"the first thing a visitor is struck by the province is the attachment to the Mother Country. Names like Windsor, London, Kingston, Peterborough, Essex, Woodbridge and Cornwall all testify to the breadth and extent of Loyalist influence upon English Canada. Ontario is one of two provinces that has retained the old Canadian Red Ensign Flag with the provincial coat of arms in the fly along with the Union Jack in the upper left quadrant. Canada may not be a part of the British Empire any more and it may have repatriated the Constitution but it still refuses to form a positive national identity. The failure to do so leaves anti-Americanism as the only "authentic" means of expressing a Canadian sense of self."
I think along a similar line, but I see the attachment of English Canada (read: Ontario) to the Mother Country as a jest against the United States. Back in the days when the sun never set on the British Empire, English Canada supported the Empire due to pride of the Empire's accomplishments and that "We are not like the savage Americans".
When the British Empire was being dismantled in the 1950s/60s this sent a shock wave to English Canada. On one hand, they become resentful to the US's eclipse of Britain's power and making the Empire no more, and on the other hand they realize they can't rely on following Britain to achieve anti-American stance anymore in the age of "special relationships". If you follow Britain it now means you must support Uncle Sam, that breakaway colony! How terrible! At this point, socialism and trans-national pacifism started to acquire anti-American tones. So voila, English Canada now make alliegance to the United Nations and intellectual leftism to fill in the vacuums of British Empire.
And on domestic policy it is even easier. When you have inherited a High Tory belief of paternalism (High Toryism is particular influencial in English Canada, mroe so than Australia and even NZ), adopting socialism is not that hard.
Thirty percent of Australians have Irish in their ancestry. Irreverence towards authority is very much part of the Australian tradition. They are far removed from the High Tory tradition.