Watching "Canada's Worst Handyman" and uh, is Nova Scotia the Texas of Canada?
I also actually learned things about home improvement, so it's not the worst show.
Sanguinary Novel?, March 16, 2018, 05:56:10 pm
Alberta is the Texas of Canada in that they have oil, cowboy hats, and guns. Nova Scotia is not the Texas of Canada and in fact short of Alberta and BC (our Cali) our provinces and territories don't really map onto your states.
Canada's provinces break down into a couple simple groups. The West (BC) also includes The Prairies (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) even though culturally BC is kind of sui generis and the prairies are where hardworking honest folk mine uranium and grow wheat and rapeseed. Then there's Out East, which is Ontario (somehow the province 'where everything happens' is also the most boring) and Quebec (they're french, love unions, and hate Islam). The Maritimes is all the formerly thriving small communities where now everyone's on employment insurance because the jobs done moved away, eh? used to be you could 'walk across to europe on a road of Atlantic cod' but overfishing and fish stock depletion means there isn't very much cod anymore, and there isn't very much anything else either.
The Territories are different. they're very sparsely populated, and very cold. a can of Coca Cola costs twenty five dollars, and there are no jobs. there's probably 1-3 towns per territory and everything else is just...wilderness. now you know more about canada (turtle island) too!
chai tea latte, March 16, 2018, 07:44:14 pm
I've explained Canada to Americans a lot recently, here's a more comprehensive entry:
First, most of Canada is arctic or subarctic. So, a vast majority of our population is within a day's drive of the US. The main exception to this is Alberta, where the tar sands are quite far north, so cities are pretty big up there. The territories are huge but most folks there are: indigenous, environmental scientists, folks working for government (teachers, doctors, etc.). Jobs are scarce and most food has to be flown up, so everything costs a ton.
And now, the provinces -- west to east:
BC is Canada's California, in that it has lots of people, costs a lot, and has pretty diverse wildlife. It has the rockies, some arid land, and lots of forest. Vancouver island and Victoria are excellent, but also hippie magnets. BC is where TV people, asian investors, and rich liberals live.
So, Alberta is our Texas in that it has cowboy hats, oil money, and conservatives. It's one of two conservative areas in Canada. The rest of the prairies (Saskatchewan, Manitoba) are traditionally farmland, politically neutral, and sparsely populated. To avoid Canada slang, the prairies are for hicks. (I hear Winnipeg is nice!)
Ontario is Canada's population center. Toronto is a sprawling nightmare whose suburbs continue through Hamilton. Depending on where you draw the line, Toronto is anywhere from ~3 million people to ~11 million. (Canada's total population is, last I checked, ~36m.) Toronto (and all of southern Ontario) is the other conservative area, but it's a damn populous one. This is the biggest and most important province, and the most generic. Toronto has some nice punk bands.
Quebec is the most European province, for good (low tuition, great food) and bad (most recently, islamophobia) but also the least suburban cities in Canada. Most people love Montreal, which is a great city, but I like Quebec City more (and some towns along the St. Laurent are excellent too.)
The Maritimes (New Brunswick, PEI, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland & Labrador) used to be the richest part of the country, back when sea trade with Europe, fishing, and our navy were important. They're now probably the poorest part of the country (trailer park boys and a ton of folk culture comes from the maritimes). If BC is home to hippies with money, the maritimes are home to hippies without. The Maritimes aren't like the south (that's the prairies), they're more like the Dakotas or Vermont. Newfoundland has its own culture too, but I've never been so I can't talk much about that.
Ugly Delicious: extremely good, one of the best formats i've seen in a food show. if more food tv becomes like Mind of a Chef or this, it will be a very good thing.
Ya boy doesn't have netflix, but I've convinced a friend to watch it with me. I'm pretty hype.