Are there any overt differences in the dating customs of Canada versus the US?

Answer 1

I think in some cases that the U.S. is a little more laid-back about a lot of things (especially the young people) but sex is sex and there really isn't any difference regarding meeting someone, dating, etc. Teens are teens and more and more the American influence is hitting Canada.

Answer 2

How is Canada different..let me tell youHaving lived in the U.S. for a few years back in college days and in Canada the rest of my life, I can offer up these differences:

- There is of course the whole bilingual nature of things, English-French, from our roots as a nation, unique to us. There was even a greater cultural gulf between the "two solitudes", as one writer described it many years ago than today. At one time, French-Canadian implied a Catholic, large family, less materialist society. Not so today. Most of the cultural differences between English and French have diminished, and the lifestyles are pretty similar, just speaking different tongues. The suburbs of Montreal don't look much different than the 'burbs of Toronto (or Cleveland, for that matter). At one time, there was much distinctions in dress, architecture, etc.

- Our Country Music tends to come from the east coast, not the west. Canadian folkloric music is either early French, or Scots-Irish style.

- We tend to support a cultural "mosaic", in which public money is used to promote immigrant groups cultural societies, to carry on their folklore, as opposed to them being expected to blend in to the country. (I think this was a politically motivated gimmick by a previous government to scoop up the large swing vote of the New Canadians after WWII.)

-Canadians tend to be more socialist in their leanings. A lot of this has been traced to the harsher climate, and the low density population of the country, in which normal market forces did not braing about the same advances seen earlier south of the border.

For instance in the prairie provinces, electricity and telephones only spread to the countryside after their governments set up "crown corporations" with this mission, after World War II. The transcontinental railway only came about wiht government subsidies. The second transcontinental railway only came about as the federal government bailed out private railways during World War I which had failed, and assembled it into Canadian National Rail. The first national airline and the first trancontintntal radio and TV networks came about under federal government ownership too.

- The early days, rural nature of Canada I think also led to a larger sense of people having to take care of each other, and its no coincidence that socialized health care came about first in Saskatchewan, a predominanatly farming province. Similar government interventions came in the hard times of the Depresson, leading to Unemployment Insurance and Old Age Security Income plans. Additionally, a Canadian first was "Equalization Payments" from richer to poorer provinces to provide a basic level of social services across the country.

- Another difference seems to be lesser religious involvement in politics. Even though the Canadian Constitution states we are are a country "under God", it has become politically incorrect to use relgious arguments as a political means to an end. Perhaps this came about as in our early times, so much of the public sphere religious struggles between Protestant and Catholic led to the smart politicians distancing themselves from any public expression of faith. It seems in the U.S. today, there is the whole spectre of the "religious right", and this does not seem present in Canada. Maybe it should be.

- Canadians tend to be more conservative in their spending and savings habits. Less of us direct invest in stocks for instance. More of us save a larger shre of income than Americans, for some reason. Richer Canaidans have tended to go for the sure thing of interest income over the unsure but possibly higher returns of equities. Our companies too, tend to be cautious in investing deciosns and too often they start up a good thing only to be taken over.

- Home ownerhip is prized just as much in Canada as the U.S., but not as many Canadians own their homes, or they tend to own more modest homes. We do not have the range of tax advantages in home ownership as Americans. In fact, our only tax advantage over renting is that a principal home sale faces no capital gains tax. But, as for mortage interest and property taxes, no income tax deductions.

- There is a real love in Canada for the bush country - lakes, fishing and hunting. Maybe the canoe should be our national symbol.

- Hockey. Don't need to elaborate.

- Still talking about sports, most sports that are popular in the US seems to be popular in Canada as well, we have our own variation of football that have some small different rules. However sports that most americans don't care about, or it isn't as popular in the US like soccer, curling or Rugby, have a pretty big following in Canada, probably bigger than in the US.