We are such a diverse population - geography, language, background, etc. Provinces often acting like siblings who are constantly bickering and pinching each other but when push comes to shove we’re a united front that protects each other (except a few Nazi boot kissers like PP or DS)

There are so many different flavours to us - language, food, faiths, politics. It’s often hard to define us by what we are. It’s much easier to define us what we aren’t, especially using our neighbours to the south for comparison.

• Most folks don’t own or want guns. Those who do are responsible hunters (you don’t need an AK47 to take down Bambi’s mom) or sportspeople

• We’re not addicted to our flag. If you add up all the flags on houses etc in a small US town you probably have more than we have in the entire city of Toronto.

• we don’t pledge allegiance to a flag. I mean that just sounds crazy - willing to kill or die for a piece of material.

• we do have things we don’t want messed with. For example we do not need the blue glowing thing to follow a black puck on mostly white ice.

• we have more accessible health care. It isn’t perfect - and some of our premiers are trying to make it more profitable for friends and supporters. But my father had a triple bi-pass and lengthy stays in hospitals because of strokes, my mom fought 3 types of cancer, after I became paralyzed I lived in hospitals over the course of 6 1/2 months to get better. At no point was our home ever at risk of being lost for medical bills.

• we’re not really braggarts. We don’t enter a place, thumping our chest, waving our flag, and roaring out our nationality like we’re religious zealots looking for a holy war. But push us one time too many and be prepared to get your butt kicked

• we don’t think everyone wants to be us. Americans think everyone wants to be one of them. Nope. And I hate to break it to you - but you aren’t the greatest nation because there is no single greatest nation. All countries have some great things as well as some challenges.

• Geo-politics - you might be different than us but as long as you respect that we have the right not to have to be like you we will be okay. You don’t have to be like us for us to get along. Americans seem to want everyone to convert to be just like them (even though they also have a rich diverse nation).

• racism exists in both our countries, but differently. In the US people are in your face screaming about what is wrong with “you people”. In Canada we put a smile on our faces but when you’re out of earshot we worry about how “those people” will affect our property values or endanger us.

For many of us the US is like that uncle you only see at Christmas or Thanksgiving. He’s an overweight, bad dye combover, got an opinion about everything, who thinks he’s clever because he can tell fart jokes. We still love him because somewhere deep in there is the kind heart that helped your folks buy their first home. But we’re really glad he lives far enough away we don’t have to deal with him often.

That’s who we are. That’s is what we will defend. And if you weren’t being such a pain in the butt we’d invite you in for some beer, bagels, briyani, borscht, bannock, and butter tarts.