Impressed with Canadians

MauiRob

MauiRob

Joined
Nov 15, 2000
Messages
3,708
Just a silly observation...

I just got back from a week long photography workshop. I had the pleasure of meeting 3 Canadians while I was there. Without a doubt, the most polite, humourous, and all around great people I've met in along time. Come to think of it, I've never met a Canadian I didn't like (Will Kwan and others included of course!). Sorry to take up space with this thread, but I thought we could use some positive news about other countries bout now:D


:)
 
..all thoroughly likeable, friendly almost to a fault, and good outdoorsmen. Makes me wonder how their government ever got so gun-shy.
 
Bruiser, the guys I met from "up there" were so darn nice that I'll make allowances for you :D :D :rolleyes:
 
Yeah, I know Wal. I was thinking the same thing.
One guy I really hit it off with was down right petrified of guns. He is quite the outdoorsman too. We were out photographing and someone was firing a rifle about 2-300yds out and I thought he was going to jump out of his skin. Don't blame him though--he didn't grow up around them like most of us did. He was shocked when I said I had a few different handguns and other guns.
 
..has always been strict. I knew a traveling auditor for an oil co. who bought a .357 down here, and tried to get it home by wrapping it in rags and a portion of tarp, and wiring it to the frame of his car. This was in 1967, and he should be getting out about now. Not the brightest stunt in the book, but they threw it at him anyway.
 
I've spent a fair amount of time north of the border. My impressions match yours. Those Canadians are by and large a civil people. Complain all you want about their gun control philosophy, but the first thing virtually every American notices in walking the streets of any significant Canadian city from Dalhousie to Vancouver is how safe they feel. It's a sensation you just don't experience in big U.S. cities, at least not in my lifetime.
 
..you feel about their laws, they are ENFORCED!! The approach there is to arrest and go to trial with the original charge, and apply the law as written. We have drifted away from that to the extent that lawbreakers can usually be sure of some sort of plea bargain. They have a similar arrangement, but it doesn't work to the benefit of the arrestee as much as ours. Your (anyone's) feelng of safety on the street is largely a matter of how safe a criminal feels about practicing his trade.
 
Are we talking about the same country? Our federal jails are called "Club Fed" by some, and it's not because of harsh conditions. :mad:
 
The last contact I had with Canuckian LEOs was a "hands across the border" thing in Minneapolis in (I think) 1965. We got mellow afer the formal procedings, and traded hats. I still have a fake-fur beaver thing with internal ear flaps (he wouldn't throw in the pin with the Queen's image on it). If he and his contemporaries were still around, I wouldn't walk your streets with a bad mood, let alone bad intentions.
 
Perhaps things would be different up here if we'd been a gun-carrying population from the start, but I fully support gun control in Canada. Joe Average just doesn't seem to know what they ought to know about gun safety.

I live in a great spot in the bush, and I can't go for a hike during hunting season. It just isn't safe. Last year, some nutball fired a musket at a deer with my house directly along the line of fire. The stop signs around here almost all have a small hole directly through the "O".

And stats or no stats, I -do- take comfort in the knowledge that if I'm taking up somebody's personal fast lane, they're not going to pull out a revolver and shoot me as they pass. Going to the States and seeing bullet-proof glass enclosures for convenience store cashiers was... an experience, for me.

In any case, no law is perfect. Maybe some people get guns that shouldn't, and some don't that should. But at least there's this: In America, citizenz have the right to bear arms, but in Canada, citizens have the right to bare breasts!
 
Perhaps having lotsa gun laws makes having large cutlery more viable as an item of self defence.

Did you have to pay duty on yer khuks?
 
Now, there's an interesting point in Canadian law, though I'd note that IMNAL and may be mistaken about his:

It's my understanding that there's a limit to the size of blade that you can legally carry in America, but that in Canada, you may carry a blade of any size - provided you've got a pretty darned good reason to do so.

My uncle once held a car thief at sword point until the police arrived. There must have been a chuckle or two back at the station over that one.
 
blade laws are set by the individual states, with the exception of those regarding "switchblades". Some states have waived their blade laws for those who pass the requirements for a CCW permit. Others refuse to enter into reciprocity agreements because these states ALLOW blades, under their CCW permit. If it seems confusing, it is. Our politicians are the same as yours, however - confusing :D
 
As to pros and cons being Canadian, we've got our own unique cultural characteristics (Hockey Night in Canada, Canadian Whiskey, Back Bacon, Maple Syrup, etc), but like any other country we're not perfect. We've had our share of screw-ups too.

By and large, I think most fellow Canadians are pretty decent people who are willing to do the right thing. I would say the same about our American cousins and any other civilized, rational country.:)

As for knife laws, do a search in the Canadian forum for details.
 
If you are a law abiding citizen you should be able to have a gun or knife on your person in any country in the world. This is one reason why the good ol' U.S of A is the greatest place to live on this planet!
 
I grew up hearing Pop say great things about the Canadian paratroopers that he fought alongside during WWII. He certainly has a lot of respect for them, as well as the Aussies and the Brits, and, of course - the Gurkhas!
 
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