cdnjeepin

I believe they were from detroit, somewhere right around there

Phantom Power

In PEI (the smallest province in Canada) we still drink bottled pop. And we call it pop - not soda here in the Great White North.

We buy beer in stores called "The Beer Store".

We give our currency cool names (loonie, twonies)

Hmmmm there is other stuff. I should read over the thread first before I double post.

Scorps

It doesn't matter where you are it is pop all over Canada

Suave

That doesn't apply to all of Canada though.

silent_jay

Has the Super Stack in Sudbury been mentioned yet? It's the tallest smoke stac kin the world. I only mention this because I was watching Monday Report with Rick Mercer and they're in Sudbury this week and the mayor mentioned it, otherwise I had no idea.

__________________
Absence makes the heart grow fonder

runtuff

Milk in a bag, interesting, well I guess wine comes in a bag, in a box.

splck

Ah yes sludgbury....gotta love the superstacks


I, for one, am happy milk-in-a-bag never cought on here in BC. What a pain those things are

__________________
nice line eh?

Janey

I'm one month or so into my conscious decision to buy milk in jugs. I'm happier that I don't generate all the plastic waste now. what really opened my eyes was when we got our green boxes for food waste. Now the only thing that goes into my 'garbage' is non-recyclable plastics, styrofoam and stuff like that.

So the only problem with the milk in jugs, is that the major groceries dont carry them. Lablaws, Dominion, Sobey's etc, they all carry bagged milk. So I have to make a special trip to Shoppers Drug Mart, or Beckers (if i have cash) to buy it. Also, the 4 litre jug uses up most of my fridge shelf space!
But i feel much better for doing it.

silent_jay

i too am trying milk in jugs, and am amazed with the amount of space it takes up. I'm lucky to have a Mac's Milk right across from my apartment, and milk is only $3.99, on the down side it I have to make 2 stops while heading home from school, 1 for food and 1 for milk.

__________________
Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Janey

You can buy smaller milk jugs, about 2 litres, but they cost more. Yes, the large jug is kind of a nuisance. With the bag milk, i could put the milk jug in the fridge door shelf, and have oodles of space for my noodles and stuff!

I tend to go to Shoppers because they take credit, and I don't always have the $3.99 in cash when i need milk. That's why i wish the groceries would carry it, so it stays part of my weekly shopping budget...

Scorps

One thing I don't think any else doesn't know is the Kingston(my home town) was the capital of Canada way back in thr 1800"s but they moved it to Ottawa because they where affraid the city would get attacked being so close to the water!, thats why we have the Fort Henry up on the hill with old cannon towers all around the river opening!

Lassus

well none of this is offical, so dont drown me in maple syrup for saying these......


#1. The most important thing about Canada is that I live here!
#2. Here in the west we have no voice
#3. I bet even if every single person in the west voted we still would lose
#4. We are one of the best places to live in the world
#5. Not all of us are peace mongers

__________________
Beauty can be found in the darkest day and on the darkest hour and even in the darkest mind

Scorps

LOL we all be to stoned and miss the vote day

Janey

hmmm.

response to

1: go for it! if you say so! I used to live there, so it's not as important as it used to be!

2: huh?

3: lose what? what are you voting for/against?

4: Agree. 100%

5: what's a peace monger? and if it is good to be peacful, which i think we have all been taught from childhood, what's wrong with being a peace-monger?

Scorps

2. is that what ever Vancouver says people don't listen(porbably because we are always stoned)
3. is the PM vote.

Ontario is the biggest one in the vote!

Janey

Yup. Makes sense to me, in democracy, the number of votes determines who gets elected. Maybe, riding sizes are not consistant across the country. Is that the problem? Does anybody know how many people consititute an official riding? I would think that each riding is equal in size, meaning that everybody's vote is worth the same, meaning that the majority of ridings elected by a party constitutes the gov't.

hiro-acid

In Saskatchewan we call hooded sweatshirts bunnyhugs, but no one really knows how or where it came about. Fark we're weird..

I would have imbedded a GIS for hooded sweatshirt but apparently I'm too stupid to get it to function at the moment.. :sigh:

Devin

bendsley

As Robin Williams puts it:

Canada is like a loft apartment over a really good party!

__________________
"You hear the one about the fella who died, went to the pearly gates? St. Peter let him in. Sees a guy in a suit making a closing argument. Says, "Who's that?" St. Peter says, "Oh, that's God. Thinks he's Denny Crane."

Scorps

I think that name has been around a long time I remember hearing it when I was like 10, but I have called them hoodies for a long time, mostly because I dated a girl from England and I guess thats what they are called over there!

HeAtHeN

Well almost. They are upgrading the stretch from Medicine Hat to Swift Current. I belive it's twinned from Medicine Hat to Maple Creek..... but I'm sure its single for a ways after that.

Why do I have a feeling I'm gonne be corrected

__________________

spindles

No, you are not alone. We Aussies have had smarties longer than we've had m&ms.

__________________
who hid my keyboard's PANIC button?

skier

BY bottled pop he means glass bottles.

__________________
"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim

hiro-acid

Wasn't Kitchener also once called New Berlin? I seem to remember something of this from a high school history class, many many moons ago, but I was also stoned alot back then, so it might have been a Star Trek episode for all I know..

Averett

Actually it was called Berlin. I learned that from a book I read

Here's what Wikipedia has to say: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchener,_Ontario

__________________
Absence is to love what wind is to fire. It extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great.

Charlatan

Lots of German sounding towns all around KW and they have a pretty good Octoberfest as well... it isn't Munchen but it is the best Octoberfest that side of the Atlantic...

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

Daoust

Also in Canada, we spend a heck of a lot of time and money trying to placate our Native Americans. Unlike our American cousins, we chose a relatively humane method of trying to get rid of them, by putting them in reserves all over the North. Our treatment of them has been less than respectable, to be fair. I think there is still a fair amount of dislike felt by most Canadians toward the Natives. I think we get upset because we think our government has given them every opportunity to be 'like us' but they haven't so we get upset. Who knows...

__________________
I have faith in a few things - divinity and grace
But even when I'm on my knees I know the devil preys

Janey

Yes, and there is a town called New Hamburg near by, maybe the New Beatles will play there....

skier

daoust- we've actually treated natives pretty shitty. Took their land, stole their children, infected them with smallpox on purpose, etc.

I have a dislike for the majority of native americans i've met. It's very similar to the dislike I feel towards some people in my hometown- going nowhere, no ambition, drink the trouble away. When I go home to visit my parents I see natives drunk at 10 in the morning, picking fights with people off the street. I've met very few native americans that work for their beliefs- whether it is to earn a degree, preserving their culture, or simply getting a steady job. I usually believe in the best from others, but when a group of people consistently and dissapointingly shows their worst side to me I don't bother trying to justify their actions anymore.

__________________
"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim

Janey

I'm not sure if they ever wanted to be 'like us'. but be that as it may it is disturbing to see the ongoing degenerative cycle with the native people. I heard that there is a very real problem with alcohol, that white folks can't grasp intellectually. Such a bad problem that there are areas where it is illegal to have (or sell) alcohol. Being of chinese ethnicity, which may make me a semi-authority on the matter due to a shared paleo-siberian genetic heritage, I know that alcohol can affect me greatly. This is due to the physiological response to an inability to metabolize alcohol (apologies for my generalities here... i'm not an expert).

So there may be more to it than lack of desire/motivation to be 'Like us'.

Daoust

I'm not saying that the goal of being like us is worthy or even right. I don't think we should make it our mandate or and I don't believe we should even think that it would be a good thing if they were like us. I just think that some people don't understand why the natives don't want to assimilate into our culture, when on the outset it appears that there are many things within our culture (education, medical help for addictions, employment, etc) that would benefit them greatly. I understand that the natives don't want those things. They don't want to become dependent on the white mans interventions. Part of me wishes they would at least make an effort however, because at the current rate it appears to me that the First Nations people of Canada are continuing in a downward spiral. They already have very little in the way of respect from us, or care, or intervention. I think the majority of Canadians, if they were honest with themselves, would gladly let the Natives rot themselves into extinction. Most Canadians don't really know what is going on with the Natives, and most don't care. The only glimpses they get into Native life are generally very negative - stereotypes about alcoholism, abuse, dependency etc. These images help frame the collective consciousness of the non-native Canadians toward natives, and they have in turn perpetuated our views and understandings of natives...

__________________
I have faith in a few things - divinity and grace
But even when I'm on my knees I know the devil preys

hiro-acid

Saskatoon, where I live, is the real clashing point in Saskatchewan between the Native north and the White south. On a daily basis I see the racial stereotypes and the legacy of an injured people, because that is really what we're dealing with.

Consider: Your entire means of survival is stripped away from you - every grocery store in the land is closed down - and you are defeated by a technologically superior people - let's imagine them as Kang and Kodos. Then they tell you everything you believe religiously, the spirituality of the natural world, is wrong. Then they take your children away from you and raise them in institutional settings, preventing them from having any connection to the culture to which they should rightly belong, and are even punished for speaking their own language, the language of you and your entire family. Oh, and while they're at it, they've killed more than half of your extended family with disease or other means (remember, no more groceries stores, getting hungry aintcha?), and got a good portion of the rest all farked up on an intoxicant your body is less-able to properly process and remove. Now tell me, what will the cultural legacy be? Where will your people be in 100 years?

This I believe is the proper context in which we must view the whites treatment of the aboriginal population of North America - crimes against humanity. So next time you're apt to make a quick judgement about those "drunk indians" give it real second thought..

Meh.. I hate stupid white people.

/white guy

fastom

Nobody mentioned the quintessential Canadian food... Cheezies!

http://www.cheezies.com/flash.htm

Also the fast food tastes better and is probably faster too Coke tastes much better making the US version seem like that "new formula" stuff.

I thought Nancy was Canadian... "toon town" isn't Saskatoon?

skier

Alright. So the "white man" gave the natives a real hard time a while ago. How long? over 50 years. In general, we've cleaned up our act since then. Why am I responsible for the government policies of 2 generations+ ago? Are you responsible for the actions of your father? If your father was a rapist/pedophile, and you grew up as a normal citizen, should you be put away in jail for what your father had done? Natives in hobbema are currently living in trailer homes with no jobs, drinking their lives away. (of course not all the natives are; but the majority is.) They recieve royalties not only from the government, but from oil companies as well. This is a rich reserve- but the money is spent frivolously, with no concern for the future.

I would much rather see these people doing well. Operating and managing businesses, working for a living. I think it would be great to walk into a store and be greeted by a native shopowner, or have one as my boss. In truth there are people such as these, and I repect them deeply. Every individual can shape their lives for better or for worse. I respect and admire the ones that take an active role in their lives, rather than letting it pass them by.

I have thought a lot about how I should feel about native americans. I've seen people that believe all native americans are drunk losers, lacking the ability to succeed. I've talked to people that believe that native americans just haven't had the opportunities to succeed. I've talked to natives that see what their people are doing and spit in disgust, because they do nothing to change their future. I've talked to natives that tell me getting drunk is more fun in the truck, because when they get back to the reservation they'll be blasted. I've worked at shopper's drug mart where we had to limit sales of listerine to 1 bottle/person because natives would buy 10 at a time because it was cheaper than liquor. I've talked to a police sargent that admitted to me that natives are the biggest problem in town, and that we have the highest crime rate in the central region because of it. I've seen native americans at their best, established citizens of the community, and i've seen them at their worst, drunk, fighting each other in the back of a pickup truck headed to hobbema.

I've had plenty of experience from which to draw my opinion from. This is not just a stupid white guy's sweeping generalization of a people based on one or two incidents meeting a drunk native in the alley. As a whole, native americans are in trouble. And I have no repect for that because of the opportunities they have been given but have squandered instead.

__________________
"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim

hiro-acid

I wish you were just trolling but the rest of your post reveals you actually have no concept of the systematized racism that is established in our country. Hell, we have the Saskatoon City Police implicated in driving native men outside of the city in harsh winter temperatures and leaving them to die, multiple cases within the last 5 years even, and the giant blue wall of silence backing them up. But as you say, that's all just a thing of the past.. no need to take any responsibility for it and attempt to build a unified society, better just to tell those dirty indians to shut up and be happy with the welfare cheque huh? Christ, you're really quite an ignorant little bastard.. as we can see with such gems as this:

You, "sir", are a racist. Stereotyping of an ethnic minority is a racist act. I find no need to continue this further as you will obviously not hear anything I have to say and meerly continue to believe you are right, as it serves your own sense of righteousness. Your language is polluted by a racist vein of thinking, and, to be frank, you obviously come from a privelledged class background and it has blinded you to the actual realities of every day life in this country. Wake the fuck up. Give the chance, I'ld spit in your face.

/don't care if this costs me my forum account, racist shit like this should not be tollerated, and I wouldn't want to be a part of a forum that allows it..

El Kaz

The province of Quebec has the cheapeast electricity in the world.
It's like Irak for petrol

EDIT: Oh yeah, and Canada is known to be one of the least punishing countries for sexual crimes. Someone guilty of repeated sexual crimes serve a max of 10 years (usually around 5 years), while in the States in between 8 and 10 years, in Belgium it's between 20 and 30 years, and for some Middle-East countries (names escape me atm), it's decapitation...

I wish we'd be more severe with those bastards

skier

You know, it makes me angry when you start name-calling. I thought I made it clear in my post that I'm not bashing all native americans, just the ones that screw around with their lives. They equate to me at the same level of what we label as "white trash"- people working just enough to get cash for alocohol and drugs. No ambition. That said, I would like to continue this conversation in a more civilized manner.

When I said "in general, we have cleaned up our act" I was referring to the many racist federal programs aimed at native americans in an attempt to integrate them into the broader culture of Canada (willing or not). A system-wide policy across all levels of government who's purpose it was to eliminate the culture gap by assimilating them into our own. I'm not talking about some joe blow who decides he hates all indians and gives them a rough time.

Native americans do not want a "unified society". They are proud of their heritage and unique culture and have refused to combine with the rest of canada. But there are remarkably few citizens who strive to maintain it.

You make a lot of assumptions about my life. In which category are you trying to place me? Everyone has stereotypes. It's inefficient when you don't put people into catagories. When you need to make a quick decision, you have to process the information around you as fast as possible. If you walk into a biker bar wearing a tutu, you're not going to think "the guy on the left wearing the all leather outfit with spiked helmet, he looks angry at me, but he could love ballet. the guy on the right..." no. You make a quick appraisal of the situation. "20 hardcore bikers, all looking at me with disgust wearing my tutu"

I'm not placing all native americans in one stereotype. I have a few predetermined stereotypes of people, regardless of race, and I have the observation that substantially more native americans that I meet fit into that stereotype than caucasians, middle eastern people, asians, or blacks. If I see a neatly dressed native american walking down the street, I do not judge him/her to be somehow inferior or less than I am. I'm not a freakin racist. I am not ignorant, as I tried to explain in my last post- I've met native americans from all walks of life. For 13 years of my life, I'd talk or interact with natives daily, or every other day. This has substantially decreased now that I live in the city, but i've only lived here a year or so.

From my end, it feels as though you did not read my post at all. You read the bit about drinking natives and assumed I applied it to the entire population. Do you spend much time in reservations? Ever spent a weekend in one of the many sprawling trailer parks that exist in these places? It seems to me that you have very little idea what kind of life most natives lead.

__________________
"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim

Janey

If the racism card is going to be played, I think that everyone should be made aware that it is impossible not to be racist. As we are all members of a particular race, we are defacto going to view the world from our own perspective. This will include a blend of gender oriented, culture oriented, and yes, racially oriented mindsets.

What we can do as intelligent human beings is to NOT BE BIGGOTS. Viewing the world from a racial perspective is a fact of life, Being a BIGGOT is a choice. I cannot tolerate BIGGOTS.

Please make a choice. educate yourselves, and do not become biggots.

snowy

Heh. I just got back from Canada...brought back All-Dressed Ruffles, Smarties, Aero bars (I like air in my chocolate and I'm not sure why) and lots and lots of Kinder eggs.

Someday I will relocate permanently...

Oh, and a fact about Canada: The story of how the border between the San Juans and Gulf Islands was established is contained on this webpage:
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1030.html

In summary, both the British and the Americans wanted the San Juans, and the treaty that established the border in the West was so ambigiously worded that both countries claimed San Juan Island for themselves. Conflict broke out on the island--but the only shot fired (by an American farmer) killed a British pig, thus naming the conflict the "Pig War." Troops co-occupied the island until the German kaiser said that the San Juans rightfully belongs to the United States and clarified the border that now runs between the San Juans and the Gulf Islands.

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Janey

those damned Germans.

You have no Aero bars? I thought they were American to start with. And no kinder eggs? I must have 1,000s of kinder toys in my room. I had a friend from new Jersey come for dinner one night. He sat down at my table, and looked at the Heinz Ketchup, the Helman's Mayo, the French's Mustard, and said, Everything is the same, but it all looks different, kinda like the Twilight Zone...

snowy

No Aero Bars and no Kinder eggs. It's a sad existence. I grew up watching Canadian TV (NW WA carries all the Canadian TV) and always wondered what in God's name an Aero bar was like, what the heck Smarties were, and why there were no Shreddies at the grocery store. Then I actually went to Canada and found out for meself. Lots of things are the same though...except the ketchup tastes slightly different, as does the Coca-Cola--the use of sugar v. corn syrup makes a difference in the latter, I suppose. But I get up there once a year or so and purchase all of my favorite Canadian things and then come back to the States...someday I'll just stay there.

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau