[Irene Adler]

If you don't mind my asking, what are a few of your major impressions of the differences between life in Canada and life in the U.S.? Is the "general feel" of things similar to the U.S. or quite different?

[ConservativeStLouisGuy]

"Major impressions"? Hmmmm....in the 2+ months I've been here I've noticed a few things:

1) The people in Toronto are TERRIBLE drivers.
2) The mass transit people are MAJOR overpaid (although I must admit the buses/subways/trolleys do move people [LOT OF THEM] very efficiently.)
3) Being a Catholic, there are lots of churches closeby.
4) Most shopping centers are within walking distance.
5) Everyone says "out" kinda "about" funny.
6) Milk is in plastic bags - not plastic gallons.
7) LOTS of Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Italian, Jamaican, etc ("foreign") people -- so much so that I feel in the "minority" up here. In the States that wasn't the case.
8) Most of the Canadian papers/intelligencia have a visceral dislike of anything American.
9) The politicians are all Liberal (and therefore corrupt).
10) Some fries served with vinegar (YUK!!!!!!!!).
11) NO Baby Ruth bars up here.
12) LONG lines in the doctor's offices (lots of beaucratic tape too).

Those are some of the things....incidentally, I left my "Bush/Cheney", "Peace Through Strength" and "Vote NO On Taxes: Vote Republican" on my car when I moved here from Missouri. I now have the same bumper stickers on my car -- except now with Ontario license plates....feels GOOOOOOD!!!.

Overall, the general feel is the same: same sort of stoplights, etc except everything is in metric. As a result, I am having ONE DIFFICULT TIME figuring out the REAL cost of food items.....