The 'culture shock' between Toronto, Ontario -> Montgomery, Alabama won't be much different than if you were moving from Los Angeles instead. In contrast, the culture difference between Toronto, Canada -> Cairo, Egypt or Bangkok, Thailand will be pretty danged huge.

It would be more apt to compare the Toronto-Montgomery difference to the difference between Toronto and Glasgow or Toronto and Canberra.

Canadians are proud to be Canadian. Traveling around has shown me that people often don't know much about Canada, but they recognize the people are nice. That alone is enough to be proud of.

The whole 'Canada identity crisis' is because Canadians are too concerned with their international appearance and place. We need to just embrace the core identity we already have instead of looking for a new one.

The Olympics was an example of Canada trying too hard on the international scene. The closing ceremonies had this horrid 'comedy' portion designed to show that we don't take ourselves too seriously. That in itself was just trying too hard - you don't need an intentionally lame comedy sketch to show that.

Anyways Daniel - I recommend you travel more. The further I get from Canada the more I realize it is only a few Canadians and Americans that see it as a US vs Canada issue - we already have our own distinct identity.

No Americans see "it" as a "US vs Canada issue" because "it" is an exclusively Canadian concern. What Americans think of Canada is (a) nothing and (b) (when pressed) that big cold-but-friendly blank space at the top of the map. That doesn't stop them from being warm and fuzzy when they find out you're Canadian.

I'm a Canadian and I've lived in the USA for years. This has made me acutely aware of how different our cultures really are, and how they both have different virtues.