Canada Is Becoming Too Americanized Today Canada and the United States are major trading partners, allies, and two neighboring countries with a long history of cooperation with each other. But is it possible for Canada to protect its independence and culture living next door to the country so powerful and rich as the United States. Since the Canadian confederation, Canada started developing relations with the U.S. As the years passed by, Canada began to relay on the United States in the national defense. Many Canadians think that the military, political and economical dependence would not make a difference to their daily life. But today more then even Canadian culture is affected by the American influence. Media, American artists, economic dependence, American propaganda and political pressure from the United States is making Canada too Americanized. All of these factors reflect on the social life of ordinary Canadians threatening the heritage and the traditions that define Canada as independent country. Canada and the United States are the largest trade partners in the world. It is the result of the geographical position of two countries and the free trade between two countries. It should be a great thing for the economies of both countries, but since the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed, American businesses almost took over the Canadian economy. When the American companies started to make more business in Canada, it brought more jobs and money to the country in the short-term. But as a long-term effect Canadians became even more depended on the U.S. as the American companies started dominating Canadian companies in Canada. Also, today Canadian manufacturers have little protection from the government when ch... ... middle of paper ... ...m industry, which is the largest in the world. From the movies and shows people see the life style, American life style. They are becoming more Americanized every time when they watch a film where American marines one again save the world. A huge part of American movie industry is based on propaganda movies. And this is not all, bois in the information programs such as CNN and ABC sometimes can be completely misinformed. Finally, if the comparison were ever made a survey, it would really show the full scale of Americanization in Canada. But until now we can only see from the daily life, how American culture is inviting Canada. Today more then ever, Canadians are in real danger of loosing their national identity. It is unfortunate that if the study of this cultural influence will be done few years later, it might be too late to save Canadian culture and identity.
Our group chose Canada because we feel that there are many similarities between our culture in the United States and the culture in Canada. Comparing the economies of these two nations shows that they are nearly identical. If combined, Canada’s and the United States’ economies would be the world’s largest economy; therefore, it would be advantageous to incorporate in both nations.
The economic progress Canada made after the war lead to the growth of the country. New industries emerged from innovations of products like automobiles, radios, television, digital computers and electric typewriters (Aitken et al., 315). Canadians quickly adapted back to the “buy now, pay later” strategy rather than careful budgeting during the Great Depression (Liverant). Almost everything that Canadians did was influenced from new inventions; television was the most influential. Canadians conversations, humour, and lifestyle were influenced from television (Aitken et al., 315). Trade relations between the United States and Canada had become more efficient due to the St. Lawrence Seaway. The mass development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, in 1954, was to provide a large wate...
Canada is the U.S.'s most important trading partner, taking in 19.2 percent of U.S. goods and services in 2003.
Although Canada is dependent on trade with the United States, NAFTA proves that the relationship goes both ways. Canada proved its worth in the global financial crisis, showing that it can practice good policy despite the dependence. Canada has undergone a wealth of changes in the past fifty years, many of which have progressed this country from loyal soldiers of Britain to prominent world bankers. Through the evolution of legislature, economic policy, and the actions of the Canadian Forces, Canada’s global image has developed since the end of World War II. Canada’s current global image, an amalgamation of actions in the past fifty years, demonstrates Canada to be an independent entity with substantial belief in people’s well-being and equality, a strong economic policy that is widely regarded, and a military that is equal parts peacekeeping and combatant forces.
In order to understand the complexity of the Anti-Americanism, it is important to understand the history and relationship between Canada and the United States. The sentiment was first conceived by the Europeans and the issues it had with the upcoming “rebellious” American culture. Europeans at the time had the tendency to see Americans as, “overconfident and self-important… it was this egocentricity that most aggravated Europeans” (O’Connor, 2004). In its earliest form, the American ideology seemed to be an opponent to the popular European ideology. Which soon became a campaign between “high culture” (the European ideology) and “low culture” (the American culture) and through that rivalry many European citizens held the belief that,
First of all, Canada benefits from close ties to America because it helps us with our economy. Back in the late 1950’s and 1960’s the opening of American branch plants were introduced to Canadians. American companies would come to Canada and open large American companies to serve to Canadian consumers. New policies started to pass down in 1965 such as the Automotive Products Trade Agreement (APTA or Autopact). This policy allowed free movement of vehicles to pass between the Canadian and American border. This also allowed American Branch plants to operate in Canada without having to pay tariffs. To this day it is estimated that more than 50% of businesses that operate in Canada are foreign owned. However this can be looked at as a positive aspect since this provided many jobs for Canadians. There was also a great persuasion for Canadian consumers to buy Canadian made items because it helps increase jobs in Canada. Another reason to why American ties helps with the Canadian economy is because America is Canada’s biggest trading partner. Considering the geographic position between Canada and America, in order to get across ones border there is only a need to cross land with a vehicle. Both of the countries are in the...
Many people across the globe argue that nationalism within Canada is simply not feasible. It is said that we as a people, differ so greatly with our diverse cultures, religions, and backgrounds that we cannot come together and exist together as a strong, united nation. In his book, Lament for a Nation, George Grant tells the reader that “…as Canadians we attempted a ridiculous task in trying to build a conservative nation in the age of progress, on a continent we share with the most dynamic nation on earth. The current history is against us.” (1965) Originally directed towards the Bomarc Missile Crisis, the book argues that whatever nationalism Canada had was destroyed by globalization as well as the powerful American sphere of influence. Although it is true that the book was initially written as a response to the events that took place in the late 1950s, many of the points are still valid today.
In conclusion, Canada was influenced throughout the 1920's by America, that by 1929 Canada became very similar to America in social trends, economics and produce. But has this stopped in modern day era? Canada continues to be heavily influenced by the amount of American products and media outpouring into Canada. Canada has made attempts throughout time to impede the onslaught of American invasion but American invasion is seen on a huge global scale. Hit movies, tv shows, products among others are generally based on American culture, views, or based within American domain. It is a reign yet to be stopped.
The cold war had great impacts on the bound and tension between Canada and the United States. The Cold War had divided the whole world in to two sides between the Communism side and the United States. Due to the geographic location of Canada sitting beside US, and Canada had already traded some of its sovereignty in a series of political and military pacts with the U.S, therefore Canada took the United States’ side. Canada took the US’s side as a reaction to the international tensions during the post-w...
The first thing we should examine is what exactly is meant by “strong national identity”. A very good example of strong national identity is the U.S.. I doubt there is a man on this planet who is not familiar with the U.S.. People immediately recognize their flag, and most people can tell you quite a bit about them. The same is true of Canada, and what do they know of Canada? In 1995 U.S. President Bill Clinton stated his view of Canada in a speech where he declared, “Canada has shown the world how to balance freedom with compassion and tradition with innovation, in your efforts to provide health care to all your citizens, to treat senior citizens with the dignity and respect they deserve...”(Canada Today 9). We were also rated first in the UN’s 1992 “Human Development Index” (9).
Roughly fifteen year ago the United States entered into an agreement with its neighboring countries Canada and Mexico. With the incarnation of this intercontinental free trade agreement; the United States acting as the conduit would not only increase trade productivity for itself but, allot its sister nations to the north and south the same advantages. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is beneficial to America because, it encourages the expansion of job opportunities, abolishes taxes and tariffs that can restrict the flow of imports and exports, and supplies the States with goods and services at lower costs causing profits to increase exponentially.
Canada as a nation has been striving to characterize itself as more ?Canadian? for decades. This has included numerous struggles and events such as protests, bans, and the creation of the Massey Commission, to encourage national development in the arts, and support major companies like the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and National Film Board (NFB). However, this has not been an easy task for the Canadian government, as major influences from below the border (the United States) have been captivating the Canadian audiences by large. American media has had a momentous revolutionizing effect on Canada, even through efforts made to define Canada with its own cultural identity.
American media nonetheless is most definitely the most dominating part of americanization. I think it’s clear to say that mostly everyone knows Hollywood and the how outstanding
Have you ever pondered why Canada has the Queen on the twenty dollar bill despite Europe and the United Kingdom being a whole ocean away? Canada is often said to be a peaceful country, but have you heard about our war with America? In the novel Barometer Rising, Hugh MacLennan describes Canada 's place in the world. Although Canada is commonly grouped with the United States, Barometer Rising proves with its strong themes of nationalism, that Canada’s role in the world is to be a strong nation, independent of the United States and well linked to Europe.
Canada and the United States of America have a strong relationship because they have been significant trading partners and still are today. During the 1800s,