Generalizations are never 100% true, but I think the person hit the spot many times.
It depends hugely on where you're from and where you've lived before.
I've been living in Canada for 4 years as an outside (extreme) observant, and I have to agree with many of those negative points, regardless of how inaccurately they were phrased.
DISCLAIMER: DON'T READ THE FOLLOWING POINTS IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR ROMANTIC THOUGHTS ABOUT CANADA.
- Many, if not most, Canadians think nothing of not replying to your emails, phone calls, or not following through with their word. Or saying "we should meet up sometime" and either not meaning, or meaning but no intentions of keeping it. From my perspective, Canadians are very flakey to say the least. Of course, not everyone, but proportionally way more than people in other countries. Another perspective on it would be to say that Canadians are non-confrontational and they WILL tell you things they don't mean. They are often not honest with you. Perhaps because of my next point:
- Canadians don't seem to know how to disagree and not take it personally. Or simply don't know how to NOT take most things personally. They seem to get way too easily offended.
- I've met many VERY nice Canadians, made quite a few lifelong friends, but it's taken 4 years to make as many friends as I made in about 1 month in London, UK. No exaggeration here! I'm talking mostly about quality here, not sheer quantity.
- I've been to dozens of countries but never to one with nearly as many drug addicts and "bums" and people on benefits as in Canada (I speak for B.C.)
- Also never been to a country including poor 3rd countries with as many uneducated people as in Canada, perhaps blame that on the good economy.. By that I mean, people that didn't go to college. In the area I live in B.C. I'd guess at least 80% of the people I know do not have a degree.
I'm originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, where at least 90% of the people I know DO have a degree. And with a degree comes a whole mentality / way of thinking, analyzing / processing information, etc.
- Canadians in general are focused on the activity / task and compared to other cultures, they socialize very little (little need for socializing), and it's almsot always based on the task or activity and not on personal connection. You will catch yourself asking others "How are you?" and all you hear back is "good" as opposed to "good thanks and you?". A lot people treat sales / store clerks like robots, you will be amazed at how many people don't use the words "please" and "thanks" or even aknowledge the presence of another human being.
- You will find that Canadians in general are very compartmentalized in their thinking and have lots of "shoulds" of society and seem to have a very uneventful, unadventurous, unflamboyant, unexciting, predictable life. If I had to use a colour to describe this, that would be some shade of beige. In fact, funnily enough, most houses here are some sort of neutral colour such as beige. I really don't mean to offend anyone.
If you're married with children, pretty much only other people that are married with children will have an interest in you. If you, like us, are married with no children, then you're screwed, because Canadians automatically have kids when they get married
) And people from other "groups" probably won't really accept you.
- I've never been to a country with as many uncultured, rude people with no manners, no holding doors for others, no consideration for others (parking int he middle of the street, not making room for others, walking in the middle of parking lots, not respecting public property, strata property. Or how about this one - never before I had seen so many neighbourhood conflicts, spiteful and childish behaviour, ROAD RAGE!!! The list goes on... if you don't agree, you have probably never lived in a more civilized country.
- Canadian men don't need to make an effort to be attractive, in order to be attractive. I'm a man, but I feel sorry for the women. Most guys don't make an effort, but girls don't seem to mind. By that I don't only mean outward appearance, but a whole romanticism thing.
- If you're coming to Canada, and you're a guy, be prepared to get into camping / fishing / hiking / like trucks, engines, tools, etc otherwise you may not have much to talk about! ;D
The funniest thing is the outer appearance sort of hides a lot of the above mentioned. There's huge emphasis on looks in everything here including people (compared to other countries..) it took us about 6 months in Canada to start seeing this stuff, until then, everything seemed amazing, and consistently seems amazing to friends / family who visit Canada.
Please note I'm NOT bitter, I love many things about Canada. I absolutely LOVE my Canadian family as my own, but I suppose they are an exception like many others in this huge country. The natural beauty in B.C. can not be matched. The economy is great, The government policies are mostly better than other countries I can think of.
Note 2 - My Canadian wife would agree with everything I wrote here. Mind you she has lots of international experience. I suppose for people who don't, Canada could be a perfect country.
We're settling in Canada, but we accept the negatives, they can't be ignored. We just choose to focus on the positive!
