you can absolutely be Canadian, I think (hey, JJ has only been here from Scotland for 15 years and he's managed... although he does still talk a bit funny, he does manage to say "truck" rather than "lorry" and "elevator" rather than "lift". It was so funny when we went to London in December when he slipped back into the Britisher stuff, thoguh...)
You're definetely along the right track, as I see it.
(a) you have ties close to the border.
(b) you love Timmy's
(c) you love Fluevogs (also Canajan!!)
(d) you're willing to use the "u" (and may I correct you if you write "color" on your blog instead of "colour"?
(e) you use Celsius. Good on ya!! And why haven't they switched, anyway? The medical field is obviously the smart field...
(f) if you have any gold, instead of silve, sell it here now. Apparertly it's going for $1,000/ounce. I tried to hold JJ down earlier this evening and extract his gold fillings, but there was nothing to be seen and he said they all fell out a long time ago and he doesn't know where they are (I suspect they're stashed, and will be conducting a search).
(g) re the government thing: frankly, if you can make any sense of these American primaries (I'm a fairly well educated person, but can't get any clue about how your system runs!) you can get the Canadian structure. Here's my prelimimary stab at "Canadian Government for Pigs"...or a "civics lesson" as you call it in the US.. but warning, there is probably a better summary here:
- in Canada, we have a Queen.
- However, the Queen does not live here. She is represented by someone called the Governor General.
- In each province (which is like a state - there are ten provinces in Canada, and also three "territories", but that is a subject for the next lesson...) she is also represented by other people called "Lieutenant Governors" (and in Canada, like in Britain, you pronounce this as "Leftenant".
- because we have a Queen, we do not have a President. Instead, the leader of the country is actually only the top person of the political party that is currently in power - called the "Prime Minister". The current Prime Minister is called Stephen
(Mr. Harper is the guy on the right, in case you were wondering.).
- We have four major political parties in Canada - the Conservatives (who are in power right now for the whole country), the Liberals (who are in power right now in Ontario, the province where I live), the New Democratic Party (who were pinko commies until quite recently) and the Bloc Quebecois (a separatist French-Canadian party). In any given election, there are also other parties who show up, such as the Rhinos...
... and the Natural Law Party, also known as the Transcendental Meditation Party...
... but they don't really get too far, sadly enough.
- We do not have federal elections every 4 years. Our system is a bit different in that the federal government can actually sit for five years... unless another party forces an election more quickly because of a problem in government - if there is what is called a "vote of non-confidence" with regard to a specific policy, then we have to have an election
This means that we have more elections than you have in the US, probably. It doesn't mean necessarily that they are effective. The province I live in recently changed this system so now there are standard elections every four years - unless there is a huge problem, in which case an election can be called earlier. No one has yet figured out the rules for this, though.
- When we have elections, we do not vote for a party, but for the person representing the party. However, they do not put on the ballots which party is represented by which person - they just put down the names of the people who are running. The voter is expected to know this information when they come to vote. I'm not sure how well this works, actually.
- In Canada, like in the US, we have three levels of government: federal, provincial (state) and municipal (city). The relationship between the three is governed by the British North America Act of 1867. This Act created a division of responsibility between the federal goverments and the provincial governments (and by the way, at the time there were only four provinces!!) and then put the provincial governments in charge of municipal issues. The Act is a bit outdated, and this can cause some fights and problems.
So, Holly - is this enough info to pass the citizenship requirements? (JJ managed to pass without studying! But then he is also a British subject, which makes life a bit easier when you're in Canada, sadly enough). It's harder and harder to get into Canada these days, mind you, so act promptly. :-) I would sponsor you, but we'd have to be related or married... a problem since you're married to the Ogre. Plus I'd have to guarantee you $100/month, which would cut into my yarn spending... but if you work out the other wrinkles, I'd consider that!
Cheers,
Kristina
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