Posted by John Lambert on March 02, 2008 at 07:50:36 from 64.59.144.85 user Benedict.
In Reply to: Re: Victoria vs Victoria posted by Kathy_S on March 02, 2008 at 05:01:59:
I'm afraid on this side of the 49th parallel, citizens of the United States are thought of as knowing almost nothing about Canada. An interviewer from a comedy show on the CBC asked Al Gore (when it looked as though he might win the elction) if he intended to visit Toronto, the capital of Canada, if he won the presidency. In all seriousness, Gore told the reporter he was going to concentrate on winning the election and not visit Toronto, the capital of Canada. Ottawa is the capital, of course. This is on the same level as somenone running for high office thinking Guadalajara is the capital of Mexico, or New York is the capital of the United States. A few months ago I was driving through Oregon and was stopped by a road construction gang. I started chatting with the flag girl and after some time, she read the licence plate on my van, "British Columbia. Where's that at?" she asked. B.C. is roughly 400 miles north of where we were talking, and is twice the size of California.
You may not like it, but far too many Americans know almost nothing about their closest neighbour (and biggest trading partner.) Maybe you can excuse the flag girl, but the man who might have become the president of the United States. Come on now!