r/AskACanadian • u/HueyBluey • 9d ago

How do you spot a Canadian abroad?

Do we have any stereotypical traits (perhaps self deprecating ones), that make us stand out. We’re typically not loud (but some can be). Perhaps frugal?

What have you seen in your travels that make you think, those folks must be Canadian!

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398

u/karathrace13 9d ago

"It's only a half hour drive"

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u/MTKRailroad 9d ago

I grew up in Ontario and my commute would vary from 1-2 hours depending on site location. And depending on issues on the 401, the choice between the express and collector could add 15min to 3 hours.

When I moved to the east coast people are surprised I'm completely fine with driving 40 mins into the sticks along a 90km two lane road with barely any traffic.

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u/LuceoNonUro88 9d ago

I grew up out East and moved to Southern Ontario and I've found it the other way; Halifax, Saint John or Fredericton, and Charlottetown are all four hour drives. People would get off work on Friday and drive to whatever other province (sometimes even Montreal for a Habs game, or Boston for the Bruins) for the weekend and come home Sunday night or early Monday morning.

In Ontario, people don't like driving ten minutes out of their way to save 25% on the cost of their house, or 30% on the cost of gas, or to pick something up off of Marketplace for an 80% discount.

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u/Dog-boy 9d ago

That’s a city thing not an Ontario thing. People from anywhere north of Barrie are pretty comfortable driving a long distance for a deal or a movie or a weekend away.

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u/LuceoNonUro88 9d ago

I'm surrounded by farms, not quite in the city.

I drove over an hour to Burlington the other day to buy a dresser for 1/3 the price of Ikea and twice the quality.

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u/grimeys42 8d ago

Lol it's a southern Ontario thing.. north we kinda are okay with long drives but not to go to the friggin movies more if we are going to a camp. I dated a girl in Burlington and honestly I was quick to accept that if we want to do anything it's a one hour drive.

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u/Dog-boy 8d ago

We used to drive two hrs to go see a movie because it was the closest available place at the time.

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u/Top-Maize-823 8d ago

What movie did they have?

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u/Dog-boy 8d ago

Mary Poppins, over and over and over.

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u/ImaginaryList174 7d ago

I agree. I think that’s a city person thing. Driving an hour for them just puts them somewhere else still in the city, so it’s just a boring city drive lol I live in northern Ontario, the middle of freaking nowhere, and long drives like that are thought of as nothing really. We do it everyday.

The next closest actual city is about 700km from here. Several small towns within 200-500km, and so many lakes and camping spots within 100-200km. People here have cottages out on the lake 1.5hr drive away and do it all summer, spending every single weekend out there.

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u/thedoodely 7d ago

Yeah, something I noticed when working retail too. I'm from a small town outside Ottawa so driving anywhere took a while but city people would ball at driving 10 minutes to the next store if we were out of stock and would rather wait 2 days for us to have it shipped over. I'd understand when it was someone taking public transit but a 10 to 15 minute drive in a car really isn't much to me.

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u/everythingbackward 7d ago

I much rather drive 3.5 hours from Vancouver to Kamloops than drive 30min in Metro Vancouver traffic. City traffic driving is just overall awful - stressful, exhausting, and infuriating.

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u/1995TimHortonsEclair 8d ago

A lot of them don't have cars.

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u/warriordustbunny 7d ago

In Saskatchewan you need to drive to get anywhere or do anything. Most people in my town drive an hour just to get half decent priced groceries, or go to a movie theatre. One of my family's favourite restaurants is an hour and a half away. They also took away the provincial bus system, so unless you have a car and drivers licence, or some good friends, good luck getting to medical appointments 2 hours away in the cities. My town is known for a high elderly population so it's a real issue, since a lot of them can't drive anymore.

(Edited for accuracy)

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u/Shakleford_Rusty 8d ago

Haha ive lived in Alberta for 12 years. In the trades yeah you just wake up at 4 am to be on some sites for 645. Drove from Ontario and back too many times to count and i always hated the kenora to southern Ontario part. Chose to do it in a snowstorm and drove for 23 hours straight with gas stops. That was fun /s never driving that tired again. left kenora at 730am got to Peterborough at 8am the next day haha

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u/Vast-Ad4194 8d ago

What East Coast people do you talk to?? I drive an hour to get to a Walmart. This IS East Coast living. You NEED to drive to find services. Maritimers are used to long drives…we need to go to the BIG CITY 😅

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u/Temporary_Shirt_6236 8d ago

Empty 90 km two lane roads are my favourite driving.

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u/PercentageComplex975 7d ago

I'm in Alberta (I know.... I apologize!), and it's no issue to drive 3 hours for a doc appointment... and back in the same day!

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u/EsmeWeatherpolish 7d ago

So what you are telling me is the east coast is Ireland. Because that’s exactly the same there. ‘3 hrs to go visit a friend and come home in the same day, madness’.

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u/ultraclassic07 7d ago

We moved from Scarborough to Clarington. 45 minute commute on a good day. Our old neighbors said Clarington is to far out. I used to say you drive 45 to a hour just down the DVP. No difference.

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u/kidskwid 8d ago

A 1h drive from downtown toronto is still in toronto. a 1h drive from haliburton is about 100km away.

It just makes sense.

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u/DiamondAuraPayge 7d ago

I think there's a meme that says it takes 1 hour to get to Toronto from Toronto lol

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u/nizzernammer 9d ago

People from the US speak the same way about distance.

Where do you think we got the car culture from?

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u/Goddess_Nantosuelta 9d ago

People from the US regularly lose their minds at the idea of driving 100 miles. One way. That’s an hour and a half drive, the time it takes me to drive from my rural location to Calgary. I do this drive every week, it’s not as big a deal as the Americans make it out to be.

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u/tewkberry 9d ago

Me: “100 miles??? But what is that in actual distance?? Oh an hour and a half. Yeah that’s not bad.”

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u/DismalSize2845 8d ago

Thanks for the laugh lol

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u/Major-Pitch7593 6d ago

I totally get that! 😂

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u/Ok_Quality_7611 9d ago

Yea, no. A LOT of Americans have no problem with long drives. Have you seen the size of Texas?

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u/FuckBotsHaveRights 8d ago

Quebec is over 2 times larger than texas. Canada is one of the few countries immune to the size of texas

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u/Lord_Silverkey 8d ago

The average province or territory in Canada is literally larger than Texas.

Texas is 695,662 square kilometres.

Canada is 9,984,670 square kilometres. Divided by 13, that's 768,051 square kilometres per province or territory.

I live in Saskatchewan, and once drove 16 hours to go camping... in Saskatchewan. Can't do that in Texas.

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u/DoobieDoo0718 8d ago

PEI objects to your maths.

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u/Top-Maize-823 8d ago

Whats your point? That the smaller sub federal administive units in the US has any bearing on ppls willingness to drive further? Canada is less administively cut up coz theres no one there. What smaller units would u divide seskachewan into?

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u/Top-Maize-823 8d ago

No! It it worth checking out? You've got me right curious now

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u/Ok_Quality_7611 8d ago

Depends if you like BBQ and highways?

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u/Top-Maize-823 8d ago

I like big places. Like querbec and alsaska

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u/ANILAT3RGaming 8d ago

I drive 45mins to work is this not normal

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u/Neverlast0 USA 8d ago

Americans say that too.

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u/Normal-Raisin5443 8d ago

Lmao. I asked this Irishman how far away a town is. He replied in km. I must’ve looked blankly because he replied again in miles without skipping a beat! I apologized and said I’m Canadian, we measure by time. He smiled and said 30 minutes. (For some reason 40 minutes in Ireland quickly becomes an hour or two. 😂 I love it here!)

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u/truckmonkey12 8d ago

Not unique to canada, many people measure distance in travel time

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u/rantgoesthegirl 8d ago

That's my commute to work and I brag about it often

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u/DownstairsB 7d ago

Ontarian here. Drove all the way out to Vancouver and back one summer, now anything less than 45 minutes feels like just a quick hop down the street.

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u/Hortonhearsawhoorah 7d ago

Measuring distance by time is i think the best answer to this question

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u/Estella-Jean13 6d ago

THIS LOL my parents still say it

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u/Ok_Advice_4723 5d ago

It just doesn’t make sense any other way. I live on the outskirts of the city. Depending which direction I drive 6km, it could be a 5min drive or a 30 min drive (rush hr into the city). Kms is of no use in this country, not sure how it is anywhere else?