Well, you'd have to spend part of your growing-up years in Canada, and part of them in the USA...as I did...and then you would know why right away, Peg. It's basically a difference in philosophical perspective, and that is reflected on many levels, from the government right on down to the playground. Those differences are becoming more blurred, however, as the US-dominated media and entertainment systems remake Canada slowly, bit by bit, into their own image. To put it simply, taking the law into your own hands is an idea that fits far more comfortably into the American mindset than into the Canadian one.

This no doubt stems partly from the fact that America was founded upon a revolutionary war against the centralized power structure of the day (the British crown), while Canada achieved her independence from the crown through a gradual and peaceful transition. Out of those very different events grew the fundamentally different characters of these two nations.

For those who would suggest that the Queen is our monarch, and that therefore we aren't independent...you would be very wrong in that assumption. The British monarchy has the same position in Canada as Thanksgiving or Hallowe'en...it's simply an old tradition which many people are still comfortable with (and others not), but which exercises no political control over the country whatsoever.

The Queen is kind of like your great grandmother from overseas...she's an elderly relative, and you can expect to send her a card now and then on important occasions or maybe have her visit once in a long while for tea and cookies, as she has been doing for the last few days, in fact. :-)

- LH