Canada 3, US 0

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

      December 2, 2003
      Canada's View on Social Issues Is Opening Rifts With the U.S.
      By CLIFFORD KRAUSS

      ORONTO, Dec. 1 - Canadians and Americans still dress alike, talk
alike, like the same books, television shows and movies, and trade more
goods and services than ever before. But from gay marriage to drug use to
church attendance, a chasm has opened up on social issues that go to the
heart of fundamental values.

      A more distinctive Canadian identity - one far more in line with
European sensibilities - is emerging and generating new frictions with the
United States.

      "Being attached to America these days is like being in a pen with a
wounded bull," Rick Mercer, Canada's leading political satirist, said at a
recent show in Toronto. "Between the pot smoking and the gay marriage, quite
frankly it's a wonder there is not a giant deck of cards out there with all
our faces on it."

      Mr. Mercer acknowledged in an interview that he was overstating the
case for laughs - two Canadian provinces have legalized gay marriage, and
Ottawa has moved to decriminalize use of small amounts of marijuana. But in
the view of many experts the two countries are heading in different
directions, at least for the time being.

      Recent disagreements over trade, drugs and the war in Iraq, where
Canada has refused to send troops, has made the relationship more
contentious and Canadians increasingly outspoken about the things that
separate them from their American neighbors.

      "The two countries are sounding more different - after 9/11,
dramatically more different," noted Gil Troy, an American historian who
teaches at McGill University in Montreal. "You hear a lot more static and
you see more brittleness."

      Of course there have been frictions before, for instance during the
Vietnam War, when Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau welcomed American draft
evaders, but the differences in those years were more political than social.
Analysts say that Canada and the United States have always been similar yet
different, and that the differences are often accentuated at the margins.

      But today, many analysts and ordinary Canadians said in interviews
around the country, the differences appear to have moved center stage,
particularly in social and cultural values.

      The nations remain like-minded in pockets, but the center of gravity
in each has changed. French-speaking Quebec, with nearly a quarter of the
population and its open social attitudes, pulls Canada to the left, just as
the South and Bible Belt increasingly pull the United States in the opposite
direction, particularly on issues like abortion, gay marriage and capital
punishment.

      None of those have resonated much over the last decade in Canada,
where the consensus on social policy seems more solidly formed, its fissures
narrower and less exploitable.

      Chris Ragan, a McGill University economist, observed: "You can be a
social conservative in the U.S. without being a wacko. Not in Canada."

      Drugs are one point of departure. A bill to decriminalize small
amounts of marijuana is working its way through the lower house of
Parliament, bringing threats from the White House that such a law could slow
trade at the border.

      Recently, while musing about his retirement plans, Prime Minister Jean
Chrétien said he might just kick back and smoke some pot. "I will have my
money for my fine and a joint in the other hand," he said with a smile. The
glibness of the remark made it nearly impossible to imagine an American
president uttering it. But in a nation where the dominant west coast city,
Vancouver, has come to be known as Vansterdam, few Canadians blinked.

      When Massachusetts's highest court ruled for gay marriage, the issue
loomed over American politics. Conservatives vowed to change the
Constitution. President Bush said he would defend marriage. Even the major
Democratic presidential candidates backed away from supporting gay marriage
outright.

      Contrast that with Canada, where two provincial courts issued similar
rulings this year. With little anguish, Canada became only the third
country - after the Netherlands and Belgium - to allow same-sex marriage as
a matter of civil rights.

      Canadians themselves are not wholly united on the issue. Most elderly
and rural Canadians express reservations, and the Canadian Anglican Church
is almost as divided over homosexuality as the American Episcopal Church.
Still, Canadians remain tolerant of the shift.

      More than 1,500 gay and lesbian couples have married since the court
rulings. "The Canadian reaction to same-sex marriage has been mostly
positive," said Neil Bissoondath, an acclaimed Trinidadian-born Canadian
novelist and social critic.

      But the same issue in the United States "has upset the fundamentalist
Christians who drive a lot of the politics in the country, especially with
the present administration in power," Mr. Bissoondath added.

      Rachel Brickner, 29, a political science graduate student at McGill
originally from Detroit, said that despite her own liberal views, she
sometimes tired of the anti-Americanism she encountered among Canadian
students.

      After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, she said, an old roommate told her
that "the U.S. deserved 9/11 because we're bullies."

      "Canadians are quick to blame the United States for not knowing about
Canada," she said, "but Canadians make a lot of ignorant statements about
the U.S." No Canadian city reveals differences as much as Vancouver. It
looks like any American city, except for a drug culture that is so
abundantly open. The police rarely interfere with bars, storefronts and even
offices where people can buy or smoke marijuana. A "compassion club"
distributes marijuana legally to cancer patients and others who have
doctors' notes.

      The city opened a publicly financed and supervised injection site for
heroin users in September. The federal government, meanwhile, is preparing
to start an experimental heroin distribution program for addicts in Toronto,
Montreal and Vancouver in 2004.

      The changes in marriage and drug laws, said Michael Adams, a Toronto
consultant and polling expert, "means Canada is moving in the opposite
direction with the United States and closer to Europe."

      In his new book "Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada and the Myth
of Converging Values," he argues that greater Canadian tolerance reflects a
fundamental difference in outlook about everthing from the ethnic and
linguistic diversity of immigrants to the relative status of the sexes.

      Mr. Adams notes that weekly church attendance among Canadians has
plummeted since the 1950's while American church attendance has remained
virtually constant.

      To many commentators the two countries seem to be exchanging their
traditional roles, one founded in America's birth as a revolutionary country
and Canada's as a counterrevolutionary alternative.

      During the Depression, under the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt,
the United States was the progressive force, while Canada stubbornly held on
to conservative economic policies.

      By the mid-1960's, though, Canada shifted to a far more activist
government, moving to a national health insurance system. Not long
afterward, the Vietnam War began siphoning popularity from the Great Society
experiment of President Johnson. The trends have only widened since.

      Not all analysts see a big, lasting divergence. Some like Peter
Jennings, the ABC News broadcaster who was born in Toronto and became a dual
American and Canadian citizen in May, believe that Canadians have actually
drawn closer to Americans. Nevertheless, Mr. Jennings said Canada had become
"a socially more relaxed kind of place."

      "Canada, as it is with some of the European countries," he added, "is
trying to balance some of the market forces with public policy, which is not
as apparent in the United States, where the pursuit of happiness and
individualism are very much alive."

      Still, a cultural gulf is widening.

      "In the 70's we were taught Canada would be absorbed by the United
States, and in the 80's it looked like it was happening," recalled Douglas
Coupland, the Canadian author known for his cultural commentaries on both
sides of the border. "Then came the latter part of the 90's and it was like
some high school class 16-millimeter film where you see the chromosome
duplicates, then realigns, and finally the cell splits.

      "And that process only seems to be quickening in recent months."



      Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company | Home | Privacy Policy |
Search | Corrections | Help | Back to Top


begin 666 logoprinter.gif
M1TE&.#EAQP`O`,0``/___P```+N[NXJ*BK6UM9F9F45%1>_O[\_/S^3DY-#0
MT)J:FM_?WQ$1$3$Q,:JJJG9V=F9F9E5552$A(:"@H/GY^::FIL+"PJVMK>SL
M[-?7U]W=W<C(R/[EMAIL PROTECTED]"'Y! ``````+ ````#'`"\```7_("".9&F>
M:*JN;.N^<"S/=&W?>*[O?.__P*!P2"P:C\BD<LEL.I_0J'1*K5JOV*QVBQL8
M(@N&B#$0BQ [EMAIL PROTECTED] /#C4U*N'1#)8'P8"7# '#@&&AGP##1,`!Q$#
M,82&<B([EMAIL PROTECTED]@T``@<2`0X,;2X'$ &!*1&'[EMAIL PROTECTED]"[EMAIL 
PROTECTED]@!$Y*0
M, ^%`0UB")R&JS0(?\8"`\ .,J*J*0BYN&^4M2D0#G;,P,$(U &]+VBIEP</
M"P8&QR3N+0*&@(V&!C(/QBD/#6@("]$F13.5K009``\>G!D08<V\&?STB8 G
M(D(F&/+&K;(G(R-%$IG^V6&P(()"!!.P_Q5$\8A,@T#''C8Z0:N$`$NZ1L!C
M(*\!N70C'MBQ.6]C@'[EMAIL PROTECTED],72HQS&-EE:2<&#!!$C'I!I,>D*I33L*DT1H
MH,?0Q!'S&[EMAIL PROTECTED] ,!,'#<@\9I74H9"%Y-QR\("6,HTB.(KXTX#4B 7]B%U]
MFF_",Q*6!MR2MHJ!`VQ6T2".T$@"6Z:*+LX159B<D7R0)@-8(-K>Y,N?#$#@
M)*&$I7L9WP:R.GE Q "K$5F>%+281G4<">-L$ 9QL&(\C0T/H')3;8\(J"*0
[EMAIL PROTECTED]($1[Q(EY(T63T: O7[-(H4"3#W#J]?!<(+F^#845(9<[EMAIL PROTECTED]'?0* 
M,:D(H]J TMR"%/]_K@"R`$[WJ$;,47;$1X]'$K0G0BI8&2-7;[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]@H$<0% [EMAIL PROTECTED]@(3D//84?`!!$(!5KJ\BG7R#ZP"*C62P.N2 `>V0$
MB!T<'[EMAIL PROTECTED]@=.9$^ )LB5B4>HC/ D6N,`L.53*3(P`9"JJ*5C$H9D<F!,7=K8
MW8N-'#/9F"P*0 >1^BB8E !*&G4B<%Y2&>[EMAIL PROTECTED]/@*DEE0A"[EMAIL PROTECTED]
M0B&PR'2$(8QXL08H<M2HSX<:ZD0">-+,L]2!>3*J4U&!!>BDH$1*&<!WAA#$
M'4\3A 5?H L^]"AE,3)E`!HW(@&@!.[\TFF;GP8@&D$(@+%JJ;..@ [EMAIL PROTECTED]
M*BL]"/[)()2Q$JI*/J/L^(I*`D3 V9:[EMAIL PROTECTED](8T58H9Q1[!P"'#3M1 `TRB
MXV:7"RQU`'>Z]"(**.4)I1=Q]OQ!)U& =3MDN59N&.^T<[EMAIL PROTECTED]&>X$^
M)DXFE%8U#P(9.1 .*(7X)-=^1^"4BUX)9Q2.)(:.,-DAE:D23C$M1CM)1!Z?
M0"[EMAIL PROTECTED]/G.-#.1 `Z$(A:KXA!J2D3YL+9&_:[EMAIL PROTECTED] R(3?_8"K&SJ/ 
M602MAY!E;;XI#F: :2*(LH `<Y/ +0)2E\ M*FI#`,D!S#23]F%7F2"+*>H.
MM9U6`&R'2R]V0&" [EMAIL PROTECTED]@/#/@)%_^$P^QV [EMAIL PROTECTED])7-\BS%$\+
MQ )Y#]?*_D,9M1!S>0L/T,W#+5>YA<N1*ZV4CMI*B%--N#0DT $)''!0_/0W
M*&(/! [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]"]^#5J]$6H,W8^O_A $:*" !058X#T`%1 POP@)
M$)" [EMAIL PROTECTED](B>"#*@/P[ #P,9Z, %*% ``62 !!K 0 $:F `25. "\*. 
M`U60`0%,$ /W$P'_/JB "HP@>ODK``6D%\'XA7!]+5"A`!*0``_.;X$F% $!
M+ " !"[EMAIL PROTECTED]/;3@ [#UT,57B !&\ `!>2'1"6.X (%X `-/;B!$1" `AI XA6?
M=X(,4( `&_!A`2[PQ/\QTE !%,! [EMAIL PROTECTED] )@%.,+8:@"()(``T1,0/H`
MT($]`L"/```?_ORX`4(6H((9`*0`>"B"*([EMAIL PROTECTED](\P2))H `"F#"1(<2D#BF0
[EMAIL PROTECTED] *=Q",=70!(0>J0D3@<02GS>,@1Z+&"@[EMAIL PROTECTED]'[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
O( "-M!)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]"E;IR@)HH (4(*,J0VC*5S83ED649?<4P,UN
M<A$`[@/[EMAIL PROTECTED],*4Q`YE,=BJ3!<P<`1Q_^,T_4I.5V+1F+ &02&P"
M8 /SZX "OED!.*) E"/@GPGU2$X15&"/ZXQH.]]9SGM"T(@E&",R]\G1;(J/
M0(E5K, /[EMAIL PROTECTED] OCD")D4R $KDHT8U2- 7QE&<K20!%.[K3
MHQW5YP4GJ,),PH^H%^BD3X/)P E:\I$]=>HM?WI,[EMAIL PROTECTED]("IVJ "
M-$1!!\+:`AH.TY4)."[EMAIL PROTECTED]"!G:[UK3WXH4;A2M<=C-6K=<VK7O?*U[[Z]:^ 
*#:[EMAIL PROTECTED]"$ ``.P``
`
end

begin 666 in_america_pf_2.gif
M1TE&.#EAR `?`.8``*"@H,G)R3\_/[^_O^5_?W]_?T]/3]D_/_*_O](?'Q\?
M'^_O[U]?7_'Q\=_?W_SO[\\/#_G?WR\O+_7/SUQ<7&]O;^R?GP\/#W=W=ZVM
MK<_/S]4O+^F/CX^/CY*2DMQ/3Y^?GT%!0=;6UM]?7TY.3KN[N^)O;Z^OKP``
M`.3DY.^OKX6%A2PL+.1W=]U75\/#PXN+BYN;FR @()F9F5=75TQ,3&%A82DI
M*<+"[EMAIL PROTECTED]:&AN>&AC<W-] 2$JBHJ-8S,]$7
M%]I'1VAH:.VDI'1T=.5]?6EI:<P``/___P``````````````````````````
M````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
M````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
M`````````````````````````````````````````````````"'Y! ``````
M+ ````#([EMAIL PROTECTED]"@X2%AH>(B8J+C(V.CX\1'PD^(Q [EMAIL PROTECTED]"0B0GI^@
MH:*CI*6)! =.$4T0$:JIIK&RL[2UI1RI$R8;&P].)K;!PL/$C@@?B1:Y! \0
M'P\CQ=+3U+0;"8FX3KK;"1NPU>'BXXJK31:(!-@(&X(3&\CD\O/BEDWMAJ@'
M10<'P-O_Z D<&"P!AR9-5 B*P &!JT(3$$C$5,AA1(H.,SUT(K$3H0GH"(HD
M9P&"IB;Q3H(3]("5B4VL#FPX9^_#!@@J8&Y I^X`JB8<!HU8.;*HM /(6C;9
MF*")1T$6FOPCX%20B4Z;!"6 X(0JIIL;1Q!8B/"IT;/!6BIT<J!)-$%M_U<V
MC4?55R9?J 01X$K52=2U"T-:^( 2K6%;5!%":-K$;K^J'./J;:Q5;[L'\+HV
M8<L5$2>J&TT!H, $@)/1I4\'<[EMAIL PROTECTED],FKT,P$1& !!/8MYF4(%3[]NO;NV'W
MQKU:N&T/[EMAIL PROTECTED];H!!]:#<&43<SG":M&D`U%/ =I)A!7<*)) [EMAIL PROTECTED]"A(P((0 
5M
MF- $%J?V@@XB;()-,ZI>[EMAIL PROTECTED]@7\HPB7V;\4"0''.P38@:\UMMYURSPFRG2 ,
M.BBA<*8Y2$$#%#KA`6T5`E!"<[EMAIL PROTECTED]((``E.K+#="MXE5R$C*C1!T60F
M[>?$" DILQ\L?56FF0H0M.+79HLA,D("_01IE_]HUE67VH%,>%""@A#:1EUN
MN]'60&]7`O=:<E:^5H('&0X880,DK/:<;U2B=AT3&6 `6PHK9$!=A(P<4-\@
M2J'#U2H)<,(6CYOQ>2,V[*72%V$S"M+)4E U,9: :JJ&78$-D":ABPTRD0)W
M`*2 )[EMAIL PROTECTED]&HA3PXXI<#7NIAF@:20$%S>"IRT*2$-'5 2Y/!TL]D
M=AW#5J$FG%.7?PDL>4Q>@]PCRX&"#)AI`U F1R68;"8'(H0O"I<@[EMAIL PROTECTED]"J
MO2$WW)>$/"@=G*I=.Z (7S)!XI8OGH)>`B,\-($Z"[EMAIL PROTECTED] !P#L$,1._
M!T! [EMAIL PROTECTED]('_"GH28,%>+K3G$0)-!7C8R)]PH ("'##CCL8(M/!!
[EMAIL PROTECTED]@[EMAIL PROTECTED],[EMAIL PROTECTED]@(Y,S!$BB'Q$%#O)+LM#P./"TU
MU!)TX$0'%PQ0@ $2&- #"@: K8 ``CC!@ (**(%VU$XHL, [EMAIL PROTECTED]"2)"#
M! LXT+4&!A2@@ 8.""[EMAIL PROTECTED]( !4R?NR DH@& V"!4([EMAIL PROTECTED]@`,1#V 
M`0,(4, [EMAIL PROTECTED]@0 %7"U"[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL 
PROTECTED],.1)VZ$Q>4_;GBB)!I+VNWI<!<
ME-JJ>IMK9+XJFZ>\SX8:=8,<+X*UWRXR`-8:I.ZX$QH(8+@&%SC @" #C'W"
M_^UF,W"!( I$KK43`AC 0 $QE$W([ 4(\#[;N!="0;LN>[EMAIL PROTECTED];2&(E1/V)[EMAIL 
PROTECTED]
M(*<[EMAIL PROTECTED]( 0RAUJ,.,$`-* `!H `<4Z '/L,H `)L&[EMAIL PROTECTED]@`Z'# .0$X
M;G;C8]\"!)"U[F4/<;-CP (DD+7\&2(#MW+-\5)P(#,!`$ZFP>&(&,2@'?(.
M.0P4A&PH\"[EMAIL PROTECTED],<WS;(`!EF4 #9&T0%LA:^KAV.?0IX`=G$* $,9&T!
MG [EMAIL PROTECTED]@<!)``9GQ)L-"^$:!++K-+M9%0!$$$!S.0&!!OQC`C.UJ0+QCXCY
M>@3;`$>(J.%O%*\31"0/,<DYFDM%3+SC[]1U'0`T`/^3GRH>B4YC&N<MCQ!+
MI%>N1%))2[I2$0/H&@-,5P$8D.T$)S! !2J@@5P*X >'JZ+C+L `]]' A"=@
MHP'Z1CJ].<%]GI,!V0R 1F9JH&ND>V7B*O<[EMAIL PROTECTED]:].0`BN,T)0%A 
MZA;[EMAIL PROTECTED] 0YRW;"K$4MGH'#W #>";D.O$V;B8.;`*HI`:V-DX,=B-P@
M9C>(=SH!!>U3P#X/%[G!83">[#O;VP['N=JU$J C`\$"WN=-=\XN<!K0P SD
MIP%U9A-\\L/H/*]V`A%V[Z'RQ)H[R]8!D;X/I%+K&P-B0%$;"*X"-0BFY0S0
K`;R130-:5 `N&T=!))BO`"P7J-H,.8>"[EMAIL PROTECTED]@$T&0/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
`
end

begin 666 t.gif
M1TE&.#EA'0`A`+,``/_____O[_?>WN^]O=:$A+U"0K4A(:T`````````````
M`````````````````````"'Y! $`````+ `````=`"$`0 1T,(Q)J[T6Z,U!
M.6 ($EUI>J)(GBR:CBW[O<[EMAIL PROTECTED]'\VK&.+P4,;H:J%F['%&F6S68O5S2Z
M?E8A-<M!AJI&+XRK$=>4T>@S+05 [EMAIL PROTECTED]"[EMAIL PROTECTED]&#9G]]6&171(6&
3286!B(R+6X]^C9!DCI64)A$`.P``
`
end