Looking Ahead: Comparing Canada and the United States and Canadian American-Relations

• Pages: 295-306

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Looking Ahead: Comparing Canada

and the United States and Canadian-

American Relations

ere is no relationship in the world between two countries quite

like that between Canada and the United States. As two historians

put it:

e Canadian-American relationship is a complex patchwork of

inevitable conf‌lict mixed with cooperation that is every bit as

inevitable. e links between the two countries (and between the

provinces and the United States) span every area of modern life

and move across a vast array of government departments, agencies,

boards, commissions, treaties, agreements, corporate and union

links, and personal, professional and familial ties.

e extent of the similarities in the cultures of the two countries

is striking. American retail outlets like Walmart and fast food res-

taurants like McDonald’s are ubiquitous in both countries. e

term “Can-Am,” short form for Canadian-American, can refer to

anything from highways to sports teams to record labels to o-

road vehicles to academic studies, and so on. e Royal Canadian

Mounted Police once contracted with Disney Corporation to license

its name and image — a name and image once thought to be one

of the most distinctly unique of Canadian symbols. Culture in the

form of books, magazines, newspapers, internet sites, movies, music,