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Old Posted Oct 15, 2019, 8:26 PM
OldDartmouthMark OldDartmouthMark is online now
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Join Date: May 2010
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I think rather than starting in the 1700s and moving forward, you should probably start with current times and move backward. How Canada is today is more a reflection of those currently living, and how recent previous generations have influenced them/us.

A few ideas:
- Today, Canada (anglo and franco) is more influenced than ever by the US, mostly through the influence of media, popular culture, and business. I think most of this can be traced back to the advent of TV, or more aptly, cable TV and US networks.

- The industrialization of the US, which Canada became part of, had a large influence on how business is done in Canada. Perhaps the largest influence of them all, since economics seems to create many of the other influences (i.e. advertising, consumerism, etc.).

- The Second World War. Canada entered it in 1939 pretty much automatically as a British Colony, whereas the US was officially trying to remain neutral (though was actually sending ["selling"] arms to help keep Britain from collapsing to Nazi Germany behind the scenes). The 1941 invasion of Pearl Harbour left no doubt as to the direction the US would take when war was finally declared, and the US became Britain's and Canada's strongest and closest ally. Before the world wars, Canada and the US had very different paths, although with some overlap. Afterwards, we were well on our path to becoming a 'mini US'...

IMHO, looking back to pre-20th century tells us how we got to those stepping stones mentioned above, but in reality those times really don't have much in common with, or influence on, where we are today.

So I don't look at America as the 'motherland' of Canada, but more the 'cool cousin' that we tried to emulate, but were never able to do it completely because we have our own background influencing how we see the world...

Just my opinion, of course.
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