Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Is CANADA better than the USA?

In Canada, I now can marry the guy of my dreams (should he ever decide to rear his lying bastard head!) and at our wedding reception serve Pot Brownies if I so choose!

Strong arguements in favor of our northern cousins!

Or the glass half empty approach, you can get involved in extended divorce litigation with the man of your nightmares while in a sugar freaked buzzed out haze.

And that's the more likely scenario, BB!

I can't name any Canadian landmarks! I need to come up with at least one for "The Super Jailhouse of Space"!!! HELP!!!!

I'm sure there's a nice Canadian tourism website you can find on Google... The only thing I can think of is that space needle thing in Toronto though I don't know what it's called. There's also that huge mall (the biggest in the world?). I only remember it from reading "Alpha Flight"

The CN Tower and the West Edmonton Mall, respectivly. (And here I thought that skit on Jay Leno tonight was a joke. :rolleyes: )

Parliment Hill (Ottawa) and Olympic Stadium (Montreal) are other good choices.

Well, at least I know how many sides there are on a pentagon (five right??)

And I agree -- Antarctica should get their own olympic ring -- what's up with that??

Terry Fox Mountain and monument. They chose a beautiful mountain to name after him.

How about Alanis Morissette, Celine Dion or Bryan Adams? Do they count as monuments?

Take Celine Dion...please. And keep her.

Some eastern Canada monuments: the Bluenose schooner - docked close by. The captain sailed her over a reef in Halifax harbour, so she isn't going too far from home.

Montreal's Olympic Stadium - we're still paying for it, 17 years later.

Peggy's Cove, a moonscape of a tourist trap with a lighthouse and site of the memorial for the Swissair crash.

Still and all, I think Canada has been generally more tolerant, liberal, certainly socialistic in the classic sense and multicultural vis-a-vis the USA. There was not a melting pot philosophy and the presence of a populous and powerful Quebec has done a great deal to influence Canadian politics and culture overall. Francophones put a lot more emphasis on group rights over the rights of the individual, in my opinion. The rural areas of the country tend to be more closed, conservative, etc. etc. If you're a gay person in my little community, you sure don't advertise it. Our premier just announced today, no gay marriage here until the federal government says so/forces the issue. Pot-growing is supposed to be rampant, on the other hand; however, I stick to tomatoes.

Vancouver is one of the most beautiful, livable cities I've ever visited. In fact, just about everywhere I've been in Canada -- Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City, the Maritimes -- has been wonderful.

I also love poutine and wish we had it in our fast food restaurants here...

Ottawa's pretty nice, too. (And contrary to popular belief, it doesn't end at the edge of Parliment Hill. )

Don't forget the Green Gables, as in "Anne of..."

It's incredibly popular among Japanese tourists.

Hey, and I heard Canada kept pot illegal.

Yes, and an MP in New Brunswick was attacked and beaten in his office for supporting gay marriage. Then there was the Alliance Party MP who called for recriminalization of homosexuality (he did make a belated, half-hearted apology when ordered to) - so it's two steps forward and one-and-half steps back on "progressive" issues.

Last week, nurses at a hospital in Halifax were complaining about second-hand medical marijuana smoke. I'm not sure if they wanted to block it or have it circulated...

Looks like Martin is going to finally speak about gay marriages in his annual interview. (Whenever that is.)

As for keeping pot illegal, it's just that the Supreme Court has declared there are no constitutional reasons for throwing the current law out. The issue is still going through parliment.

Canadian Monuments, let's see. Well, I grew up on Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes. They're all shared with the U.S. (except for Lake Michigan), but they're pretty spectacular. This summer, I saw Niagara Falls again for the first time in 23 years - you have to see it on the Canadian side.

Travelling across country by train through the Canadian Rockies is something everyone should experience. I did it when I was 12. Staying at the grand old railroad hotels should be a life time goal. Start on Vancouver Island at the Empress, then go to Vancouver and stay at the Hotel Vancouver. As you go through the Rockies, depending on which line you take (CP or CN) you can stay at the Jasper Park Lodge, the Banff Springs Hotel, and the Chateau Lake Louise. Calgary, Edmonton, Regina and Winnepeg have railroad hotels as well, but I don't remember the names. In Toronto, it's the Royal York, in Ottawa its the Chateau Laurier, in Montreal, La Reine Elizabeth, in Quebec City, the Chateau Frontenac.

Fat Cramer, you're going to have to help me out with the Maritimes hotels.


Canada is a vast country with lots of open space, It has a varied and beautiful geography. The only thing it doesn't have, damn it, is palm trees.

There are palm trees in the Biodome in Montreal.

Loved the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City. I'd like to stay there the next time I visit, if I can afford it.

Prince Edward Island -- its red dirt roads and rolling green fields are lovely, particularly in the summertime.

Don't get me started on Canadian sweets. Wish we had beavertails and maple syrup pie down here.

Plus, don't forget all the wonderful posters we have from Canada right here on Legion World.

Don't forget Stratford. Not exactly a monument, but still a pleasant touch of class as well as a nice day off for any student (or teacher).

Canada, apart from any other virtues, took in thousands of those who were fleeing military conscription in the United States. (As it might end up doing again, dammit all, from rumblings in Washington circles about reinstating the draft.) I had to contemplate this fact once, in earnest, about 32 years ago when I was a fearful pre-teenager ... so I belatedly thank Canada for at least being there.

I personally uphold -- especially on Bill of Rights Day -- what was intended in the design of the United States, as to severe limits on governmental power. Yet I'm also glad that a large, English-speaking portion of North America is, quite simply, NOT the U.S. And I'll just leave it at that.

How could I have forgotten Stratford? I go every year.

When I was young, the family took a vacation to Halifax. I remember going to the Magnetic Hill in Moncton. That and the Bay of Fundy were the highlights of that trip.

You can't overlook the picturesque Thousand Islands of Kingston, Ontario where the salad dressing was born. Kingston, of course, was Canada's original capital and the first prime minister's (Sir John A. Macdonald) home is here, Bellevue House.

BTW, Kingston also happens to be home to Ryan Malcolm, Canada's first Canadian Idol.

Owl Lad, I went to Queen's University. I could hardly overlook Kingston - so many good memories. Besides Queen's, I spent several summers there, one in the guard at Old Fort Henry.

But JEEPERS!

I still can't marry the alleged man of my dreams or smoke reefer there without getting killed or arrested.

Guess Canada is on an even keel with the USA.