An American in Canada

An American in Canada by choice

I don't eat the bacon, but I do like the beer. I appreciate Canada's cautiousness, its fairness and its commitment to good government. Canada isn't perfect, but most countries aren't.

By VINCENT J. GUIHAN

Globe and Mail, Monday, August 29, 2005 Page A14

It always surprises me to read pieces like David Litvak's Facts & Arguments essay (American in a Canadian body, Aug. 25) wherein he outlined why he's moving south. What's disconcerting is how much it romanticizes life in America.

For starters, there are plenty of "genteel" Americans -- if anything, there aren't enough. After you experience American road-rage for the first time, you understand why "genteel" is underrated, not overrated, as Mr. Litvak wrote. I grew up in the U.S. Midwest; in the corn belt but not the Bible belt. I was spoiled by the civility of the society to the degree that I frequently find people in Ottawa less than polite. I like baseball precisely because it's a genteel game, in principle if not always in practice.

I'm as American as they get, but I also speak both of Canada's official languages and have always supported universal health care, gun control, gay marriage and a woman's right to choose.

I was maybe 17 when I first knew that I would eventually leave the United States, mostly because what we've come to call the "red states" were clearly on the rise and the first Persian Gulf War was in progress.

I always thought I would head to Latin America, Africa or Asia.

I was willing to settle for Northern Europe.

I never suspected I'd head north to Canada, but by the time I was in my early 20s, I had a few Canadian friends, a Canadian girlfriend, and the great white north was looking very hospitable. Although I'm not a Canadian by birth, like many, many other Canadians, I'm Canadian by choice.

Like Mr. Litvak, I don't eat the bacon, but I do like the beer. I appreciate Canada's cautiousness, its fairness, and its commitment to good government. I prefer to give rather than to loan to a neighbour if I can afford to do so. I prefer parliamentary democracy, and look forward to proportional representation.

Now, I don't want to sound frumpy, but I don't want to have to take my credit card to the hospital, or carry a concealed weapon so that I can feel safe as I stroll in the evenings. And I hate to sound unadventurous, but I don't want my tax dollars going to nuclear weapons and wars for oil. Maybe it's anti-American, but I prefer Mike Pearson and John Diefenbaker to Lyndon Johnson and George Bush.

Canada isn't perfect, but most countries aren't. Canadian society, however, is strengthened by its willingness to have an open dialogue about its shortcomings. The United States isn't exactly known for its self-criticism and restraint, but that's not equally true of all Americans. Like Canada, there's a lot of variation among individuals and across regions.

Canadians are no strangers to regional differences, but the United States has regional difference in spades. The idea that Oregon is good, but Florida and Alabama are bad is just a stereotype. General Robert E. Lee freed his slaves before General Ulysses S. Grant did, the Klan experienced huge growth in Indiana in the 1920s, Rodney King was beaten by police in California, and George Bush spent most of his formative years growing up in New England.

The belief in an "American" type full of energy and always honest is equally romantic. Similarly, American "gusto" is mostly a national myth, a way of not talking about the ever-shrinking middle class in the United States. Most Americans, who worry about paying the rent and not getting sick, are deeply troubled by this Horatio Alger-ism. Canadians who dream of American joy-of-life romanticize a world in which this radical individualism and Canada's community of communities are not fundamentally incompatible.

I'm afraid that's just wishful thinking.

What I recommend to Canadians who fantasize about moving south is to take a page out of the snowbird book: the United States is a nice place to visit, but do yourself and the world a favour and don't live there.

Vincent J. Guihan lives in Ottawa.