Canada vs. USA

What’s the difference..

Health Care

In 2006, 70% of health care spending in Canada was financed by government, versus 46% in the United States. Total government spending per capita in the U.S. on health care was 23% higher than Canadian government spending, and U.S. government expenditureon health care was just under 83% of total Canadian

spending (public and private).Life expectancy is longer in Canada than the US (the average life expectancy for Canadians was 80.34 years compared with 78.6 years for residents of the U.S).

Flag/AnthemThe Canadian and American anthems are very similar in which they both represent pride in their countries people, land, and history. The difference is that the Canadian anthem speaks more of our countries hearts and beautiful land that we all cherish and protect. The American anthem articulates their countries history and gives recognition to it’s hardships and triumphs ( such as referring to “ the bombs bursting in air” and “our flag was still there”).

How America gained independence from Britain

Written by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence announced the American colonies' independence from Britain. The American Revolution had been underway for more than a year before the Congress took steps to formally break with England. Jefferson was tasked with drafting a document which would lay out the colonist's grievances with King George III, and make the case that the king's own actions had led them to dissolve their political bonds to the crown.

Thomas Jefferson

How Canada gained independence from Britain

On July 1, 1867, with the coming into force of the British North America Act (enacted by the British Parliament), the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia became a federated kingdom in its own right. The term dominion was chosen to indicate Canada's status as a self-governing colony of the British Empire, the first time it was used in reference to a country.

John A. Macdonald became the first prime minister of Canada.

Official languagesIt is estimated that some 4 000 words and expressions in common use in Canada today either do not exist or are used differently in the US. These differences are reflected in the way the English is written, so that variations in spelling and punctuation surface.

Noah Webster (1758-1843), author of The American Spelling Book, first published in 1783 and his later American Dictionary of the English Language, enormously influenced American spelling. He introduced typical spellings as honor, color, traveler, defense, offense, center, theater, ax, plow, and jail. Whereas the difference to Canadians is we spell:

HonorDefenseTheaterAxPlow

HonourDefenceTheatreAxe Plough

American Canadian

The Difference.....

....Is that even though Canada and the US are neighbours who greatly influence each other’s cultures, it’s the little things that break us apart. Like the hidden subtleties in how we spell and pronunciate. Or how we have a Prime Minister instead of a President. But the one major factor that outs us apart is our health care system. Anyone in Canada can walk into a hospital/clinic and get treated whereas in the US this is not available to them. All in all, I believe Canada and the United States are very different.

Bibliography• Http://www.history.com/topics/declaration-of-independence • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Canada• http://www.scribd.com/doc/7252244/A-to-Zed-A-to-Zee-A-Gu

ide-to-the-Differences-Between-British-and-American-English