What are some changes Canada can make to further distinguish its self from the USA? : askacanadian

[–] Sunshine@piefed.zip 19 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (5 children)

Have Manitoba adopt French as an official language and use more indigenous names for places.

Get rid of mm/dd/yyyy

Switch to ISO A4 paper size.

Reduce American words used in Canadian English.

Switch to the UK keyboard layout.

Switch the roads to left side driving.

Establish independent vehicle testing.

Build roundabouts.

Electrify the rails and bring back reliable passenger service.

Bathroom stalls that actually go down the floor.

Install bidets.

Narrow the streets.

Abolish tipping.

Regulate pickup trucks to be the size they were in the 80s.

Use metric for colloquial measurements.

Switch to type c plug outlets.

Include sales tax in the price.

[–] a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 weeks ago

Have Manitoba adopt French as an official language and use more indigenous names for places.

We can start phasing out English and make French the sole official language of Canada.

(Seriously I would actually be in favour of this but I know I'm in an extreme minority here)

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 weeks ago

It might be cool to have separate posts to discuss each of these in more detail. Building off of some of these ideas:

Get rid of mm/dd/yyyy

I almost always use yyyy-mm-dd because it's the least confusing, while also sorting digital files nicely. I'd prefer if that became the default.

Switch to ISO A4 paper size.

I'm curious what this process would be like. For most end users, there is little difference between receiving a piece of paper that is letter size vs A4. I would use it myself in my printer for anything I'd need to print out. Is it a matter of advocating for stores and suppliers to carry it?

Switch to the UK keyboard layout.

I'd love to hear some discussion on this one, but I'm also worried that people will have very strong feelings about what layout will be best. There are a lot of alternate layouts out there 😄

Switch the roads to left side driving.

This one I'm not sure about since a lot of other allies drive on the right side too, including a number of vehicle exporters. This would provide little benefit to us other than to spite the US.

Establish independent vehicle testing.

I would expand this to all kinds of certifications and testing, and tie it to a mutual agreement with the EU. We could benefit from the stronger protections established in the EU, while cutting down on repeat work.

Use metric for colloquial measurements.

Maybe we can share some infographics around from time to time to help people learn their heights and weights in metric.

...

I don't have much else to add for the rest :)

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 weeks ago

What an amazing list! I would easily vote for you. All the best.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Canada uses yyyy/mm/dd btw.

We use A sizes, always have my life but people said that was odd. Can confirm I just went notebook shopping and everything was A/B sizing (Ontario). To get imperial out of construction we have to stop exporting it to the US. Canadians don't tip, American chains just ask for it.

[–] cadekat@pawb.social 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Disagree about keyboard layout (should be Dvorak, or a more modern replacement), left handed driving, and switching to French (the US has 1+ million French speakers).

Not a bad list otherwise! I'd probably add mass public transit and carless downtowns.

[–] dlhextall@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

We do have the CSA, which would also help with the bilingual push 👀

[–] KingOfTheCouch@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

The keyboards on laptops should be required to be as easy to replace (and swap out) as a USB keyboards so that everyone gets the input that works for them.

[–] HeroicBillyBishop@lemmy.ca 19 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

bilingual road signage, from coast to coast to coast

stop/arret

The Yanks wont know what to do, it will be glorious

[–] Smaile@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Actually would be a good idea since Donald hates the French language apparently.

[–] HeroicBillyBishop@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

oh snap, I did not know that

I have been practicing my French, and can get by in conversation

Beautiful French Canadian women are my prime motive I will shameless admit :)

Apres c'est ete, j'espere je suis bilang dans conversation

[–] jdr@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

In France the signs just say "stop"

[–] HeroicBillyBishop@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That's dumb, don't they know they invented French?

[–] jdr@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

No. And don't tell them.

[–] minorkeys@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Redirect trade to Europe and Asia and reduce availability of American cultural products. Give every canadian free multilingual education options and support programs. In order to grow apart, Canadians have to stop sharing experiences with Americans and have experiences Americans don't.

[–] asg101@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 week ago

Support and elect political parties that are not subservient to the corporations.

[–] mrdown@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

Stopping supplrting zionism

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Each of us lose ten pounds and avoid khaki shorts.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

I will die in my cargo shorts on this hill.

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Actually learn French you silly Anglos.

[–] Sunshine@piefed.zip 3 points 1 week ago

Also stop calling main course meals entrées.

[–] rabber@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago

Join the EU

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

Decolonize.

Cede sovereignty over all territory to first nations.

Subjugate yourselves to a first nations tribunal for your crimes against humanity.

Transfer land and wealth to the first nations until a tribunal of first nations people have decided it's enough.

Shutdown the RCMP's operations that target first nations people and places.

Rename everything back to the original names the first nations had for them. Seek a first nations committee to rename anything with an English, French, or appropriated first nations name.

[–] Bubbaonthebeach@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

In my region, several First Nations are fighting over the same land. Apparently even they have "colonization" problems with each other. I wonder which year/century/millenia we would have to go back to for everyone to agree on whose land it was?

[–] shawn1122@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Colonization and its legacy are much bigger than a regional land dispute. Canada will eventually need to come to terms with its history if it wants to move forward. It can't wear its dark past as an albratross around its neck forever. I do commend the prior prime minister for his efforts in bringing these issues to the forefront.

I don't agree with everything freagle is saying but it's true that the RCMP has historically targeted indigineous peoples. Indigineous peoples are very much treated as the lower caste of Canada, similar to the Romani people in Europe (though with a very different history) and Canada could do better at remedying the injustice it brought upon the original stewards of the land. There's no reason that should offend any settlers or their descendants.

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

No, that's not what colonization is. You should educate yourself on your own country. Let's take one example of how a land dispute between two First Nations is not equivalent to colonization.

The First Nations didn't decide where their reservations would be, the English settlers decided that. That's colonization.

The First Nations didn't decide which tribes would be legally recognized and which would not, the English settlers decided that. That's colonization.

The First Nations didn't decide that tribal membership would be based on blood quantum, the English settlers decided that. Not only is that colonization, it's literally genocidal colonization. Why? Because the reservations and First Nations populations are tied together, meaning that if a First Nation is no longer federally recognized, their land goes back to the settlers. And since the settler government killed so many of them in the process of colonization, First Nations have low population. So when you say that you are required to have a minimum of 1/4 blood quantum to be a federally recognized member, then the tribe either has to intramarry and create huge genetics problems, or they need to marry across tribes and dilute their blood quantum. Eventually the settler system will breed out enough blood quantum that they can reclaim the land.

That's colonization.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah, let's make ourselves weaker to a hostile US. That's going to go over so well.

Did you actually think about that before you posted it?

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Or you could put the Canadian military into the hands of the first nations people and collaborate with them as they lead the defense against the torchbearer of European colonial empire

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

What makes you think they're all going to get along and respect the sovereignty of a nation that no longer exists but expects military dominance over them all?

A communist revolution that replaces the provincial system with a nation council would fair much better.

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Communism without decolonization is currently theoretical and in theory it's deeply problematic.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Cede sovereignty over all territory to first nations.

Subjugate yourselves to a first nations tribunal for your crimes against humanity.

Transfer land and wealth to the first nations until a tribunal of first nations people have decided it’s enough.

This is what's problematic.

It doesn't make sense to divide the working class like that when they should be uniting. The land shouldn't be owned by one nation vs another, it's to be shared along with the wealth.

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That's for the sovereign people to decide, not the occupiers. If you want working class solidarity, you'll need solidarity with the occupied peoples first.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Interesting to have a .ml but disagree with Lenin's understanding of guiding the unconscious worker into a conscious one.

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

Lenin didn't deal with the colonial question. He did, however, deal with the national question, and clearly the national self-direction of the First Nations is dependent on decolonization.

[–] minorkeys@lemmy.world -1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Which crimes against humanity have I committed?

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You personally or the country that you are a citizen of? Because I never said that each member of the society committed crimes against humanity. But if you're going to use the land that your forbears made available to you through genocide, you might find that your protestations that you shouldn't be punished just because you've built your whole life around the spoils of other people's war crimes don't hold a lot of weight.

[–] minorkeys@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Subjugate yourselves to a first nations tribunal for your crimes against humanity.

Whomever or whatever this is referring to.

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah, the State of Canada, as a body politic, must undergo a full transference of sovereignty to the original inhabitants of the land who were subjected to genocidal violence, cultural erasure, displacement, and other crimes against humanity on behalf of the project for Canada which every inhabitant of Canada necessarily benefits from by virtue of their occupation of the land, the consumption of its resources, and the displacement of their externalities.

[–] minorkeys@lemmy.world -3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That's never happening though.

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I know that settlers think justice will never reach them, but settler states are only a few centuries old and the civilizations they transgressed are several thousands of years old. It'll happen.

[–] minorkeys@lemmy.world -1 points 1 week ago

None of that follows. Where do come up with these fantasies?

[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The US has a great deal of leverage over Canada due to the US's nuclear arsenal. Canada could one-up the US by building a doomsday device. No need to even build out a bomber or missile fleet. It's so big, it doesn't matter where it's set off!

[–] cecilkorik@piefed.ca 2 points 2 weeks ago

We should build a massive reservoir on the triple continental divide, fill it with enough maple syrup to flood the entire continent, and make it so sticky it counts as a chemical weapon, and pack the foundations with explosives. No one will mess with us ever again.

[–] Heinous@feddit.online -1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Build a wall

[–] cadekat@pawb.social 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Wouldn't that just make us more similar?

[–] Heinous@feddit.online 5 points 1 week ago

Build a moat

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