Canada: America’s Neighbor to the North - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 372

cumbered individualism, populism, mistrust of government, and political experiment. The
American outlook mistrusts government. In constructing their Constitution, Americans
tried to keep government at bay and in check by dividing power among the executive, le-
gislative, and judicial branches and by enacting a Bill of Rights protecting citizens against
their government. The American version of the American Revolution is a memory of an
abused people who overthrew the tyranny of a distant government. Canadian memory of
this event is of thirteen threatening and rebellious colonies to their south poised to strike at
Canada's peace and tranquility.
Canada's government is patterned on the British Parliament. The Prime Minister sits
in the legislature and comes to office by assembling a legislative majority. As long as he
keeps that majority, his powers are unchecked by a rival branch of government. He and his
(or her) majority have considerable latitude in legislating.
Americans are wary of government intruding into the workings of the marketplace.
Government controls over such things as urban development, consumer-safe goods, and
workplace safety have been accomplished only after protracted debate and compromise.
Canadians view their government as a benevolent enterprise that uses its authority to better
their lives. Government gave them free land to settle the West, built railroads to overcome
geography, and used its powers to fulfill a duty ( noblesse oblige ) to monitor the market-
place. Canadian novelist Robertson Davies sees Canadian government as a paradox: a so-
cialist monarchy. Canada is the North American pioneer in providing universal medical
services for its citizens. And in contrast to the American attempts at public housing for the
poor (high-rise buildings, acres of concrete and asphalt, and poverty communities in con-
centrated areas), Canadians offer low-rise housing for their poor and integrate them into
established neighborhoods.
WHAT IS THE CANADIAN OUTLOOK ON CIVIC OBLIGATION?
Tocqueville used the word individualism to best describe Americans' view of the world and
their obligations to that world. In rejecting the American Revolution, which Britons signi-
ficantly call the American Civil War, Canadians continued the English and French respect
for their upper classes and relied on those classes to live up to their social responsibilities
(again, noblesse oblige ). Tocqueville also observed that American individualism went hand
in fist with a drive for worldly and financial success. Contemporary observers link this syn-
drome of individualism and success to American crime. [305] Approximately 5 percent of
Americans are victims of crime each year. The American homicide rate has declined from
a high of 9.2 murders per 100,000 people to a more recent statistic of 6.5 percent. Canada's
homicide rate for 2010 was 1.62 per 100,000. The United States enjoys the dubious repu-
tation of executing more convicted felons than any other country, save China. Litigation
may also be an outcome of the American individualism-success syndrome. America has