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U.S. Ambassador says Canadians are consuming 'unhealthy' amount of American news

245 points by amadeuspagel 2y ago

gspencley 2y ago
As a Canadian I appreciate his concern but kindly ask that he mind his own business. I will decide for myself how much U.S entertainment.. I mean, er, "news" is unhealthy for me, thanks.
rgreekguy 2y ago
They caught wind of LTT?
amadeuspagel 2y ago
This is true for most (all?) countries. If there's any country that avoided this fate, I'd like to know. People don't know what's going on in their own country but obsess over minutae of american politics. Legacy media is no escape as its journalists themselves are addicted to twitter and reflect that in their work. My local newspaper in germany used to have Trump on the frontpage more then any german politician. We need local forums.
- hwhwhwhhwhwh 2y ago
  It's cause Countries are imaginary entities and humans just want drama and don't care to get it from their own imaginary entity or some other imaginary entity.
- 6gvONxR4sf7o 2y ago
  It's a symptom of a problem within the US too. We're an enormous country with dozens of member states and territories, but we obsess about a tiny fraction of the politics. I've known how I'm voting for president for a very long time, but I don't even know what's on the ballot yet for things that probably influence my life more than the presidency. Those couple things just suck up all the attention.
- aragonite 2y ago
  > This is true for most (all?) countries. If there's any country that avoided this fate, I'd like to know. Tentatively: France, Italy, China, Japan, India (?), Egypt.
  - pixl97 2y ago
    Seems like these are primarily non-english speaking states, which may help because translation would otherwise be needed.
api_or_ipa 2y ago
I'm a Canadian living in the states. The joke I tell my family is that I go to Canada to hear about US news. The other joke I have goes like this: the problem with Canada is that America thinks Canada is Europe, Europe thinks it's America and Canadians think they're American.
- b112 2y ago
  I know you're joking, and fair enough, but I cannot let this comment stand ... joke or not. Canadians do not remotely ever think they are Americans, at all. Not even subconsciously. I have a great respect for the US. Realistically, feel the US is family, and like family, I love and care for it. Yet at the same time, sometimes I shake my head, wonder what my sibling is doing, baffled... often concerned out of care for them, sometimes out of self interest. Yet I still care, and want the best for them.. even if pissed off, angry, or upset with that sibling. There is so much shared history, coupled with so much bafflement. I guess the best way to put it, is the relationship Canada has with the US is exceptionally nuanced, and this holds true for many Canadians.
  - deleted 2y ago
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  - rootusrootus 2y ago
    No worries, many of us south of that border are baffled as well. But it's not like you guys are completely normal ;-). For example, Confederate flags are actually a thing in Canada. That's wild to me.
    - deleted 2y ago
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    - b112 2y ago
      Those aren't Confederate flags! As my history teacher explained to me, back in the day, a small offshoot of Confederates had it with the war. They were weary. They were exhausted. And so, as many American hippies and conscientious objectors have done in the past, they decided to flee to Canada. At this time however, they were worried about passing through Yankee territory, and also about their own troops shooting them for desertion. So, cleverly they modified their flag, and their uniforms, in subtle yet not quite discernible ways. When approached, they would hold up their hands and describe at great length that the flag was much like the Ship of Theseus, each thread had been carefully replaced, and that their philosophical belief was that it therefore was not a Confederate flag. It may seem and look as such, but it as most certainly not! "What!", they would decry at such statements, "Are you ignorant louts! Have you no philosophical roots?", and so soldiers would feel great shame, and let them pass. Thus after much hardship they managed to cross the border, settle down in a small town. I'm sure the flag you saw was probably only isolated to that one rural town though, but even so it just looked like a Confederate flag. It was instead copied from that other, unique flag.
hello_computer 2y ago
[flagged]
barbazoo 2y ago
The "news" are just another form of entertainment. And there a fraction of the entertainment going on in Canada that exists south of the border so people flock there.
- xemoka 2y ago
  What's so annoying is that this isn't even true. There is a lot of local news and interesting happenings all across our country, yet no one here to cover it. It's cheaper to repackage US news as interesting to canadians (how does this US thing affect canada, with an opinion) or just for voyeurism. Watching televised news, I end up knowing more about what's happening as a "human interest" story in some small US town than what happened across our country. Canadian media has been gutted, and nothing our government is doing actually works---or just fiddles with the knobs ever so slightly so that it appears as we're doing something, when the results are indistinguishable from the null.
- InsideOutSanta 2y ago
  This exactly. The US is great at exporting entertainment, and politics is just another form of it. People in Canada and Europe go to see American movies, listen to American music, and watch American politics. That's why American news isn't about actual things that actually happen, it's not about political positions and legislation, it's instead mostly about fights between people, about who is scoring points against whom, and who is doing better in the polls, and we're all part of a team, and we hate the people who are on the other team. It's sports, but easier to understand than football, quicker than baseball, and more violent than basketball.
DamnYuppie 2y ago
I am an American and I support having less "American news"...way....way less When I was younger I enjoyed reading my local newspaper (local news/local sports/classifieds), the USA Today (national news/sports), and the Wall Street Journal. Between those 3 I felt pretty well informed and enjoyed my daily ritual of reading them in the morning at school in the library. Unfortunately as other commenters have noted the quality of journalism has gone way down hill since then.
- bongodongobob 2y ago
  Well just because you felt informed doesn't mean you were. More sources are better. If you feel glued to 24/7 news, just don't do that.
  - DamnYuppie 2y ago
    A counter point to your assertion is that more sources are better, if they are not all saying the same thing and being controlled by the same few owners. Which in today's world, in the west, most certainly are. Many years ago the news was covered from multiple angles so even with few sources I felt I was getting more insight to the story due to different perspectives. Honestly due to the deluge of news I feel people today are more opinionated, less informed, easier to manipulate/deceive via controlled narratives, and have way shorter attention spans. The quality of journalism is so far gone it is laughable, so having more of a bad thing doesn't make it better imho.
    - nyokodo 2y ago
      > if they are not all saying the same thing and being controlled by the same few owners Arguably, that just means they're just the illusion of "more sources" because really they're just one.
      - pixl97 2y ago
        Reminds me of "This is extremely dangerous to our democracy" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZggCipbiHwE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZggCipbiHwE
proc0 2y ago
Any amount of American news is unhealthy, unless it's local news.
- jmbwell 2y ago
  American news is unhealthy and unhealthy for you. Local news is dying. We have wealth management to thank for all of it
- Eumenes 2y ago
  Local news in the US is corporate owned as well: https://x.com/Deadspin/status/980175772206993409 https://x.com/Deadspin/status/980175772206993409
walthamstow 2y ago
Britons too. It doesn't help that there are always multiple stories on the BBC News front page.
- whatshisface 2y ago
  I think they're, in all likelihood, responding to a growing readership. International papers do very well here: even Russia Today had started accumulating market share before it went over the edge and lost too much credibility. I think it is due to the credibility collapse that US-based media has suffered in the recent (years ago) past. Political partisanship had simply become too obvious, and now even the New York Times - our best paper - has all but declared an affiliation.
  - deleted 2y ago
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_whiteCaps_ 2y ago
Difficult to consume Canadian content for many people since Facebook blocks news links from being posted due to the Online News Act.
- layer8 2y ago
  Why would Facebook be relevant for consuming anything non-Facebook?
  - zeroCalories 2y ago
    Most people get their news from social media.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - NohatCoder 2y ago
    To some people Facebook is basically the way of browsing the web, in particular when it comes to news that people don't actively search for.
- PierceJoy 2y ago
  To be clear, Facebook chooses to block it because they don’t want to compensate Canadians news outlets, not because the act requires blocking, which is common misinformation that has been spread.
  - ipaddr 2y ago
    I think everyone understands that facebook had to pay a linking tax whenever anyone including government officials posted a link to a news outlet on a list. They decided not to. It was a crazy foolish law that hurt those news orgs that thought they were the reason Canadians used social media. It reminded everyone their are plenty of ways to get news outside of the mainstream Canadian news cartel. Canadians are not seeking out these news orgs shows what their value really is to the average person
kotaKat 2y ago
I live somewhere in the Northeast and have access to CBC and Global on my US television package and boy is it wild to sit back and watch the Canadian version of what's going on in America every night on their news.
- nequo 2y ago
  In what way is it wild? How is the Canadian version different than what you get in the US?
- euroderf 2y ago
  This was especially true under Reagan. In Buffalo NY you can watch Canadian news and it was enlightening.
- nightowl_games 2y ago
  Personally I find CBC to be the most watchable 'mainstream' news.
  - ipaddr 2y ago
    They are all the same. Same opinions. Same narratives. CBC seems more folky reading from the same page.
  - refurb 2y ago
    The CBC basically parrots the US mainstream media like MSNBC and CNN. Which makes sense because the CBC rarely send their own reporters south, they rely on the newswire like Reuters. Then they just layer on a "aren't you glad you aren't American?" narrative on top, which keeps Canadians voters distracted from the problems in their own country. Rampant immigration? A few token articles a year. Superficial analysis using government talking points.
    - nightowl_games 2y ago
      > Then they just layer on a "aren't you glad you aren't American?" Can you point to an example? I dont get this vibe. > The CBC basically parrots the US mainstream media like MSNBC and CNN. On what issues? On American politics issues, I do find CBC to use less inflammatory language than MSNBC and certain anchors on CNN. > Rampant immigration? Are you referring to immigration to Canada? You say 'rampant immigration' as if it is implicit that 'immigration' itself is bad. You didnt feel the need to specify or qualify anything other than 'immigration'. This is such a severe oversight to me that it discredits your opinion on these types of topics in my eyes. There is so much to unpack in Canadas immigration policy that to categorize it away as 'rampant immigration' is telling of a lack of understanding of the details of the topic of immigration in Canada.
duxup 2y ago
Give me some news that tells me ABOUT things going on. Not some rando political statement and then the nonsensical response and so on.
seydor 2y ago
not just canadians
- trgn 2y ago
  europe is the same. florida man human interest is just thrown in left and right. usually one or two days later after nypost ran it.
efitz 2y ago
I would humbly suggest the ambassador STFU and read the Bill of Rights. Yes, our news sucks and is polarizing. Yes, our corporate news sources are largely captured by one side. But the government has no business trying to suppress discussion. I’m not claiming that the ambassador acted illegally; I am claiming that as an agent of the US Government he needs to stifle his own opinions when speaking publicly on behalf of the US government and not try to suppress legal speech. Ever since COVID the US government, especially the executive branch, has tried. Every means they could think of to suppress dissenting opinion while trying to stay just on the legal side of the first amendment. They need to stop.
- wk_end 2y ago
  Absolutely nothing said here is "trying to suppress discussion" or "suppress legal speech". He's sharing his personal opinion on Canadian media consumption habits, which - I suggest you read the Bill of Rights? - he's completely free to. (that said: I believe he said this in Canada, where the Bill of Rights isn't applicable. We have a similar-but-not-the-same right to freedom of expression enshrined in our Charter, though.)
  - arcticbull 2y ago
    Further, it is worth pointing out to the Americans in the audience, Canada's freedom of expression isn't anywhere near as blanket-permissive as the US. That's before you get to the Notwithstanding Clause.
    - bawolff 2y ago
      This may be true, but i honestly think canada strikes a good balance. Like i'd be curious if anyone has any examples of things that would be protected by the first amendment in usa but not protected by section 2(b) where they think usa made the better choice. The notwithstanding clause is quite icky. Thankfully its rarely used outside of quebec although the recent "parent's rights" bill in saskatchewan is quite gross.
      - 2y ago
renewiltord 2y ago
Only America matters. Canadians cluster on the border with America because only America matters. Canadians read US news primarily because only America matters. Canada's independence is nominal. The nation depends entirely on the US for its security and will obey when commanded. A vassal state. Given that, it is normal for Canadians to consume American news, and it is only unhealthy in that it is unhealthy for Americans as well.
- wk_end 2y ago
  This is both true and not true. From a geopolitical perspective this is correct. Canada is forced to operate in lockstep with the US and is completely dependent and ultimately subservient to it. Globalization has done a great deal to homogenize us. Culturally our differences are disappearing, due to the shared language (in Anglo-Canada) and the internet. Yet for all that: for the people living, working, and doing business in the respective countries, the actual on-the-ground experience is nevertheless quite different. Depending on the state/province in question, sometimes markedly so.
  - peab 2y ago
    Is the day-to-day really that different? I grew up in Canada, and then lived in 2 different states in the USA as an adult. I'd say Canada feels as different as say, California is to Alabama.
    - peab 2y ago
      With the exception being Quebec! Vive la province libre.
    - wk_end 2y ago
      I mean, California and Alabama feel very different! In a lot of ways I'd agree, or even go further - they're more different than, say, BC and WA. And there's factors like the urban/rural divide to bear in mind. The Canada along the border resembles the lower 48; north of that it starts to have more and more in common with Alaska. But everywhere you're interacting with the government the differences are quite stark. Health care, education, firearms, regulations, the social safety net, taxation, drugs, criminal justice...all of these and more are handled in a rather different fashion than in the US. Some of it depends on where you are in your life, and who you are. If you're a single middle-class white male in his 20s who rents in a major city, you're mostly interacting with the market economy, so the biggest differences day-to-day are the products available to you, your somewhat lower purchasing power, and the fact that you don't have anywhere near as much student loan debt as you would in the US. But as you drift further from that particular model - as you age and need to lean on health care more, if you want to start a family or buy property, if you have extreme wealth, if you move out further away from major population centres, if you try to start a business, if you're a woman/minority...the differences become more apparent. Not always in the ways you'd expect, too: open racism - against indigenous peoples rather than Blacks - is widespread in Canada, even in major urban centres.
matteoraso 2y ago
This is an expected consequence of American hegemony. When so much of our culture is imported from America, we end up feeling American. To a degree, what happens in America really does affect our lives, even more than what happens in Canada in many cases. When everybody around you is focused on American issues and American politics, they start to vote based on these imported ideas and make them Canadian ideas.
f6v 2y ago
Which is weird because their PM is such a clown already.
ilamont 2y ago
Not just news. Movies. Music. Websites. It leads to some unusual cross currents. A few years back following the Canadian trucker protests, some of the defendants cited their "First Amendment rights": Tamara Lich, the Alberta woman whose GoFundMe campaign raised over $10 million for the convoy, and her husband had their day in court—and Dwayne Lich said he was innocent, because: “Honestly? I thought it was a peaceful protest and based on my First Amendment, I thought that was part of our rights.” The judge then asked, “What do you mean, First Amendment? What’s that?” https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/tamara-lich-bail-hearing-february-19-1.6358307 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/tamara-lich-bail-heari... (The First Amendment is part of the U.S. Constitution, not the Canadian Charter)
- liotier 2y ago
  "Objection votre honneur !" is a running gag in French courts, from litigants fed on US procedural drama... In French procedure, such interruption is wholly out of order.
draw_down 2y ago
[dead]
whatshisface 2y ago
Other people have pointed out that "American news" also displaces local news in the states, but it's worse than that: this stuff you see on CNN isn't actually about the important events going on in the world, it's an entertainment product engineered from a mishmash of urgent-sounding background music, very serious faces and sound bytes selected to compromise between sounding interesting, and supporting a pre-selected story arc. In other words, "American news," displaces all real news, anywhere.
- rootusrootus 2y ago
  At pretty much all levels of news (and discourse in general) it seems like all we really care about now is who the President is. Secondary to that, maybe the party (though I'd say it's less about party and more specifically about culture). Local politics get very little consideration unless something really controversial happens. I think the reverse should be true -- state, county, and city laws have way more effect on my daily life than federal.
  - whatshisface 2y ago
    >all we really care about now is who the President is With extra emphasis on who the President is, and none at all on what they do!
    - thunky 2y ago
      I dream of an executive branch without a president. I don't see why we need one.
      - skissane 2y ago
        > I dream of an executive branch without a president. I don't see why we need one. Maybe what the US really needs is a Prime Minister. Subordinate the executive branch to the legislative branch, as is the norm in the Commonwealth, the majority of Western European nations, Japan, among others And a figurehead/symbolic/apolitical President with little real power – like the Presidents of Austria, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Malta, etc
cptaj 2y ago
This is becoming a problem in latin america as well and you see people importing culture wars issues that are not really relevant to their local politics and further muddying the waters and distracting from the actual issues facing them
- aaomidi 2y ago
  If this is in reference to Gaza, it is because the situation in Gaza is happening with US support and supplies.
  - ben_w 2y ago
    The UK also has a problem with the right wing trying to import American "culture wars" issues for their own benefit, and it has nothing to do with Gaza — specifically, they bring in the US talking points about trans issues, using "woke" as the next step on the euphemism escalator now that "politically correct" has worn off, blaming millennials for everything, and a conspiracy theory about 15 minute cities (despite almost all of the UK being within 15 minutes of all the important things already, including the car-focused bits like Milton Keynes and small Welsh hamlets like Abermad). Still, at least it means the Tory party completely forgot about wanting to bring back the hunting of foxes on horseback.
    - some_random 2y ago
      These all seem like really bad examples, panic over trans people has some very real, very British sources and 15 minute cities (and related concepts like LTNs and the ULEZ) is not something regularly discussed in the US. Much better examples are US Southwest/Californian concerns around water scarcity being imported to places where water is not scarce, or similar concerns around emissions from electricity generation being imported to places that use high amounts of renewables/nuclear energy. Another example is civilian disarmament fear mongering switching from being about cheap handguns to "assault weapons" after DC v Heller.
      - ClumsyPilot 2y ago
jeffbee 2y ago
They don't even need superficially American news channels to get the American viewpoint, since the overwhelming bulk of Canadian "news" outfits other than the CBC are owned by American vulture capital firms, including all of the ones that advocated for the link tax.
- pixl97 2y ago
  Yea, really it seems the vast majority of privately owned news groups of any size are a means to control policy in a state/country.
photochemsyn 2y ago
Engaging in passive news consumption will quickly turn one into a brainwashed zombie. Active news searching on a specific topic you have some interest in and a at least a small amount of background knowledge as to where to look is a far more rewarding use of your limited time. e.g. site:oilprice.com canada | canadian Try it with ft.com or nytimes.com too. And then try it with rt.com and globaltimes.cn to get the Russian and Chinese spin. Somewhere in there you might get an accurate picture of reality - unless they're all on the same page about something they want to hide from public view. Don't forget to look at the negative space in the image.
- akomtu 2y ago
  American news outlets are like food chains who've figured out that if you serve junk food with tons of sugar and some addictive chemicals, your customers will turn into addicts.
bawolff 2y ago
To quote trudeau (sr) "Living next to you [America] is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt." Fact is, as a middle power country next to a super power, american politics has an inordinate impact on us, and we can't even complain to our local congresman, since obviously we dont have one.
- parineum 2y ago
  How does US policy tangibly affect Canada? Outside of NAFTA, what else is there? It seems like the worst thing that happens is a bunch of people threatening to move to Canada every 4 years.
  - titanomachy 2y ago
    Canada probably wouldn’t have sent troops to Afghanistan if America hadn’t led the charge.
    - parineum 2y ago
      That was the Canadian governments choice.
      - bawolff 2y ago
        And the choice had consequences to the us/canada relationship (just like the choice not to go to iraq did). Such choices affect us policy to canada down the line.
    - Tiktaalik 2y ago
      That was a NATO obligation. We would have sent troops to Afghanistan if Netherlands was attacked too.
  - belval 2y ago
    It's quite literally our main export partner. Entire industries in Canada (Airplanes, cars, wood) live and die by US policy.
boguscoder 2y ago
I wish this was mirrored and Americans would consume Canadian news instead of local news about Canada. Maybe some more ppl would build more nuanced understanding of how universal healthcare care works beyond “they all die in the waiting line”
- spacephysics 2y ago
  One step we can take for free markets in healthcare is to have transparency for medical procedures across all hospitals. You want to be allowed to take insurance money? Then you must report procedure costs for everything. This was pushed last administration but i dont believe theres any enforcement on it
- pixl97 2y ago
  I mean, American companies pay a LOT for that message too. If Americans started wanting affordable services, think of how much money the pharma CEOs would lose.
- TMWNN 2y ago
  >Maybe some more ppl would build more nuanced understanding of how universal healthcare care works beyond “they all die in the waiting line” You want nuance? An amazingly high portion of Canadians don't have a family doctor. <https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/despite-more-doctors-many-canadians-don-t-have-a-family-physician-report-1.4611149). In Atlantic Canada (Context for non-Canadians: The four easternmost provinces) it is impossible, repeat *impossible*, to get a family doctor if you don't have one. <https://web.archive.org/web/20190226051406/https://www.thetelegram.com/in-depth/doctor-shortage/what-we-learned-and-what-you-said-about-doctor-shortage-in-atlantic-canada-286436/ https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/despite-more-doctors-many-cana...>. It's one thing to have shortages in rural areas—that happens in the US too—but Halifax?!? I've heard the same occurs in Vancouver too, and am hearing more reports of the same in Ontario.
dtquad 2y ago
Annoying excessive coverage of US politics has been a thing in Denmark since 2008. Although nowadays we at least have the excuse that the US has replaced both China and Germany as our main trading partner and the Danish GDP probably fluctuates a little whenever the FDA looks in the direction of Novo Nordisk.
Eumenes 2y ago
The Canadian grown news is soo0ooo much better: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/cbc-paid-more-than-18-million-in-bonuses-in-2024-after-eliminating-hundreds-of-jobs https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/cbc-paid-more-than-18-mi...
morkalork 2y ago
Seeing bits of the DNC last week with celebrities like lil wayne making appearances, a packed stadium and whatnot, is there anything comparable in Canadian politics or even other parliamentary systems like the UK? American politics (and the news focused on it), is quintessentially American: big, loud and over the top.
- brailsafe 2y ago
  Ehhh not really, short election cycle. Federal politicians hold relatively low-key party and supporter events to drum up support, probably earlier this year than ever that I've seen, but it's nothing close to the scale of the DNC or w/e. We also have leader debates which I find fun to watch, but our politicians are more or less fancier regular citizens. Same with billionaires and other celebrities, we just couldn't be bothered, they go about their business and we mention we saw so and so.
- switchbak 2y ago
  We've got spending caps and short limits on election campaign length to avoid exactly the kind of insanity that is the American election cycle. I'm not sure it works 100%, but it does seem a little more sane.
  - Ylpertnodi 2y ago
    Works where i am in the EU. Our national elections (I'm not a national, so I can't vote.. I just watch from the sidelines) had about 5% of the 'noise' of any US elections. For which i am eternally grateful. Fair play to the DNC, though. Their convention this year was very interesting. But - where are we at? Eighty days to suffer until the US elections? IMHO, it's way too much.
- mythrwy 2y ago
  I missed that convention. Did President Mountain Dew Camacho make an appearance with Lil Wayne by any chance? Or did the red circus convention get him (I understand they did get Hulk Hogan)?
Barrin92 2y ago
To some extent it's reasonable for Canadians, Europeans etc. to be interested in American politics, say on trade or foreign politics because it affects us in real ways especially these days with the world situation, but I also think we're honestly past 'peak Americana' culturally. Personally speaking being German, my father (60) was in the West Germany army, stationed in Canada and the US for a while, you can tell he was deeply influenced by how Americans live, what cars they drive, how their houses and kitchens look, what their aspirations are, etc. For my generation, already not the case having come of age during the 2000s, seemingly less so for people who are even younger. I think it's tempting to think America still has a big cultural influence because of how prevalent English is and the media, memes and mannerisms that come with it, but at a deep level I think people have become much less influenced by it. It's the kind of error people made on China, were they thought the internet and media would just turn all the young Chinese into de facto Americans. People today are more fluent in American news and culture but they're also much more capable of just ditching it.
- zeroCalories 2y ago
  I don't think we're past the peak. American companies are more important than ever, and American media dominates everything. Everything is centralizing in America, and that's why people are watching its news and adopting its culture wars. Every generation of Germans have less of an accent. China and India are not likely to become hegemons, but we could see LATAM become a larger player as the EU fades.
- parineum 2y ago
  > To some extent it's reasonable for Canadians, Europeans etc. to be interested in American politics, say on trade or foreign politics because it affects us in real ways especially these days with the world situation... That makes sense to me but I also don't actually see that happening in practice. Disclaimer, I'm American so I really don't know but, whenever I hear/read a foreign politician talking about a President (elect), they aren't talking about policy.
LeroyRaz 2y ago
I've noticed US culture war infecting Canadian university campuses. It's bizarre, and unhealthy.
blooalien 2y ago
Americans are consuming "unhealthy" amounts of American (and other) news.
PeterStuer 2y ago
So they keep tabs on the country that realy rules them? Sounds based to me.
penguin_booze 2y ago
TBH, we'll all do better with less of the US news.
mensetmanusman 2y ago
I wonder if it explains their massive levels of assisted suicide. Instead of dealing with their healthcare and community support problems and supporting people, it turns out to be much cheaper to just kill them. They just had to fire a bureaucrat who is recommending directly to veterans that they kill themselves.
schappim 2y ago
I completely agree; we have the same issue here in Australia. When I came home to find my elderly father watching Fox News, claiming that the election was stolen, I realised that the cable box parental controls might actually be for parents!
- loceng 2y ago
  I'd worry that this type of public announcement by a US ambassador is part of propaganda to manufacture consent for the Canadian government to either block select US "news," and/or promote select Canadian "news" - where many people don't realize that this current government already does censor/block news from organizations that are above a certain size.
karaterobot 2y ago
The U.S. is a TV show the whole world watches. It's not healthy for anybody on either side. The news is making everybody insane, and not making them particularly well-informed in the process.
wormius 2y ago
Dude must be from midwest, perfect midwest nice negging here: “I do think it is odd, particularly when I contrast it to the United States, where…virtually no one in the United States is paying any attention to Canadian politics,” he said.
AShyFig 2y ago
This is by design. Aside from the points raised by others on the reality of living next to the world's biggest superpower; our media landscape is fast becoming a monopoly. That monopoly is owned by Americans [1]. [1]. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham_Asset_Management https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham_Asset_Management
philipov 2y ago
That makes sense. Americans are also consuming unhealthy amounts of American news.
BadHumans 2y ago
Everyone should probably consume less news but what is happening in the US right now will have a dramatic effect on our northern neighbors so I don't think being informed on the happenings is the worst idea
- brailsafe 2y ago
  If you're constantly consuming American news, you might think so, but I'm skeptical anything sufficiently significant is so worth a Canadian occupying their mind with. > what is happening in the US right now will have a dramatic effect So... what is that and why would it have a dramatic effect? How do you define dramatic effect? We have our own issues that people are surprisingly uninformed about (to be fair, it's just an impression I get, I'm also only as informed as I am, there's only so much one can devote to it compared to the result), and yet deeply affected by. For example, a huge portion of people are affected by being priced out of having a home or even a stable life, yet they most likely couldn't name which level of government has authority over which (high level) facets of policy that might be related to that, or who any of the housing ministers are, and won't get off their ass to vote. I'm not convinced that for an average Canadian, other than getting something to talk about, it is or has been in recent memory at all useful to pay attention to American news, to such an extent that functionally zero aspect of most people's lives would have even a marginally different outcome having been completely ignorant. That's not to say that aren't _at_all_ useful things to keep up with depending on who you are, but it's wildly unlikely in my opinion that's going to come general news media.
- mym1990 2y ago
  Given the information on the "happenings" of US politics, what is someone to do with that information other than moan and groan?
ipaddr 2y ago
Canadian mainstream news sit left but think they are neutral/unbiased because all other mainstream orgs speak from the same narrative. In the US they admit bias (for some reason cnn tries to pretend to be neutral). Leslyn Lewis is Conservative the cbc wouldn't write an article on her. Canadian news is shallow and doesn't allow a diversity of ideas so people ignore it.
notadoc 2y ago
You really must consume your own domestic propaganda for maximum effectiveness, it's more targeted at you and your culture, customs, beliefs, biases, etc
epolanski 2y ago
Had a friend of my SO (we're both Italian) visit us for some days, she's Canadian in her 60s and she talked so much about US politics. I don't find talking politics much polite, especially because I believe you should first be politically active, with practical things, in your neighborhood and city first and worry about local problems that impact directly your life and those of your family. Then make the scope larger. But talking about politics of another country? I have my personal opinion that the death of newspapers, which were generally local in favor of internet media, which tends to talk about topics with the highest reach completely inverted the political priorities around the world. I swear in Italy more people can argue more about US politicians agendas and programs but can't name their mayor. Some people argue that the decisions taken at federal, global level matter more, yet many are unaware that the beautiful house they bought for the view is being discussed to be sold by the city to build houses or a waste dump or many other things that impact your life directly and on which you have yourself more impact than following a US presidential election. And I have endless examples, because in a small village like mine, with 4000 souls, most decisions impact your life. Waste management, funding for the school buses for kids, safety on local roads, etc. This is literally your every day life. But what people arguing? Whether AOC is too extreme or anti capitalist? It's all backwards. I find it sick.
refurb 2y ago
The US Ambassador should talk to the Canadian media then, because they cover the US news exhaustively.
486sx33 2y ago
…Because Trudeau eliminated Canadian news and controls it all by funding only what he likes and spews his narrative !
Tiktaalik 2y ago
This is absolutely true. It is wild how many people I know that can name a half a dozen or more notable American Senators, Congresspersons and politicians and yet have barely any working knowledge of even Federal Canadian politics let alone the (arguably more relevant to their daily lives) Provincial and Municipal political issues and persons. The quality level of the discourse is as you'd expect, very low!
chironjit 2y ago
This is unfortunately also true for lots of non-Canadians(that are not Americans). That includes me - the number one source of news i use is the NYT, and I think I can tell you more about American politics/politicians than I can about any other country
rffn 2y ago
Given that Canada is in America one would assume they consume much American news.

245 points by amadeuspagel 2y ago

As a Canadian I appreciate his concern but kindly ask that he mind his own business. I will decide for myself how much U.S entertainment.. I mean, er, "news" is unhealthy for me, thanks.

rgreekguy 2y ago

They caught wind of LTT?

amadeuspagel 2y ago

This is true for most (all?) countries. If there's any country that avoided this fate, I'd like to know. People don't know what's going on in their own country but obsess over minutae of american politics. Legacy media is no escape as its journalists themselves are addicted to twitter and reflect that in their work. My local newspaper in germany used to have Trump on the frontpage more then any german politician. We need local forums.

hwhwhwhhwhwh 2y ago
It's cause Countries are imaginary entities and humans just want drama and don't care to get it from their own imaginary entity or some other imaginary entity.
6gvONxR4sf7o 2y ago
It's a symptom of a problem within the US too. We're an enormous country with dozens of member states and territories, but we obsess about a tiny fraction of the politics. I've known how I'm voting for president for a very long time, but I don't even know what's on the ballot yet for things that probably influence my life more than the presidency. Those couple things just suck up all the attention.
aragonite 2y ago
> This is true for most (all?) countries. If there's any country that avoided this fate, I'd like to know. Tentatively: France, Italy, China, Japan, India (?), Egypt.
- pixl97 2y ago
  Seems like these are primarily non-english speaking states, which may help because translation would otherwise be needed.

api_or_ipa 2y ago

I'm a Canadian living in the states. The joke I tell my family is that I go to Canada to hear about US news. The other joke I have goes like this: the problem with Canada is that America thinks Canada is Europe, Europe thinks it's America and Canadians think they're American.

b112 2y ago
I know you're joking, and fair enough, but I cannot let this comment stand ... joke or not. Canadians do not remotely ever think they are Americans, at all. Not even subconsciously. I have a great respect for the US. Realistically, feel the US is family, and like family, I love and care for it. Yet at the same time, sometimes I shake my head, wonder what my sibling is doing, baffled... often concerned out of care for them, sometimes out of self interest. Yet I still care, and want the best for them.. even if pissed off, angry, or upset with that sibling. There is so much shared history, coupled with so much bafflement. I guess the best way to put it, is the relationship Canada has with the US is exceptionally nuanced, and this holds true for many Canadians.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- rootusrootus 2y ago
  No worries, many of us south of that border are baffled as well. But it's not like you guys are completely normal ;-). For example, Confederate flags are actually a thing in Canada. That's wild to me.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - b112 2y ago
    Those aren't Confederate flags! As my history teacher explained to me, back in the day, a small offshoot of Confederates had it with the war. They were weary. They were exhausted. And so, as many American hippies and conscientious objectors have done in the past, they decided to flee to Canada. At this time however, they were worried about passing through Yankee territory, and also about their own troops shooting them for desertion. So, cleverly they modified their flag, and their uniforms, in subtle yet not quite discernible ways. When approached, they would hold up their hands and describe at great length that the flag was much like the Ship of Theseus, each thread had been carefully replaced, and that their philosophical belief was that it therefore was not a Confederate flag. It may seem and look as such, but it as most certainly not! "What!", they would decry at such statements, "Are you ignorant louts! Have you no philosophical roots?", and so soldiers would feel great shame, and let them pass. Thus after much hardship they managed to cross the border, settle down in a small town. I'm sure the flag you saw was probably only isolated to that one rural town though, but even so it just looked like a Confederate flag. It was instead copied from that other, unique flag.

hello_computer 2y ago

[flagged]

barbazoo 2y ago

The "news" are just another form of entertainment. And there a fraction of the entertainment going on in Canada that exists south of the border so people flock there.

xemoka 2y ago
What's so annoying is that this isn't even true. There is a lot of local news and interesting happenings all across our country, yet no one here to cover it. It's cheaper to repackage US news as interesting to canadians (how does this US thing affect canada, with an opinion) or just for voyeurism. Watching televised news, I end up knowing more about what's happening as a "human interest" story in some small US town than what happened across our country. Canadian media has been gutted, and nothing our government is doing actually works---or just fiddles with the knobs ever so slightly so that it appears as we're doing something, when the results are indistinguishable from the null.
InsideOutSanta 2y ago
This exactly. The US is great at exporting entertainment, and politics is just another form of it. People in Canada and Europe go to see American movies, listen to American music, and watch American politics. That's why American news isn't about actual things that actually happen, it's not about political positions and legislation, it's instead mostly about fights between people, about who is scoring points against whom, and who is doing better in the polls, and we're all part of a team, and we hate the people who are on the other team. It's sports, but easier to understand than football, quicker than baseball, and more violent than basketball.

DamnYuppie 2y ago

I am an American and I support having less "American news"...way....way less When I was younger I enjoyed reading my local newspaper (local news/local sports/classifieds), the USA Today (national news/sports), and the Wall Street Journal. Between those 3 I felt pretty well informed and enjoyed my daily ritual of reading them in the morning at school in the library. Unfortunately as other commenters have noted the quality of journalism has gone way down hill since then.

bongodongobob 2y ago
Well just because you felt informed doesn't mean you were. More sources are better. If you feel glued to 24/7 news, just don't do that.
- DamnYuppie 2y ago
  A counter point to your assertion is that more sources are better, if they are not all saying the same thing and being controlled by the same few owners. Which in today's world, in the west, most certainly are. Many years ago the news was covered from multiple angles so even with few sources I felt I was getting more insight to the story due to different perspectives. Honestly due to the deluge of news I feel people today are more opinionated, less informed, easier to manipulate/deceive via controlled narratives, and have way shorter attention spans. The quality of journalism is so far gone it is laughable, so having more of a bad thing doesn't make it better imho.
  - nyokodo 2y ago
    > if they are not all saying the same thing and being controlled by the same few owners Arguably, that just means they're just the illusion of "more sources" because really they're just one.
    - pixl97 2y ago
      Reminds me of "This is extremely dangerous to our democracy" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZggCipbiHwE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZggCipbiHwE

proc0 2y ago

Any amount of American news is unhealthy, unless it's local news.

jmbwell 2y ago
American news is unhealthy and unhealthy for you. Local news is dying. We have wealth management to thank for all of it
Eumenes 2y ago
Local news in the US is corporate owned as well: https://x.com/Deadspin/status/980175772206993409 https://x.com/Deadspin/status/980175772206993409

walthamstow 2y ago

Britons too. It doesn't help that there are always multiple stories on the BBC News front page.

whatshisface 2y ago
I think they're, in all likelihood, responding to a growing readership. International papers do very well here: even Russia Today had started accumulating market share before it went over the edge and lost too much credibility. I think it is due to the credibility collapse that US-based media has suffered in the recent (years ago) past. Political partisanship had simply become too obvious, and now even the New York Times - our best paper - has all but declared an affiliation.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

_whiteCaps_ 2y ago

Difficult to consume Canadian content for many people since Facebook blocks news links from being posted due to the Online News Act.

layer8 2y ago
Why would Facebook be relevant for consuming anything non-Facebook?
- zeroCalories 2y ago
  Most people get their news from social media.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- NohatCoder 2y ago
  To some people Facebook is basically the way of browsing the web, in particular when it comes to news that people don't actively search for.
PierceJoy 2y ago
To be clear, Facebook chooses to block it because they don’t want to compensate Canadians news outlets, not because the act requires blocking, which is common misinformation that has been spread.
- ipaddr 2y ago
  I think everyone understands that facebook had to pay a linking tax whenever anyone including government officials posted a link to a news outlet on a list. They decided not to. It was a crazy foolish law that hurt those news orgs that thought they were the reason Canadians used social media. It reminded everyone their are plenty of ways to get news outside of the mainstream Canadian news cartel. Canadians are not seeking out these news orgs shows what their value really is to the average person

kotaKat 2y ago

I live somewhere in the Northeast and have access to CBC and Global on my US television package and boy is it wild to sit back and watch the Canadian version of what's going on in America every night on their news.

nequo 2y ago
In what way is it wild? How is the Canadian version different than what you get in the US?
euroderf 2y ago
This was especially true under Reagan. In Buffalo NY you can watch Canadian news and it was enlightening.
nightowl_games 2y ago
Personally I find CBC to be the most watchable 'mainstream' news.
- ipaddr 2y ago
  They are all the same. Same opinions. Same narratives. CBC seems more folky reading from the same page.
- refurb 2y ago
  The CBC basically parrots the US mainstream media like MSNBC and CNN. Which makes sense because the CBC rarely send their own reporters south, they rely on the newswire like Reuters. Then they just layer on a "aren't you glad you aren't American?" narrative on top, which keeps Canadians voters distracted from the problems in their own country. Rampant immigration? A few token articles a year. Superficial analysis using government talking points.
  - nightowl_games 2y ago
    > Then they just layer on a "aren't you glad you aren't American?" Can you point to an example? I dont get this vibe. > The CBC basically parrots the US mainstream media like MSNBC and CNN. On what issues? On American politics issues, I do find CBC to use less inflammatory language than MSNBC and certain anchors on CNN. > Rampant immigration? Are you referring to immigration to Canada? You say 'rampant immigration' as if it is implicit that 'immigration' itself is bad. You didnt feel the need to specify or qualify anything other than 'immigration'. This is such a severe oversight to me that it discredits your opinion on these types of topics in my eyes. There is so much to unpack in Canadas immigration policy that to categorize it away as 'rampant immigration' is telling of a lack of understanding of the details of the topic of immigration in Canada.

duxup 2y ago

Give me some news that tells me ABOUT things going on. Not some rando political statement and then the nonsensical response and so on.

seydor 2y ago

not just canadians

trgn 2y ago
europe is the same. florida man human interest is just thrown in left and right. usually one or two days later after nypost ran it.

efitz 2y ago

I would humbly suggest the ambassador STFU and read the Bill of Rights. Yes, our news sucks and is polarizing. Yes, our corporate news sources are largely captured by one side. But the government has no business trying to suppress discussion. I’m not claiming that the ambassador acted illegally; I am claiming that as an agent of the US Government he needs to stifle his own opinions when speaking publicly on behalf of the US government and not try to suppress legal speech. Ever since COVID the US government, especially the executive branch, has tried. Every means they could think of to suppress dissenting opinion while trying to stay just on the legal side of the first amendment. They need to stop.

wk_end 2y ago
Absolutely nothing said here is "trying to suppress discussion" or "suppress legal speech". He's sharing his personal opinion on Canadian media consumption habits, which - I suggest you read the Bill of Rights? - he's completely free to. (that said: I believe he said this in Canada, where the Bill of Rights isn't applicable. We have a similar-but-not-the-same right to freedom of expression enshrined in our Charter, though.)
- arcticbull 2y ago
  Further, it is worth pointing out to the Americans in the audience, Canada's freedom of expression isn't anywhere near as blanket-permissive as the US. That's before you get to the Notwithstanding Clause.
  - bawolff 2y ago
    This may be true, but i honestly think canada strikes a good balance. Like i'd be curious if anyone has any examples of things that would be protected by the first amendment in usa but not protected by section 2(b) where they think usa made the better choice. The notwithstanding clause is quite icky. Thankfully its rarely used outside of quebec although the recent "parent's rights" bill in saskatchewan is quite gross.
    - 2y ago

renewiltord 2y ago

Only America matters. Canadians cluster on the border with America because only America matters. Canadians read US news primarily because only America matters. Canada's independence is nominal. The nation depends entirely on the US for its security and will obey when commanded. A vassal state. Given that, it is normal for Canadians to consume American news, and it is only unhealthy in that it is unhealthy for Americans as well.

wk_end 2y ago
This is both true and not true. From a geopolitical perspective this is correct. Canada is forced to operate in lockstep with the US and is completely dependent and ultimately subservient to it. Globalization has done a great deal to homogenize us. Culturally our differences are disappearing, due to the shared language (in Anglo-Canada) and the internet. Yet for all that: for the people living, working, and doing business in the respective countries, the actual on-the-ground experience is nevertheless quite different. Depending on the state/province in question, sometimes markedly so.
- peab 2y ago
  Is the day-to-day really that different? I grew up in Canada, and then lived in 2 different states in the USA as an adult. I'd say Canada feels as different as say, California is to Alabama.
  - peab 2y ago
    With the exception being Quebec! Vive la province libre.
  - wk_end 2y ago
    I mean, California and Alabama feel very different! In a lot of ways I'd agree, or even go further - they're more different than, say, BC and WA. And there's factors like the urban/rural divide to bear in mind. The Canada along the border resembles the lower 48; north of that it starts to have more and more in common with Alaska. But everywhere you're interacting with the government the differences are quite stark. Health care, education, firearms, regulations, the social safety net, taxation, drugs, criminal justice...all of these and more are handled in a rather different fashion than in the US. Some of it depends on where you are in your life, and who you are. If you're a single middle-class white male in his 20s who rents in a major city, you're mostly interacting with the market economy, so the biggest differences day-to-day are the products available to you, your somewhat lower purchasing power, and the fact that you don't have anywhere near as much student loan debt as you would in the US. But as you drift further from that particular model - as you age and need to lean on health care more, if you want to start a family or buy property, if you have extreme wealth, if you move out further away from major population centres, if you try to start a business, if you're a woman/minority...the differences become more apparent. Not always in the ways you'd expect, too: open racism - against indigenous peoples rather than Blacks - is widespread in Canada, even in major urban centres.

matteoraso 2y ago

This is an expected consequence of American hegemony. When so much of our culture is imported from America, we end up feeling American. To a degree, what happens in America really does affect our lives, even more than what happens in Canada in many cases. When everybody around you is focused on American issues and American politics, they start to vote based on these imported ideas and make them Canadian ideas.

f6v 2y ago

Which is weird because their PM is such a clown already.

ilamont 2y ago

Not just news. Movies. Music. Websites. It leads to some unusual cross currents. A few years back following the Canadian trucker protests, some of the defendants cited their "First Amendment rights": Tamara Lich, the Alberta woman whose GoFundMe campaign raised over $10 million for the convoy, and her husband had their day in court—and Dwayne Lich said he was innocent, because: “Honestly? I thought it was a peaceful protest and based on my First Amendment, I thought that was part of our rights.” The judge then asked, “What do you mean, First Amendment? What’s that?” https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/tamara-lich-bail-hearing-february-19-1.6358307 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/tamara-lich-bail-heari... (The First Amendment is part of the U.S. Constitution, not the Canadian Charter)

liotier 2y ago
"Objection votre honneur !" is a running gag in French courts, from litigants fed on US procedural drama... In French procedure, such interruption is wholly out of order.

draw_down 2y ago

[dead]

whatshisface 2y ago

Other people have pointed out that "American news" also displaces local news in the states, but it's worse than that: this stuff you see on CNN isn't actually about the important events going on in the world, it's an entertainment product engineered from a mishmash of urgent-sounding background music, very serious faces and sound bytes selected to compromise between sounding interesting, and supporting a pre-selected story arc. In other words, "American news," displaces all real news, anywhere.

rootusrootus 2y ago
At pretty much all levels of news (and discourse in general) it seems like all we really care about now is who the President is. Secondary to that, maybe the party (though I'd say it's less about party and more specifically about culture). Local politics get very little consideration unless something really controversial happens. I think the reverse should be true -- state, county, and city laws have way more effect on my daily life than federal.
- whatshisface 2y ago
  >all we really care about now is who the President is With extra emphasis on who the President is, and none at all on what they do!
  - thunky 2y ago
    I dream of an executive branch without a president. I don't see why we need one.
    - skissane 2y ago
      > I dream of an executive branch without a president. I don't see why we need one. Maybe what the US really needs is a Prime Minister. Subordinate the executive branch to the legislative branch, as is the norm in the Commonwealth, the majority of Western European nations, Japan, among others And a figurehead/symbolic/apolitical President with little real power – like the Presidents of Austria, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Malta, etc

cptaj 2y ago

This is becoming a problem in latin america as well and you see people importing culture wars issues that are not really relevant to their local politics and further muddying the waters and distracting from the actual issues facing them

aaomidi 2y ago
If this is in reference to Gaza, it is because the situation in Gaza is happening with US support and supplies.
- ben_w 2y ago
  The UK also has a problem with the right wing trying to import American "culture wars" issues for their own benefit, and it has nothing to do with Gaza — specifically, they bring in the US talking points about trans issues, using "woke" as the next step on the euphemism escalator now that "politically correct" has worn off, blaming millennials for everything, and a conspiracy theory about 15 minute cities (despite almost all of the UK being within 15 minutes of all the important things already, including the car-focused bits like Milton Keynes and small Welsh hamlets like Abermad). Still, at least it means the Tory party completely forgot about wanting to bring back the hunting of foxes on horseback.
  - some_random 2y ago
    These all seem like really bad examples, panic over trans people has some very real, very British sources and 15 minute cities (and related concepts like LTNs and the ULEZ) is not something regularly discussed in the US. Much better examples are US Southwest/Californian concerns around water scarcity being imported to places where water is not scarce, or similar concerns around emissions from electricity generation being imported to places that use high amounts of renewables/nuclear energy. Another example is civilian disarmament fear mongering switching from being about cheap handguns to "assault weapons" after DC v Heller.
    - ClumsyPilot 2y ago

jeffbee 2y ago

They don't even need superficially American news channels to get the American viewpoint, since the overwhelming bulk of Canadian "news" outfits other than the CBC are owned by American vulture capital firms, including all of the ones that advocated for the link tax.

pixl97 2y ago
Yea, really it seems the vast majority of privately owned news groups of any size are a means to control policy in a state/country.

photochemsyn 2y ago

Engaging in passive news consumption will quickly turn one into a brainwashed zombie. Active news searching on a specific topic you have some interest in and a at least a small amount of background knowledge as to where to look is a far more rewarding use of your limited time. e.g. site:oilprice.com canada | canadian Try it with ft.com or nytimes.com too. And then try it with rt.com and globaltimes.cn to get the Russian and Chinese spin. Somewhere in there you might get an accurate picture of reality - unless they're all on the same page about something they want to hide from public view. Don't forget to look at the negative space in the image.

akomtu 2y ago
American news outlets are like food chains who've figured out that if you serve junk food with tons of sugar and some addictive chemicals, your customers will turn into addicts.

bawolff 2y ago

To quote trudeau (sr) "Living next to you [America] is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt." Fact is, as a middle power country next to a super power, american politics has an inordinate impact on us, and we can't even complain to our local congresman, since obviously we dont have one.

parineum 2y ago
How does US policy tangibly affect Canada? Outside of NAFTA, what else is there? It seems like the worst thing that happens is a bunch of people threatening to move to Canada every 4 years.
- titanomachy 2y ago
  Canada probably wouldn’t have sent troops to Afghanistan if America hadn’t led the charge.
  - parineum 2y ago
    That was the Canadian governments choice.
    - bawolff 2y ago
      And the choice had consequences to the us/canada relationship (just like the choice not to go to iraq did). Such choices affect us policy to canada down the line.
  - Tiktaalik 2y ago
    That was a NATO obligation. We would have sent troops to Afghanistan if Netherlands was attacked too.
- belval 2y ago
  It's quite literally our main export partner. Entire industries in Canada (Airplanes, cars, wood) live and die by US policy.

boguscoder 2y ago

I wish this was mirrored and Americans would consume Canadian news instead of local news about Canada. Maybe some more ppl would build more nuanced understanding of how universal healthcare care works beyond “they all die in the waiting line”

spacephysics 2y ago
One step we can take for free markets in healthcare is to have transparency for medical procedures across all hospitals. You want to be allowed to take insurance money? Then you must report procedure costs for everything. This was pushed last administration but i dont believe theres any enforcement on it
pixl97 2y ago
I mean, American companies pay a LOT for that message too. If Americans started wanting affordable services, think of how much money the pharma CEOs would lose.
TMWNN 2y ago
>Maybe some more ppl would build more nuanced understanding of how universal healthcare care works beyond “they all die in the waiting line” You want nuance? An amazingly high portion of Canadians don't have a family doctor. <https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/despite-more-doctors-many-canadians-don-t-have-a-family-physician-report-1.4611149). In Atlantic Canada (Context for non-Canadians: The four easternmost provinces) it is impossible, repeat *impossible*, to get a family doctor if you don't have one. <https://web.archive.org/web/20190226051406/https://www.thetelegram.com/in-depth/doctor-shortage/what-we-learned-and-what-you-said-about-doctor-shortage-in-atlantic-canada-286436/ https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/despite-more-doctors-many-cana...>. It's one thing to have shortages in rural areas—that happens in the US too—but Halifax?!? I've heard the same occurs in Vancouver too, and am hearing more reports of the same in Ontario.

dtquad 2y ago

Annoying excessive coverage of US politics has been a thing in Denmark since 2008. Although nowadays we at least have the excuse that the US has replaced both China and Germany as our main trading partner and the Danish GDP probably fluctuates a little whenever the FDA looks in the direction of Novo Nordisk.

Eumenes 2y ago

The Canadian grown news is soo0ooo much better: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/cbc-paid-more-than-18-million-in-bonuses-in-2024-after-eliminating-hundreds-of-jobs https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/cbc-paid-more-than-18-mi...

morkalork 2y ago

Seeing bits of the DNC last week with celebrities like lil wayne making appearances, a packed stadium and whatnot, is there anything comparable in Canadian politics or even other parliamentary systems like the UK? American politics (and the news focused on it), is quintessentially American: big, loud and over the top.

brailsafe 2y ago
Ehhh not really, short election cycle. Federal politicians hold relatively low-key party and supporter events to drum up support, probably earlier this year than ever that I've seen, but it's nothing close to the scale of the DNC or w/e. We also have leader debates which I find fun to watch, but our politicians are more or less fancier regular citizens. Same with billionaires and other celebrities, we just couldn't be bothered, they go about their business and we mention we saw so and so.
switchbak 2y ago
We've got spending caps and short limits on election campaign length to avoid exactly the kind of insanity that is the American election cycle. I'm not sure it works 100%, but it does seem a little more sane.
- Ylpertnodi 2y ago
  Works where i am in the EU. Our national elections (I'm not a national, so I can't vote.. I just watch from the sidelines) had about 5% of the 'noise' of any US elections. For which i am eternally grateful. Fair play to the DNC, though. Their convention this year was very interesting. But - where are we at? Eighty days to suffer until the US elections? IMHO, it's way too much.
mythrwy 2y ago
I missed that convention. Did President Mountain Dew Camacho make an appearance with Lil Wayne by any chance? Or did the red circus convention get him (I understand they did get Hulk Hogan)?

Barrin92 2y ago

To some extent it's reasonable for Canadians, Europeans etc. to be interested in American politics, say on trade or foreign politics because it affects us in real ways especially these days with the world situation, but I also think we're honestly past 'peak Americana' culturally. Personally speaking being German, my father (60) was in the West Germany army, stationed in Canada and the US for a while, you can tell he was deeply influenced by how Americans live, what cars they drive, how their houses and kitchens look, what their aspirations are, etc. For my generation, already not the case having come of age during the 2000s, seemingly less so for people who are even younger. I think it's tempting to think America still has a big cultural influence because of how prevalent English is and the media, memes and mannerisms that come with it, but at a deep level I think people have become much less influenced by it. It's the kind of error people made on China, were they thought the internet and media would just turn all the young Chinese into de facto Americans. People today are more fluent in American news and culture but they're also much more capable of just ditching it.

zeroCalories 2y ago
I don't think we're past the peak. American companies are more important than ever, and American media dominates everything. Everything is centralizing in America, and that's why people are watching its news and adopting its culture wars. Every generation of Germans have less of an accent. China and India are not likely to become hegemons, but we could see LATAM become a larger player as the EU fades.
parineum 2y ago
> To some extent it's reasonable for Canadians, Europeans etc. to be interested in American politics, say on trade or foreign politics because it affects us in real ways especially these days with the world situation... That makes sense to me but I also don't actually see that happening in practice. Disclaimer, I'm American so I really don't know but, whenever I hear/read a foreign politician talking about a President (elect), they aren't talking about policy.

LeroyRaz 2y ago

I've noticed US culture war infecting Canadian university campuses. It's bizarre, and unhealthy.

blooalien 2y ago

Americans are consuming "unhealthy" amounts of American (and other) news.

PeterStuer 2y ago

So they keep tabs on the country that realy rules them? Sounds based to me.

penguin_booze 2y ago

TBH, we'll all do better with less of the US news.

mensetmanusman 2y ago

I wonder if it explains their massive levels of assisted suicide. Instead of dealing with their healthcare and community support problems and supporting people, it turns out to be much cheaper to just kill them. They just had to fire a bureaucrat who is recommending directly to veterans that they kill themselves.

schappim 2y ago

I completely agree; we have the same issue here in Australia. When I came home to find my elderly father watching Fox News, claiming that the election was stolen, I realised that the cable box parental controls might actually be for parents!

loceng 2y ago
I'd worry that this type of public announcement by a US ambassador is part of propaganda to manufacture consent for the Canadian government to either block select US "news," and/or promote select Canadian "news" - where many people don't realize that this current government already does censor/block news from organizations that are above a certain size.

karaterobot 2y ago

The U.S. is a TV show the whole world watches. It's not healthy for anybody on either side. The news is making everybody insane, and not making them particularly well-informed in the process.

wormius 2y ago

Dude must be from midwest, perfect midwest nice negging here: “I do think it is odd, particularly when I contrast it to the United States, where…virtually no one in the United States is paying any attention to Canadian politics,” he said.

AShyFig 2y ago

This is by design. Aside from the points raised by others on the reality of living next to the world's biggest superpower; our media landscape is fast becoming a monopoly. That monopoly is owned by Americans [1]. [1]. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham_Asset_Management https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham_Asset_Management

philipov 2y ago

That makes sense. Americans are also consuming unhealthy amounts of American news.

BadHumans 2y ago

Everyone should probably consume less news but what is happening in the US right now will have a dramatic effect on our northern neighbors so I don't think being informed on the happenings is the worst idea

brailsafe 2y ago
If you're constantly consuming American news, you might think so, but I'm skeptical anything sufficiently significant is so worth a Canadian occupying their mind with. > what is happening in the US right now will have a dramatic effect So... what is that and why would it have a dramatic effect? How do you define dramatic effect? We have our own issues that people are surprisingly uninformed about (to be fair, it's just an impression I get, I'm also only as informed as I am, there's only so much one can devote to it compared to the result), and yet deeply affected by. For example, a huge portion of people are affected by being priced out of having a home or even a stable life, yet they most likely couldn't name which level of government has authority over which (high level) facets of policy that might be related to that, or who any of the housing ministers are, and won't get off their ass to vote. I'm not convinced that for an average Canadian, other than getting something to talk about, it is or has been in recent memory at all useful to pay attention to American news, to such an extent that functionally zero aspect of most people's lives would have even a marginally different outcome having been completely ignorant. That's not to say that aren't _at_all_ useful things to keep up with depending on who you are, but it's wildly unlikely in my opinion that's going to come general news media.
mym1990 2y ago
Given the information on the "happenings" of US politics, what is someone to do with that information other than moan and groan?

ipaddr 2y ago

Canadian mainstream news sit left but think they are neutral/unbiased because all other mainstream orgs speak from the same narrative. In the US they admit bias (for some reason cnn tries to pretend to be neutral). Leslyn Lewis is Conservative the cbc wouldn't write an article on her. Canadian news is shallow and doesn't allow a diversity of ideas so people ignore it.

notadoc 2y ago

You really must consume your own domestic propaganda for maximum effectiveness, it's more targeted at you and your culture, customs, beliefs, biases, etc

epolanski 2y ago

Had a friend of my SO (we're both Italian) visit us for some days, she's Canadian in her 60s and she talked so much about US politics. I don't find talking politics much polite, especially because I believe you should first be politically active, with practical things, in your neighborhood and city first and worry about local problems that impact directly your life and those of your family. Then make the scope larger. But talking about politics of another country? I have my personal opinion that the death of newspapers, which were generally local in favor of internet media, which tends to talk about topics with the highest reach completely inverted the political priorities around the world. I swear in Italy more people can argue more about US politicians agendas and programs but can't name their mayor. Some people argue that the decisions taken at federal, global level matter more, yet many are unaware that the beautiful house they bought for the view is being discussed to be sold by the city to build houses or a waste dump or many other things that impact your life directly and on which you have yourself more impact than following a US presidential election. And I have endless examples, because in a small village like mine, with 4000 souls, most decisions impact your life. Waste management, funding for the school buses for kids, safety on local roads, etc. This is literally your every day life. But what people arguing? Whether AOC is too extreme or anti capitalist? It's all backwards. I find it sick.

refurb 2y ago

The US Ambassador should talk to the Canadian media then, because they cover the US news exhaustively.

486sx33 2y ago

…Because Trudeau eliminated Canadian news and controls it all by funding only what he likes and spews his narrative !

Tiktaalik 2y ago

This is absolutely true. It is wild how many people I know that can name a half a dozen or more notable American Senators, Congresspersons and politicians and yet have barely any working knowledge of even Federal Canadian politics let alone the (arguably more relevant to their daily lives) Provincial and Municipal political issues and persons. The quality level of the discourse is as you'd expect, very low!

chironjit 2y ago

This is unfortunately also true for lots of non-Canadians(that are not Americans). That includes me - the number one source of news i use is the NYT, and I think I can tell you more about American politics/politicians than I can about any other country

rffn 2y ago

Given that Canada is in America one would assume they consume much American news.