:43:31 PM
What denominations do the bills come in?
5$ (for now!), 10$, 20$, 50$, 100$.
Quote
somehow I am under the impression that the 'paper' currency is now plastic. Is that true?
IF I understand correctly, the US 'paper' currency is not exactly paper, but more closely a type of linen.
Starting in 2011, we began converting our bank notes to a polymer substrate, yeah. As of 2013, they're all in circulation.
Quote
And What exactly is a Tim Hortons? (Isnt that the national fast food chain?)
Coffee and doughnuts with a drive-thru, named after a famous and famously dead hockey player.
What was the purpose of having 3 downs or attempts for first down in Canadian football versus the 4 downs in American football?
Quote from: clean on January 13, 2020, 01:43:31 PM
Quotegood luck finding bills.
What denominations do the bills come in?
somehow I am under the impression that the 'paper' currency is now plastic. Is that true?
IF I understand correctly, the US 'paper' currency is not exactly paper, but more closely a type of linen.
And What exactly is a Tim Hortons? (Isnt that the national fast food chain?)
It's a formerly Canadian coffee chain that has since been purchased by a multinational company (primarily Brazilian) and shamelessly advetises it's Canadian roots. Despite it's sub-par coffee and mediocre everything else, they still somehow manage to remain popular in Canada and people link it with Canada.
Since the take over by the same company that owns Burger King, they are carrying a lot more typical fast food items rather than being a coffee shop.
From my memory, their coffee used to be better and they used to bake their own donuts in house so they were also better, but I don't know if this is accurate or just my memory failing me.
Quote from: Kron3007 on January 14, 2020, 05:41:45 AM
Quote from: clean on January 13, 2020, 01:43:31 PM
Quotegood luck finding bills.
What denominations do the bills come in?
somehow I am under the impression that the 'paper' currency is now plastic. Is that true?
IF I understand correctly, the US 'paper' currency is not exactly paper, but more closely a type of linen.
And What exactly is a Tim Hortons? (Isnt that the national fast food chain?)
It's a formerly Canadian coffee chain that has since been purchased by a multinational company (primarily Brazilian) and shamelessly advetises it's Canadian roots. Despite it's sub-par coffee and mediocre everything else, they still somehow manage to remain popular in Canada and people link it with Canada.
Since the take over by the same company that owns Burger King, they are carrying a lot more typical fast food items rather than being a coffee shop.
From my memory, their coffee used to be better and they used to bake their own donuts in house so they were also better, but I don't know if this is accurate or just my memory failing me.
Their coffee and doughnuts are mediocre. Since I've lived in Canada (on and off for nearly 20 years, but the last five permanently here), that's always been the case.
(I hope this statement doesn't jeopardize my eventual application for Canadian citizenship.)
Quote from: Kron3007 on January 14, 2020, 05:41:45 AM
From my memory, their coffee used to be better and they used to bake their own donuts in house so they were also better, but I don't know if this is accurate or just my memory failing me.
Dunno about the coffee being better, but yeah, they used to bake in-house. That stopped sometime in the earlyish aughts.
From an American in mid-size Rust Belt city close to the northern border:
Tim Hortons may have declined in quality and be thought mediocre. We are thrilled to have it here, though, and it's wildly popular. Its food and coffee are superior to so many of the readily-available alternatives.
Quote from: Anselm on January 13, 2020, 03:21:54 PM
What was the purpose of having 3 downs or attempts for first down in Canadian football versus the 4 downs in American football?
Fewer
committee meetings huddles. It speeds up the game. And don't forget 12 players a side on the field, a 55 yard line and a 65 yard wide field. A lot more running room.
And until they were re-named the Redbacks, there were 2 teams (Saskatchewan and Ottawa) both named the Roughriders (Rough Riders in the case of Ottawa - aka Ennui on the Rideau, The City that Fun Forgot)
CFL football is also part of Canada's affirmative action program for American college players not drafted by the NFL. I really wonder why Colin Kaepernick does not sign with a Canadian team. Doug Flutie and Warren Moon both got their pro careers underway in the Great White North and went on to have great success back in the States once the NFL got a better look at them.
Tim Horton's won't reveal the exact source of its coffee, but claims it is "ethically sourced" and "environmentally friendly". I'm not so sure.
Although it uses arabica beans, I believe it imports mainly "sun coffee"-- coffee grown in sunshine rather than shade. Not only is this form of plantation environmentally destructive, it also destroyed the very effective International Coffee Agreement, which kept coffee prices stable and protected those developing countries whose economies depended on their coffee crop.
Sun coffee also has a slightly off taste, which may explain previous posters' (and my own) objection to it.
Quote from: secundem_artem on January 14, 2020, 09:58:28 AM
Quote from: Anselm on January 13, 2020, 03:21:54 PM
What was the purpose of having 3 downs or attempts for first down in Canadian football versus the 4 downs in American football?
Fewer committee meetings huddles. It speeds up the game. And don't forget 12 players a side on the field, a 55 yard line and a 65 yard wide field. A lot more running room.
And until they were re-named the Redbacks, there were 2 teams (Saskatchewan and Ottawa) both named the Roughriders (Rough Riders in the case of Ottawa - aka Ennui on the Rideau, The City that Fun Forgot)
CFL football is also part of Canada's affirmative action program for American college players not drafted by the NFL. I really wonder why Colin Kaepernick does not sign with a Canadian team. Doug Flutie and Warren Moon both got their pro careers underway in the Great White North and went on to have great success back in the States once the NFL got a better look at them.
Thanks, I forgot about those other details about the game.
Have the provinicial parliaments of Saskatchewan and Quebec ever agreed with each other on anything?
(Asked apropos Canadian academe being a haven for monarchists (https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/theres-nothing-to-stop-canada-from-immediately-making-prince-harry-our-king)--Long live King Harry of Canada!)
You seem to have a confusing sales tax system. Canadian eBay sellers have a long list of different rates based on which province they buyer is located. What is up with that?
Quote from: Anselm on January 15, 2020, 02:05:46 PM
You seem to have a confusing sales tax system. Canadian eBay sellers have a long list of different rates based on which province they buyer is located. What is up with that?
The GST is a federal tax of 5% on most goods and services, and is applied everywhere. In some provinces, it's combined with a provincial sales tax and called the HST (harmonized sales tax). Those rates vary depending on how much the province sets for its own share. In addition, provinces levy their own additional sales/retail taxes. And finally, Québec applies its taxes differently: they first apply the larger of the taxes, then add that to the total, and then apply the smaller tax to that new total. (Or, at least, that's how it was when I was a kid--it may have been changed, but I don't recall it being it announced.)
So what's up with that is that provinces have a lot of autonomy, and can levy their own taxes.
Quote from: Hibush on January 15, 2020, 12:06:12 PM
Have the provinicial parliaments of Saskatchewan and Quebec ever agreed with each other on anything?
(Asked apropos Canadian academe being a haven for monarchists (https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/theres-nothing-to-stop-canada-from-immediately-making-prince-harry-our-king)--Long live King Harry of Canada!)
They all agree they hate the guts of everyone and everything Toronto.
Hortons tried to come here to Massachusetts about a decade back. It suffered the same date here as Krispy Kreme. Dunkin , a local firm, annihilated them both.
Would a plebiscite to end Royal tie have a chance to pass in Canada?