Are There Mosquitoes In Canada?

I had the most interesting conversation last week. I walked away from it with the reaffirmation that the difference between perception and reality is vast and for some, unexplored. It raised questions about the effectiveness of our educational system, the power of continued learning through life and the effects that television has had on our society.

Let me start with a little background to set this in the proper light.

My wife is Canadian, therefore, a foreigner. Her acclimation to living in America has been filled with questions, observations and sometimes, complete disbelief. Though difficult at times, she has made the transition with grace while still showing a sense of wonder about this great nation. She marvels at the fact that Wal-Mart is open 24 hours, 364 days a year. Not only is Wal-Mart the titular heart of the capitalist ideal, they sell alcohol, tobacco and firearms at almost any hour of the day or night. To her, this is something unheard of.

Her understanding of how America works aside, some of the friends we've made recently exhibit the same sense of wonder about Canada. The main difference is that while my wife has a better than average understanding of our country, most of our new friends have an understanding of Canada based on what they've seen on television and half remembered classes on world history.
I had my own misconceptions about Canada in the past so I won't count myself out of the "stupid American" group just yet. During my first trip to Canada, I asked my future wife where all the moose were. I fully expected to see moose walking down the road or strolling through town leisurely.

The differences between Canadian society and ours are varied but there is a lot more that's similar. Our governments are similar but with very important differences, theirs is first and foremost a monarchy but they have elections, politicians and the same types of government greed and waste that we suffer from. One odd difference is that the Canadian government is in the tobacco business. The government imports tobacco, processes it for sale and then distributes it but with much higher costs than we here in America deal with. Imagine $10 per pack for Marlboro or a comparable brand. Gas is much more expensive there. While the cost of gas here hovered between $3 and $3.50 per gallon, theirs was between $5 & $6 a gallon.

I've meandered away from my point but the subtle differences mean more as we go on. My wife and I were visiting with our neighbors and some friends of theirs last week. I introduced myself and my wife and we all sat talking and enjoying a cold beer on a warm day. The conversation turned to where we were both from and when she mentioned she was from Canada eyes lit up and they leaned forward as if hearing some fantastic secret. My wife was inundated by a barrage of questions both serious and inane. One question almost brought the entire evening to a halt. The couple we had just met were very nice and we were laughing and joking about how different our two countries were until the wife, Margaret, asked, "Hey, don't you have that free health care in Canada?"

My wife's face changed to a scowl as the group grew quiet. I simply leaned back and let her go. She leaned slightly forward and began to describe how free that "free health care" really was. She talked about diminished choice and rationed treatments. She told them of the inordinately high taxes they paid as Canadian citizens. She related the accident she had at work when she injured her ankle and it took 6 weeks to get the results from her x-rays. When it was determined that the results of the x-rays were inconclusive, that was it. There was no next step. No second x-rays, no MRI no nothing. She was given pain medication and anti-inflammatory drugs. So much for the Canadian health care system being so much better than ours.

I joined in and helped explain the difference between the major countries and their health care systems. Canada is a single-payer system, England is universal, meaning all health care personnel are quite literally government employees. Canada's system is fixed so that the government just pays the bills but still makes an absurd amount of decisions about who gets care, why and when. There are important differences between the two, and neither of those bear any resemblance to our system, Obamacare not withstanding.

There were several serious questions about how the Canadian government worked, what the major political parties were and so forth. My wife felt excluded when those of us who were born here spoke of why it's so great to be an American but she laughed in spite of our loud proclamation that people weren't exactly flocking to Canada in the numbers we see in the States.

I knew that the beer was having it's desired effect when Clayton, who we'd just met, suddenly grew quiet and a quizzical look crossed his face as he asked, "Are there mosquitoes in Canada?"
My wife bellowed with laughter as she explained, "Look, it's not like there's a huge wall between here and there. Things that can fly...can fly across the border for heavens sake."

It was at this point I decided to have a little fun at our new friends expense. I hinted that there was no Christmas in Canada and that people walked around in wooden shoes. Cruel, I know but by this time I wanted to have a little fun and exploit the obvious lack of knowledge about my wife's home country. They knew I was being less than honest and eventually we all just laughed and finally said good night and went our separate ways.

The next morning I sat drinking my coffee from my favorite mug, a Toronto Maple Leafs mug. I know precious little about hockey but I'm doing my best to try to show some appreciation for all things Canadian. I know there's a puck and sticks and many of the players are missing teeth. That makes sense when you consider that grown men swinging sticks at each other would lead to some toothless grins. I know now that what we call Canadian bacon is really what they call pemail bacon and is more along the lines of ham.

I discovered that my wife knew a great deal more about American culture than I knew about hers. Through careful questioning I learned that she even had a better grasp of American history as well. While she couldn't name all the founding fathers, not many Americans can after all, she had a firm grasp of the basics for our displeasure with the British all those years ago. I, on the other hand, could not tell her when Canada officially became a nation. I knew little of their political system apart from the fact that it mirrored the British. While she didn't fully understand our current health care system, she was amazed that we could go see any doctor we wanted and choose which hospital we wanted to have our baby in, she was a quick study and seems more and more "American" every day.

All this is leading somewhere, I promise you. My theory is this: America is more of an ideal than we are sometimes led to believe. That would explain the millions that cross the border illegally every year. Many outside this country learn our ways and our history as a matter of course in their own countries. I think many foreigners view America in much the same way many of us view Florida. As a destination where we will live the good life free of the struggle of everyday life. I have in-laws who live half the year in Canada and half the year here. My wife has told me of friends and acquaintances who have come across legally and just decided to stay because of our love of freedom and individualism. I suspect there may also be a very strong love of the climate as well. Can you blame them really? I mean, can you picture yourself firing up the barbecue in January...in Toronto?