Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Canadian consulate adventure

I should preface this post with the fact that I am a big fan of Canada. I can't exactly pinpoint the origin of my warm feelings for the Great White North... maybe it has something to do with my love of hockey, or fondness for ice wine.

Anyway, I got invited to an election night party at the Canadian Consulate in Boston by a friend who hails from British Columbia. We passed time waiting for the polls (at least those in eastern Canada) to close by enjoying some fine Canadian wine (no ice wine, sadly) and of course, beer (Molson is actually popular with Canadians). Then, like good citizens of any first world country, we gathered around a big screen TV to watch the election results come in.

It was interesting to have a sort of insider's p.o.v. as to how another county's government is formed. I also learned that I can pass for a Canadian. (As long as I stayed sort of quiet and pretended to get jokes about Corner Gas, The Friendly Giant, and the NDP.) It felt kind of odd having to repeat "I'm from the U.S. and I'm a tad confused by your minority parliamentary government. Can you please explain again how your electoral system differs from mine?" But everyone was very polite about my lack of understanding. After all, they're Canadian.


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