Canada to become 51st state in 2010, page 8

Excuse me,

Canada is ALREADY the 51st state.

I used to live in Canada and now that I've moved overseas I realise how much Canada is Americanised.

I currently live in a commonwealth nation, a real one! Not a fake on like Canada.

It's become worse over the past decades as well.... in fact:

1) In Canada, we don't use the International A4 standard paper like the rest of the world, we have to use American U.S. Letter sized paper.

2) Canadian English, which in reality is English-English, since we are a Commonwealth country; is slowly being chewed away and erased from Canada's vocabulary. Although for the time being there is still 'colour' and 'flavour', what happened to 'authorised' or 'organisation'? They have been slowly replaced by overwhelming American media and influences.

3) Exit Signs - In Canada, we have two official languages, however, when it comes to EXIT signs in buildings, why did we take the American style of signs and just use them? In Quebec, they just translated EXIT to SORTIE. Europe, Australia, and most of the world, use the International Exit sign, which is green coloured and depicts a person running out through a doorway. If you look closely, you may see some of these at your local Ikea, especially in Montreal.

4) Another fact is our electrical power. Everyone knows the advantages of using 240 volt power instead of the 120 volts we are using. There are less natural resources needed (i.e. copper wire is thinner) and appliances operate more quickly and efficiently. Yet, because of influences from the U.S., we followed and conformed to the Americans' electrical system.

5) Metric System? Well, if you think Canada has converted to the Metric system, you are incorrect. Yes, speed limits and the weather are given in metric units, but when was the last time you spoke about your weight in kilos? Or even better, thanks to the inflow of American cooking shows, you probably cook using Farenheit. There are still many industries which have yet to change over, construction and railroads are a couple of examples.

6) Finally, date formats. The Canadian (commonwealth) date format, which has been around since the beginning, is day-month-year. This is also the official format of most countries. How often to you actually write this way, or do you follow the U.S. format of mm/dd/yy?

And all of this happens under the "North American" umbrella.... right.

With all of this and the more recent talks of a North AMERICAN Union, one is left to think - will Canada just end up as the Northern Territories of the U.S.? Did you know that Canada is already pre-approved to join the United States' Union? It's in their consitution; do a search on the Internet.