Yes We Can(ada)!

January 31, 2016 1:19 PM

If you're tired of the status quo, there is a third path forwards — Canada for President

(via)

posted by a lungful of dragon (28 comments total)

I can see that wall from my house...
posted by HuronBob at 1:25 PM on January 31, 2016 [3 favorites]

[Inserts "It's aboot time, eh" joke.]
posted by NorthernLite at 1:35 PM on January 31, 2016

Nearly a decade of Stephen Harper is really what we need right now.

No, wait! Rob Ford! Jeez how could I forget Canada's greatest elected leader?
posted by indubitable at 1:47 PM on January 31, 2016 [5 favorites]

It's early days in the Trudeau administration, but the man is a dreamboat. I'm okay with this.
posted by SansPoint at 1:58 PM on January 31, 2016 [5 favorites]

Everybody please don't take this lightly. The most Canadian candidate currently running is Ted Cruz. How much more of that can we bear?
posted by Navelgazer at 2:01 PM on January 31, 2016 [5 favorites]

Oh, and they ran in 2012 as well.... Some candidates don't know when to give up... (I'm looking at you, too, Hillary....)
posted by HuronBob at 2:31 PM on January 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

Is Canada native born?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:35 PM on January 31, 2016 [3 favorites]

I'm tired of ugly-dumb sweaters. At least, take a stand on something important if you're going to wear one.
posted by philip-random at 2:37 PM on January 31, 2016

As a Canadian, I find these things somewhat tedious. The US is pretty much the easiest target ever, and mocking their social problems is really just a way for us to avoid thinking too much about OUR social problems, which are abundant.

So, yeah, yeah, America is the socio-political equivalent of a tire-fire, and it's good for some cheap laughs and web traffic, but this is really just a rehashing of stereotypes so tired they might as well be put to bed forever.

The key jokes in this video, as I can see, are as follows:

"WTF, Trump?" - Fair enough.
"American politicians are ignoring climate change!" - So are ours, mostly. The Libs are still trying to get pipelines built.
"America is soooo racisit!" - So are we. We really are. It's rather a problem.
"Neener-neener, we have health care!" - This doesn't really feel like "punching up" to me. Plus, so do they (sort-of), and a major Dem candidate is running on bringing in single-payer.

Aaaanyway, maybe I'm just cranky and should lighten up, but this kinda stuff doesn't really gravy my poutine. It just re-enforces our insufferable Canadian smugness, and serves to sweep our own dirt under the rug.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 2:46 PM on January 31, 2016 [40 favorites]

I dunno, I think it'd be great if we could get some adults to run things here for a bit.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 2:49 PM on January 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

I promise to be a benevolent despot for my day of running America, for what it's worth.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 2:57 PM on January 31, 2016 [5 favorites]

I ranted about everything wrong about this on Facebook when it circulated there, but luckily I don't have to repeat the effort because Vice already captured my feelings in a better-written manner.

So, just... ugh, fellow Canadians, just stop please.
posted by Kurichina at 3:55 PM on January 31, 2016 [7 favorites]

Oh how soon Canadians have forgotten/blocked out the fact that we voted in Stephen Harper and his band of neoliberal goons for three consecutive elections...the final one a majority government, no less.

And although most of this video was just the usual "aren't we better than Americans, health care, gun control, Trump is so weird ha ha," I really cringed hard when the whole "Americans are racist, not like us!" part came up. We are PLENTY racist.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 5:38 PM on January 31, 2016 [5 favorites]

>I dunno, I think it'd be great if we could get some adults to run things here for a bit.<

Or even just some really nice people...
posted by twidget at 6:11 PM on January 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

Well, nobody for president is not offering a better selection.
posted by clavdivs at 7:20 PM on January 31, 2016

We laugh now. A decade from now, in the Year of the iPhone 12*, it won't be nearly as funny.

*With the shatterproof screen and guaranteed 3-day battery life, the former of which features was especially handy when cramming for spherical trig exams during morning drills, Hal had found.
posted by officer_fred at 7:38 PM on January 31, 2016 [2 favorites]

I feel like we used to be a much more modest country. Americans could rib us about being too polite, and we could smile sheepishly and feel quietly flattered. Now, in comparison, we can't shut the fuck up about how great a country Canada is, and we typically gloss over some pretty huge internal problems in the process.

I blame that Molson "I am Canadian" commercial from 2000.
posted by good in a vacuum at 8:13 PM on January 31, 2016 [4 favorites]

I sort of mildly smiled at this in an eye-rolling sort of way, until he got to the bit about the race problem, at which point, I head-desked.

I mean, it's been what, 7 months since the Truth and Reconciliation report came out with a giant list of things we had to do to start healing the rift with First Nations. Has the Toronto Police Service actually stopped carding yet? As a nation, we're definitely all super-okay with Niqabs in citizenship ceremonies, right?

I'm as smug about single payer healthcare as anyone else in Canada, but lets not pretend we're without problems up here, shall we?
posted by jacquilynne at 9:06 PM on January 31, 2016 [6 favorites]

I for one welcome our new ugly-dumb-sweater-clad Molson-drinking poutine-eating overlords.
posted by XMLicious at 4:16 AM on February 1, 2016

Metafilter: just re-enforces our insufferable Canadian smugness.
posted by bitslayer at 6:12 AM on February 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yes We Can(ada)!

I will admit that I occasionally ask biscotti whether she is a Canadian or a Can'tadian.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:03 AM on February 1, 2016

You know that moment when you cringe because someone is making a fool of themselves, and you really really wish they'd stop?

Yeah, that.
posted by squeak at 7:47 AM on February 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

It's like Rob Ford never existed!
posted by srboisvert at 8:02 AM on February 1, 2016

Thanks and all, Canada, but you won't be needed in Obama's third term.
posted by flabdablet at 9:53 AM on February 1, 2016

MetaFilter: doesn't really gravy my poutine.

I'm sorry
posted by cooker girl at 9:53 AM on February 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

If nominated, we will not accept. If elected, we will not serve.

Canada: We've Got our Own Shit to Deal With, Including Insufferable Smugness
posted by nubs at 12:46 PM on February 1, 2016

Say whay you will about Stephen Harper, if he had views about the agricultural value of the Great Pyramid he kept them to himself.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 2:40 PM on February 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

In all seriousness though, Trump is not gonna be good for any of us...
posted by Ashwagandha at 5:05 PM on February 1, 2016