Actually, there once was a traditional Canadian culture. I remember it very well from the early days of my childhood. It was divided, however, into 2 very separate parts. There was the French part in Quebec and various other regions where there are large number of French speakers....I wasn't familiar with that part at all, because I didn't belong to it. Then there was the English/Scottish/Irish part which took up most of the rest of the country, and that part I was familiar with, because I did belong to it. Both parts had a distinctly Canadian feel that could not be mistaken for anything else. One was "Canadian", the other was "Canadien". These two aspects of the traditional Canadian culture were ably represented in sport by the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens, the eternal rivals. You had to love either one or the other.

Well, there ain't much left of that culture now. It has been watered down, fragmented, and overwhelmed by a flood of American media and American money and "multiculturalism" and "free trade".

The Canada of today is a pale remnant of the very strong Canadian identity of my childhood, and it barely knows what it is anymore at all...except for the French part. They have been protected by virtue of not speaking the same language as Americans, thus have maintained their cultural identity quite well. This gives them a certain strength which is quite evident in how effectively they play the political game in Canada.

And there you have it. "So, take off, eh!"