Was it better that our ancestors chose to migrate to Canada, or should they have gone to the U.S.? Snow and ice and high taxes? Or unaffordable health care, guns in kindergarten, and great weather? And didn’t they have to film the hit movie Chicago in Canada because we had the studios, the gaffers, and the 65 cent dollar? Gould takes a hard look at our measurement systems: how Canadians have welcomed the metric system (except for weights and distances) while the Americans — along with only Burma and Liberia — have clung to pounds and miles. What about our national dreams? Gould defines the American Dream as the obligation for every American to achieve fame, fortune, and a trophy wife up to one-half the age of the first one, but only after he accomplishes the first two. The Canadian Dream is to pay a serviceman in cash to avoid the GST, to go to Hawaii (if you live in B.C.), and to be able to move to the U.S. to make real dollars. And what about our different political systems? In the U.S. there is serious debate about campaign finance reform; in Canada, we turn to Hansard to follow a similar discussion: "Oh shut up." "YOU shut up." "Up yours!" "Oh yeah? You’d probably enjoy that, Svend." G.I. Joe or Anne of Green Gables could be just about the funniest book you’ll read this fall.

Alan Gould holds a Doctorate in Philosophy from York University He has written over 700 newspaper and magazine articles, and has published more than two-dozen books, including: Fodor's: Toronto and The Toronto Book He lives in Toronto

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