Saturday, September 10, 2005
I'm in transit back from Canada to Gatwick, with two hours to kill at Newark Terminal C. The fortnight away has been an education. I never quite got a handle on what it is to be "Canadian" though. Francophone Canada is quite suprisingly French. The average Quebecer doesn't speak better English than the average Parisian, and they have a similar surly attitude to match. However Anglophone Canada (by which I mean Ontario, because I never got further than Niagara), is not dissimiliar to the vast swathes of the Midwest. Every service professional sports a US-grade professional smile, and every little town is dominated by it's own McDonalds (though the Canadian M logo has a small attached maple leaf).
In comparison with their big neighbour, Canadians do seem to be justly proud of their relaxed multiculturalism, healthy democracy, and generous health and social services provision. The Montreal weekend press is full of 9/11 4th anniversary pieces, hastily bastardized to include global warming/Katrina gloating. As I came back through Montreal Dorval airport I did get a little taste of US imperialism and arrogance. At Dorval there's a separate passport check area for US-bound flights. It's manned by US immigration officials trained to record biometric data. There are also very prominent signs profferring a hearty "Welcome to the United States of America". If there were similar signs at Waterloo eagerly declaring "Bienvenue a France", they could only be read as ironic. Evidently this is not so at Dorval. I was tempted to protest, but there was an ominous "Reconciliation Room", that threatened only rapprochement with a probing latex gloved hand.
I'm going to do my bit for global reconciliation now by drinking a green tea frappucino, that I notice has made its way here from Tokyo *$s (Starbucks, stoopid).
In comparison with their big neighbour, Canadians do seem to be justly proud of their relaxed multiculturalism, healthy democracy, and generous health and social services provision. The Montreal weekend press is full of 9/11 4th anniversary pieces, hastily bastardized to include global warming/Katrina gloating. As I came back through Montreal Dorval airport I did get a little taste of US imperialism and arrogance. At Dorval there's a separate passport check area for US-bound flights. It's manned by US immigration officials trained to record biometric data. There are also very prominent signs profferring a hearty "Welcome to the United States of America". If there were similar signs at Waterloo eagerly declaring "Bienvenue a France", they could only be read as ironic. Evidently this is not so at Dorval. I was tempted to protest, but there was an ominous "Reconciliation Room", that threatened only rapprochement with a probing latex gloved hand.
I'm going to do my bit for global reconciliation now by drinking a green tea frappucino, that I notice has made its way here from Tokyo *$s (Starbucks, stoopid).
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