Answering YOUR questions about Canada! (History, politics, Quebec…)

[@juliegolick]

2:45 Please explain the 1980 and 1995 Quebec referendums 6:37 What are some of the distinguishing features of Canadian literature? 8:36 How does a federal election get called in Canada? 9:30 Why does Vancouver have such a large Chinese population? 10:01 What is the significance of the Hudson’s Bay Company? 13:12 In the US there is a huge difference between rural and urban communities - does the same hold true for Canada? 14:29 I was wondering if you could explain the cultural effect of rail transportation in Canada. In the US there is still plenty of fascination with old trains. 16:45 What are the differences and similarities between the CBC in Canada and PBS in the USA? 19:11 Are Canada’s provinces split into counties (or county-equivalents) like the United States, or do they have a different system of local government? 20:39 What is the general, non-partisan consensus about Justin Trudeau? Are many Canadians satisfied with his leadership or are they looking forward to a change?

[@wanrazul]

Did you get veneers, JJ?

[@linefrenette9116]

The stolen referendum of 1995 was a failure due to the cheating of the No Camp and the federal government.

[@jacobnavarro3675]

Learning the crazy history of Hudson Bay is like learning that Old Navy actually used to be a legit old navy.

[@kaiudall2583]

I had no idea Old Navy was a navy 🤯

[@bodhinorris2735]

as an american it was wild for me to hear that the Hudson bay companies still existed in a modern way lmao

[@SloppySpleenSplatter]

It's wasn't, that was just a hypothetical example to compare Hudson Bay to.@@kaiudall2583

[@hunterketch989]

@@kaiudall2583it’s not lol

[@kaiudall2583]

@@hunterketch989 thanks chief

[@AlexTenThousand]

Canadian literature is such a well-known downer that the ending to Anne of Green Gables is essentially Anne accepting that life is shit and there's not much she can do about it aside from having a positive attitude.

[@71lizgoeshardt]

I grew up on the Anne book series. The last one, "Rilla of Ingleside" focused on WWI and leaned very heavily into Canadian/British patriotism. Lots of tragedy and WWI-ness.

[@krislove1167]

I felt that. No, this isn't a 'doomer millennial' joke.

[@AlexTenThousand]

@@71lizgoeshardt there was also a prequel authorised by Lucy Maud Montgomery's heirs, "Before Green Gables", which is "Life is shit: the prequel". Anne really couldn't catch a breath.

[@RobertP.Trebor]

Anne of Green Gables discovers Buddhism

[@肉骨粉]

That's not a downer, it's just common sense.

[@canuckguy0313]

Majority-indigenous areas in the US also tend to buck the trend of rural areas voting conservative as well, with areas containing native reservations reliably voting Democrat. My theory is that ethnic minorities tend to lean left as social justice for minorities is a socially left phenomenon. I think this is a big reason why northern Canada votes left as well. Rural white = conservative, rural non-white = liberal. (I’m sure JJ will appreciate the extra data point that makes Canada and the US “basically the same country”.)

[@JollyOldCanuck]

The territories are also directly funded and administered by the federal government (there is some degree of self-governance in Nunavut), a left-wing government that is comfortable with increasing government spending is probably preferable to northern communities than a right-wing government that might implement austerity measures.

[@SamAronow]

See also Alaska, where rural areas are consistently more left-leaning than _urban_ areas. And also rural non-Anglophone parts of the US, like the Imperial Valley or South Texas.

[@nateh1135]

To be fair, the rural non-white demographic tends to vote for the New Democratic Party, which is even further to the left than the Liberal Party is. However, it's more about money than anything else.

[@Akrafena]

@@SamAronow bros everwhere

[@XetXetable]

@@SamAronow I think you're generalizing. There isn't really a correlation between Spanish speaking populations and left political leaning. Sticking to your example of Texas, the largest Spanish speaking populations are in Fort Worth and Houston. The former is both not in the south and is consistently right wing while the latter is the opposite. There are also rural counties like Presidio that don't have many Spanish speakers, relatively speaking, but still vote blue.

[@WM-ln4dz]

In the US, counties (parishes in Louisiana, boroughs in Alaska) are organs of the States, so they work slightly differently in different states. In most places, county leadership is directly elected, but there are areas where county leadership comes from cities, or where the county and city are the same (e.g. Jacksonville, FL). What is universal, is that state legislatures can create, destroy or merge counties, override county level rules, etc. In some states, the county directly provides services like Education, while other places have a School Board that is separately elected from the County leadership. In rural areas, the County often is the authority that coordinates services that typically a city would take care of like Police or Fire service, trash service (if applicable), etc.

[@stephkent2736]

In many US locations, counties are where the rubber meets the road - sales tax rates are set by state and county (ie here in the Cleveland area it’s 8% sales tax but if I travel 20 miles I can go down up to 1.5%. Income tax is also a big question at the county level - does the state collect and redistribute or are counties left holding the bag and have to collect to fund? Once again, the Cleveland area has lots of services so taxes have to be higher to fund things , whereas taxes are much lower in Holmes County where the Amish live pseudo-independent of the government. Study NY and it’s ability to push things onto counties vs Ohio home rule for counties and you’ll see two pretty far ends of the spectrum.

[@Jim-the-Engineer]

@@stephkent2736 In my home state, Maryland, it's even more complicated. There are "home rule" counties (generally the urbanized ones in the middle) and non-home rule counties (the rural ones east of the Chesapeake Bay and the far-west panhandle) Home rule counties have a County Council and County Executive, whereas the others have a Board of County Commissioners - all are elected, but in non-home rule Counties, the Commissioners are have much more limited powers and authorities - with the "bigger stuff" handled in Annapolis. City governments, and officials, don't automatically have any participation at the County level - in fact, the county I grew up in, Baltimore County, doesn't have any incorporated municipalities. (Baltimore City was once "in" Baltimore County, but became fully independent in 1851, and is considered a County equivalent.)

[@LiveFreeOrDieDH]

In most of New England, county governments have long ceased to exist, with their functions all handled at the municipal level. This is possible because unlike in many other states, there are no "unincorporated" areas; every square inch of land is part of a municipality.

[@shocktrauma85]

I'm in Maryland, where there are a lot of census designated places where the areas are run by their respective counties. For example, technically speaking, the second largest city would be Columbia at just over 100,000 but it is an unincorporated area/cdp directly controlled by Howard County. Baltimore City is an independent city just like every city in Virginia and not part of any county.

[@evanm5125]

Having lived for extended periods in three different regions, there’s some major differences in how they operate and how much power they have relative to municipal or state authorities, so it’s hard to say anything universal about them. It’s basically whatever the locality voted for

[@zugabdu1]

I remember sitting in the school library in my middle school in Florida in 1995 and hearing that the Quebec separatist referendum failed and being surprised that I hadn't even heard before that point about the fact that the big country next to ours almost broke up.

[@nateh1135]

I had a similar experience learning about Brexit---didn't know a vote was even happening until the day of.

[@obesia1873]

It wouldn't have broken up. Same that happen in Catalonia recently would have happened to Quebec. Canada would have refused the result and kept its claim over Quebec. The anglo Canadian population is not sympathetic towards Quebecois culture and selfdetermination to nationhood. Just look how they treated them and natives for centuries.

[@juwebles4352]

@@obesia1873 Did you conveniently forget the part where Quebec would be allowed to determine its own foreign policy. Sovereignty and autonomy within a larger state are two separate concepts. Also what do you mean "kept its claim over Quebec." the only way Canada would be able to suppress a Quebec that has a clear majority in favor of succession would be military action, something most average Canadians and the rest of the world wouldn't be keen on.

[@obesia1873]

@@juwebles4352 The average Canadian was against Quebec leaving and tends to be anti-Quebec as a whole. Not saying they support violence, but that they are comparable to the average Spaniard who has been too passive with their gov's treatment of Catalonia.

[@eliotguerin192]

I would say the GOP is mildly upset about PBS and NPR having leftist biases, but since PBS and NPR aren’t as dominant in the US as the CBC is in Canada, the issue is mostly left alone in favor of more urgent matters

[@bananenmusli2769]

more urgent matters like Hunter Biden's Laptop

[@crabser2253]

Npr is definitely higher up on the list than PBS. I remember some PBS controversy from a few years ago, but NPR is always getting bashed

[@onewingedangel9189]

NPR is one thing, but let's be real, if you think PBS is biased, you're the one that needs to re-evaluate things, not PBS.

[@manipulatortrash]

​@@bananenmusli2769tbf, even if it isnt as important as some interests may say it is, it most definitely was suppressed in the news media. News outlets on both sides of the aisle are just too political these days. Whether it be how they frame what they talk about or how transparent they are.

[@nonmagicmike723]

​@@bananenmusli2769 "Influence peddling" is the name of the game. Corruption of the highest order on the part of him and his dad, is what that crackhead's laptop revealed. And more has been revealed since then. Also, you can't pass any laws if you don't have the Senate or the White House. If all you have is the House, then all you can do is investigate.

[@Weezerand...]

Hey jj I feel like a series on Canada's relationship with other countries would be interesting.

[@Tomieluvr]

THIS

[@RealLooktea]

Canada's relationship with the world can be relatively easily understood through the diplomacy of three other countries: Britain, America and France. Canadian diplomacy is usually a question of: are we with the Americans, or not? and usually Britain and France's answer to this question, is Canada's.

[@dsxa918]

There's ostensibly been a significant amount of the value of the dollar that has gone to other countries, in different ways and UN / WHO / NATO all have their say about what this country does (with its money).

[@SamAronow]

Something I've noticed living in Israel is that there's a weirdly large number of places and institutions named after Canada; probably more than any other country. I'd be curious to know why that is.

[@volodyadykun6490]

Fun fact: Canada was second (on the same day with Poland) country to recognize Ukraine's independence. Probably because there are a lot of Ukrainians in Canada

[@kevinkelly2736]

Ah yes the three branches of Canadian government; history, politics, and Quebec.

[@Jaynevermore319]

A week or so ago my wife heard me watching one of your videos and said, “oh! You’re watching that one Canadian guy.” Exposition: She’s from Calgary, and I’m from Arkansas. Anyway, it dawned on me that you might just be my favorite KZbinr. I love to learn, and you facilitate that expertly.

[@aaronhutlet2177]

Hey JJ! As a Canadian (Manitoban) would love to see a video on some prairie provinces! Possibly explaining how the provinces were carved out of the territories. Manitoba has an interesting story with Louis Riel, would be intererested to hear your take on the matter!

[@canuckguy0313]

He did a video on Saskatchewan when he went there once but yes I’d like to see him come to Manitoba and talk about us!

[@graffity_x6624]

I am going for a High school year of exchange to Manitoba so I would be really interested as well!

[@diananeuman6222]

As a fellow Manitoban, I agree! We are the heart of the country. Our history is fascinating. We have a seaport, and commercial fishing, in a Prairie province! The rest of Canada ignores us or makes jokes about us, but we know how great we are. I think the problem is that we are truly the "jack of all trades" province. Mining, oil, agriculture. Music, dance, drama...forests, lakes. Beaches. And no one knows about us.

[@reddeercanoe]

Yes the province of Buffalo and why central Canada fragmented the prairies.

[@loloflac2667]

@@diananeuman6222Jack of all trades and heart of the country? Manitoba? Really?

[@jakejones6056]

Re: Chinese in BC. This is in large part due to Hong Kong's former role in the British Empire and vestiges thereof. Travel and immigration laws still favour Hong Kongers and same for a Canadians in HK.

[@markrichards6863]

From NYC, I think Montreal is the best big city in North America. It's beautiful, historic and clean, with top notch culture and food scenes. People are friendly and helpful. Public transportation is reliable. It has become one of my favorite destinations.

[@thelivetoad]

I knew the facts behind most of those answers but you always talk about things in a way that provides a nice perspective. I learn something even when I think I already know everything -- I'm usually wrong about the latter. Thought provoking.

[@JJMcCullough]

Thank you! This is what I like doing, I think people like hearing about what they already know, but with something extra

[@JrystalTyaeli]

One thing I'd add about trains in Canada is that they are still quite key in commerce. Tons of goods get shipped from the coast the major inland Canadian cities to be distributed on trucks. It would likely be prohibitively expensive for example to ship everything from Vancouver to Alberta/Saskatchewan on trucks so it makes economic sense to ship them on trains to Calgary, Edmonton or Regina then truck them from there.

[@JJMcCullough]

True

[@FrothingFanboy]

Winnipeg is a particularly heavy rail town, having the biggest rail yard in Canada (the Canadian National Railway or CN's Symington Yard), plus another huge yard (run by the other big railway, Canadian Pacific) right in the center of the city.

[@iamawesomesauce68]

My husband left Quebec very shortly after the 1995 referendum vote. He's Anglo and he said that it was really tense during that time.

[@gerardacronin334]

Thank you for the balanced presentation, JJ.

[@JJMcCullough]

My pleasure!

[@stewartbonner]

what "balanced"? he is stating historic and current facts, numbers, events. no "balance" enters into it. not everything is political by default.

[@stewartbonner]

@@brentlolacher3000 what "appeal"? no such thing needed or implied here.

[@cookie_jarz]

Why is the brand called President’s Choice when there’s only a PM?

[@Moicke_]

Loblaws is it’s own country and they have a president

[@JJMcCullough]

Because it’s the president of the company

[@SamAronow]

@@JJMcCullough A bit circular, don't you think? Why wold the president of the company choose another company?

[@JJMcCullough]

@@SamAronow I guess it implies the company makes a lot of crap that even the president himself doesn’t like

[@davidroddini1512]

Oh! So they didn’t get the input of the U.S. President?!

[@LongIslandCityLayout]

In the US, everybody knows what county they live in, but aside from the politically savvy, most people probably can’t name their county executive. The vast majority of government action that impacts peoples’ daily lives happens at the state and local level.

[@SamAronow]

There are some weird ones in Southern California, where the counties are laughably large and need to be broken up. Los Angeles County is effectively administered as seven separate counties.

[@Bacopa68]

Yeah, any interaction with local law enforcement will get you referred to a county office unless it's a niche violation of a muni ordinance. The original point of counties was to make districts that maintained courts and enforced laws.

[@SamAronow]

@@Bacopa68 Well, also your local Earl, which on the continent was a Count, but the idea of a Earl being the executive of a county ended with the Norman Conquest.

[@bjdon99]

In some states Counties are a big thing. I think in HI and VA, they are the lowest level of government for most residents, but in others they are not. In most of New England the counties are at most just judicial districts, where the local towns have split the states up completely and are the main level of government below the state in most matters. And the rest of the states fall somewhere in between. In Canada, Ontario and Quebec used to have counties but have evolved away from them. The Maritime provinces still have counties that have some governmental functions. The provinces to the West of Ontario all developed some version of rural or regional municipality governments, and were not laid out in County plots like the US West was when it was settled.

[@gabrielseaborn257]

Yeah in Canada I would wager most don't know the name of the district they live in, much less who represents them. In my experience they'll know the vague geographic/cultural region they live in, and that usually coincides with a political district/region, but not always.

[@gregorysmith3341]

J.J. has once again proven his worth as a primary go-to source for me on matters Canadian. I used to read the Globe & Mail, the Windsor Star, Maclean’s, etc. just to be informed about our neighbor to the North, but there are only so many subscriptions one can afford. As a former Detroit resident who often visited Ontario, I harbor a certain fondness for Canada, so I appreciate J.J.'s entertaining and informative work.

[@reddykilowatt]

I wish there was a Mexican equivalent to him. That is a country that Americans really need some educating about.

[@bjs301]

Very interesting video. I think Trudeau being seen as the lesser evil among the choices is typical of U.S. politics today, too. We are inundated with so much negative and scandalous information that it is difficult to really get behind any candidate.

[@dabomb199715]

What an absolute braindead take

[@daniellat5763]

Trudeau is not seen as the “lesser of all evils” among many Canadians. Lots of us see Trudeau as the worst leader we have ever seen in our country. At least in my lifetime. I’m in my 30s so I don’t know the history of all prime ministers, but most of my peers cannot stand him.

[@Hand-in-Shot_Productions]

As an American who's been watching this channel for a while, I found this quite informative! Now, I know a lot more about various political topics, from public approval (or lack thereof) about the current government to the non-standardization of "county" governments in Canada. Not only that, but I also learned a lot more about history, from the company-colony of the Hudson's Bay Company to the role railroads (a topic I'm interested in, as made evident by my other channel, SleepTrain456) played in causing major hotels to be built. Finally, I have learned more about culture, from the large Chinese population in Vancouver (kind of like the Chinatowns in the US, especially San Francisco) to the increasingly diverse literature of Canada. Thanks for the video!

[@glenmorrison8080]

Some thing like a decade ago I thought to myself "how do you things work up in Canada?", And since then I have been working to educate myself on Canadian civics and stuff like that, and your channel has been a good resource for that. I think a video like this sort of gets to the heart of what a lot of Americans think about Canada. Which is to say we don't really understand it, and are curious about how it works. I have said for some time at a basic Netflix series of documentaries on how Canada works would probably be pretty well watched down here. :)

[@dpcnreactions7062]

People who travel by train are not weirdos and it is a great way to see this country as I have personally done a couple of times on VIA Rail. In many places, the train is still the only way in or out of various places.

[@Vlasov45]

One thing about the railroads is that they used to basically be the industrial building block of the country, effectively taking over the role of the HBC. Canadian Pacific used to do everything from oil drilling to hotels, airline, telecommunications, forestry and a host of other stuff. As Crown Corporations they kind of exemplified the statist oligopoly development model that kind of still runs Canada to this day. There are maybe 30 families that really dominate in various geographies, which is something I'd love to see JJ do a video one. The Irvings, Pattersons, Shaws, Westons, Thompson, etc families of Canada.

[@Spudeaux]

Counties are pretty important in the US and while they seem pretty similar across the board from the places I've lived, there are differences from state to state. You have to learn whether the particular government service you need or are being charged taxes for is at the county or city level when you move to a new place. Things like vehicle registration, driver's license, voter registration, and schools tend to be at the county level in my experience. It also seems like the police department is usually part of the city government, while the sheriff is the county government.

[@hannahkozlovic1715]

I remember first hearing about Québécois separatism in elementary school, and I remember being genuinely scared about it as a kid and thinking it was going to be a huge problem in the future (despite living in BC on the opposite side of the country, lmao). It’s funny how moderate and reasonable the actual referendum and ideology was in comparison to the way my teacher made it sound, and the way I imagined it being as an uneducated kid.

[@anthonyrosique7965]

At the time it was big but I would say that it’s not even close to ever happen again. A lot of young people like me don’t see the point to separate anymore and the separatists are literally the most unpopular party in the province.

[@bremexperience]

@@anthonyrosique7965 PQ is back in business :)

[@aubertlachance6076]

​@@anthonyrosique7965 It's not true anymore. And I am also a young person that never had the chance to say anything about Québec's sovereignty and most people of my age just don't have any idea that it was even a real debate before they learned it in school. I think that since those separatist parties are gaining a lot of intention and will probably win the next election, if we show that it's still an actual question that we should ask ourselves as Québécois, people will tend to make an opinion for themselves for real. And also, since Legault is in my opinion, not super good, he's literally fueling the separatist parties arguments to become a country.

[@71lizgoeshardt]

I would love a video of "JJ's Canadian hottaéks". It would win awards, for sure.

[@JJMcCullough]

Everyone wants J.J.’s Canadian hot takes, but no one wants J.J’s Canadian hotcakes!!

[@fffrrraannkk]

@@JJMcCullough I must say that response was golden. Bravo.

[@jeepmega629]

I honestly don’t understand how you don’t have more subscribers dude, you cover such a wide range of interesting topics!

[@halfsourlizard9319]

Why do you spend any brainpower thinking about this? Why does it matter how popular channels that you enjoy are?

[@reddykilowatt]

@@halfsourlizard9319 Why do you spend any brainpower replying to this? Why does it matter to you why someone cares about how popular the channels they enjoy are?

[@halfsourlizard9319]

@@reddykilowatt I'm curious what motivates people and what incentives they respond to.

[@reddykilowatt]

@@halfsourlizard9319 lol sure you are. 😂😂

[@halfsourlizard9319]

@@reddykilowatt Having looked at the channels that you subscribe to, I see why that wouldn't compute for you.

[@JepMasta]

5:24 whenever I think of the Quebec independence movement, I always think of that bit from “the critic” where Jay Sherman fantasizes winning an Oscar and his speech says “I cannot be silent any longer on this subject. I am calling for independence for Quebec!” And we see a bunch of French Canadians at home chanting “Vive Jay Sherman! Vive Quebec!”

[@zachdehner2449]

As a 24 year old American i think a lot of people my age have a nostalgic feeling towards PBS. The children shows they had in the late 90’s and thru the 2000’s have definitely left a cultural impact on Gen Z. They had some bangers. I’m not sure if I’ve ever really seen any pushback to PBS from conservatives in America

[@JJMcCullough]

Republicans constantly demand cuts to its funding every time there’s budget negotiations.

[@zachdehner2449]

Damn really? Admitted I’m left leaning but in my day to day conversations with friends and other republican voters it’s never been brought up. Maybe the politicians push for it but I doubt many civilians even think about it

[@highway2heaven91]

That’s true for most Millennials as well and PBS’s children’s hits were pretty good throughout the 80s and 90s when their children’s division took off and got it’s own programming block in 1993. This continues to be the case today with PBS Kids getting it’s own separate channel.

[@daniellat5763]

I’m from Toronto, but PBS was a thing in my area too. I remember all those shows as a kid!

[@KingUnKaged]

C'mon, JJ. You've avoided it long enough. You're Canadian. It's time to do a housing/real estate video. The sooner you get it over with the sooner it'll be done. Everyone in Canada needs to talk about it publicly at least once. It's your turn.

[@JJMcCullough]

It’s such a boring issue

[@AntonWongVideo]

@@JJMcCullough rent a mansion for a couple hours and pretend to flex it as yours while you talk about decades of federal housing policy and the different approaches to it in the different provinces in regions. I can already see the rented lambo in the thumbnail!!

[@stewartbonner]

that would be boring.. no clicks so no point.

[@freakishuproar1168]

I genuinely had no idea the Hudson's Bay Company were retailers now. Seeing that store front with the name gave me a slightly incongruous feeling. It'd be like if the Hanseatic League still technically existed and ran a fast food chain - I'd like to think it'd be called Hansaburger :3

[@SamAronow]

You mean Lufthansa?

[@Bacopa68]

I recently learned that some license plates on cars in Germany have an "hs" on them to show their city was once part of the Hanseatic League.

[@bahnspotterEU]

@@Bacopa68 It's just an H, in front of the letter(s) that denotes the city. Bremen is "HB" for example, Stralsund is "HST", etc.

[@Bacopa68]

@@bahnspotterEU Thanks, so the "s" in the way I learned it was a placeholder for "stadt".

[@Christian_Martel]

As for Quebec’s County Regional Municipalities (MRCs), they are mostly located in rural areas. In major urban areas around Montreal, Quebec City and Gatineau, counties are matching big cities and the county level is effectively run by cities themselves. County governments in Quebec will usually run of behalf of their constituent local cities, regional services like water, police, fire protection, waste, etc. Also, due to Quebec’s unique civil law, the County governments are responsible, by law, to be the official civil register of real estate transactions and value assessment.

[@roneyandrade6287]

It's very interesting you mentioned Five Wives because I'm Ecuadorian and just last month read "Through the Gates of Splendor" which was a book written by one of the aforementioned five wives. Really recommend it

[@rodionmalovytsia1020]

I love the sound bite you have chosen for the "Industrial revolution" in your videos whenever it comes up. That click-clacking is weirdly satisfying.

[@virginlamo8202]

Man this guy has so many awards for his videos!

[@bigbird2200]

I’d love to see this become an ongoing series.

[@jayejaye62]

Just a little addition to your section on Hudson’s Bay Company that I thought would be important to note: earlier this year the Southern Chiefs organization was given possession of the flagship HBC building in Winnipeg. It’s set to become a Governance House for First Nations, as well as a space dedicated to reconciliation, whatever that may look like.

[@VonFels]

Moving from British Columbia to Alberta I was surprised to learn that Canada has counties. And that they are directly elected councils by the residents. They hold the same status and autonomy as a town or city here. And at least the one I work for has a movement of mayors that go on to become Members of Parliament (and vice versa.) All forms of municipal government here are also technically a cold of the state (well, I guess actually a child of the province) just like the provinces are a child of the federal government.

[@timkoziol2452]

15:50 Is the coolest 'eccentric weirdo' 😎. JJ needs to do a CPR history lesson 'via' rail with Downie! Ultimate BC collab. 👍👍

[@ruthiegwm]

I was not expecting these Canada questions to be so scholarly... I thought it would be more silly stuff. Nice detail, though!

[@fortunatejeremy]

I'm so glad CanLit is finally trending against narrowly presictable national themes. When i was studing English in uni I ways wondered why the Canadian stories studied were so often about "The Land." There were and are many Canadian authors who write about other things but the CanLit anthologies hadnt been updated in decades.

[@ztl2505]

Tying questions 7 and 8 together, Canadian Railroad Trilogy is an absolute banger of a folk ballad by Gordon Lightfoot that was commissioned by the CBC for the Canadian centennial in 1967. As an American that song is pretty much the only reason I know anything about the CP transcontinental.

[@benchoflemons398]

Jj’s Canadian hot takes should be the next video imo

[@Crow7878]

When you were talking about public broadcasting, I noticed that the #205 entry on the list of the GOP's enemies was "Darkwing Duck". I was watching one of the episodes of the great Ducktales reboot which had him on it, so that's probably why my mind jumped to it when I noticed the fraction of the letters you showed matched it.

[@Jiburley]

I wish I could pull random maps from the sky. Such a useful talent.

[@bencarter8423]

To answer your question about county governments here in the states, they basically carry jurisdiction in rural parts of the county. That’s where they are the arm of government that enforces laws, and responds to citizen needs as the closest level of government to the people. In that part of the country they also fix roads, take out trash, respond to weather emergencies, and basically do things that the city government is expected to do in their jurisdiction. In the city, the county government also has legal jurisdiction, but their authority is more of a support role to the city government. They do however run the jail and courthouse, and the most local level of prosecutors are usually county government operations.

[@wombatpandaa9774]

(American) I can confirm that I have zero idea how county politics works in the US, even my home state of NC, despite being a very politically involved and aware person.

[@TheAlexSchmidt]

I feel like the most famous building built by a Canadian railroad has to be the CN Tower, which the CN Railroad built on its old Toronto rail yards.

[@omnisel]

I want to say as a native of Washington state, that the HBC went as far south as the Columbia river, a fort named Fort Vancouver! (Vancouver - the Washington State one, not the British Columbia one - across the river from Portland Oregon).

[@omnisel]

It depends on what county your in and especially what cities it contains, but Americans tend to be very aware of what county they live in! In some places where there isn't a "big city", they might even identify with the county they live in as opposed to the town! Vancouver, for example, is in Clark county! (one of a dozen named that). Seattle, for example, is in King county, which is actually fairly common knowledge in Washington.

[@rajkaranvirk7525]

Columbia river is also in Canada as well.

[@omnisel]

@@rajkaranvirk7525 Which is why and how they got down that far, yeah.

[@LordBitememan]

On county level government: as far as I can tell it's not really very standardized, either between states or even within them. For instance I grew up in Oakland County, Michigan. It had a County Executive from the time I was born. I later moved to Macomb County, where we actually had to vote to create the same position within the county. Also the case in Michigan seems to be that County Executive is pretty much a position you slink away to when your political career is going nowhere. Famously the Oakland County executive L Brooks Patterson held the position for decades, but only ever once ran for a higher office where he was soundly defeated in the primaries. I have seen politicians run for County Drain Commissioner before running for County Executive (and in all fairness that's not a bad political move as drain commissioners get a lot of say over construction projects).

[@lilacsbby4787]

on the canadian literature question; “The Wars” by Timothy Findley is hands down, one of the BEST books that i have ever read. can’t recommend it enough.

[@JJMcCullough]

What’s it about?

[@lukesmith1818]

​@JJMcCullough it's about a Canadian cavalry units experience in ww1. The logistics of transporting troops and horses via ship is very vividly described

[@lilacsbby4787]

@@lukesmith1818 that is what it’s about at a base level, but it explores so many different themes throughout that really make it stand out, especially for the time that it was written. the main character’s own journey, growth, and position in the world (and how his experiences in the war affect him) are instrumental to how the story plays out. that still makes it sound basic and generic but that’s just an extremely brief description without getting into spoilers and specifics.

[@AaronOnTheTrails]

One little anecdote about how state & local governments work in the USA. When discussing this in political science classes I can't tell you how many times it was said "this is how it's done in 49 states, but in Louisiana...."

[@CeeJayLerod]

As someone who lived in Quebec during the '95 referendum, I can say that the feelings were Intense surrounding it. Especially for someone like me, who held a differing opinion from the majority of their peers (which is not easy as a teenager). Your description of it was very objective and neutral, which I very much appreciate. As for the concept of counties, it's definitely a weird one for me, as I've never really even recognized the concept. Especially since most said counties seemed to just merge into one big city around the end of the 90s - beginning of the 2000s.

[@lajya01]

It's one the reason the whole debate died out after that. The polarization reached such a level that population just got fed up with it and moved on with more day-to-day issues like healthcare and government budgets.

[@farhanislam7377]

Hey JJ, I'd really love to get your analysis of name stereotypes in American culture (and around the world if you can get good info). Things like "Karen" being an entitled middle-class white woman, "Chad" being a confident and athletic young man, and "Brittany" being an airheaded blonde. I think names are exactly the kind of mundane cultural phenomena that you have great insights on. Keep up the great work!

[@daniellat5763]

Those “name” stereotypes are exactly the same in Canada too. Has the same connotation & meaning. How that happened…well that’s a different story

[@calebfudrums]

Hey JJ! Canada did amazingly this year at the dragonboat world champs! Congrats!

[@Bacopa68]

Dragon boats are cool. We have a little dragon boat race at Allen's Landing here in Houston on Vietnamese New Year.

[@jan-Juta]

In Ontario we have counties too, they primarily operate to pool resources for public services like ambulances.

[@CaeserOct]

Loved the DownieLive reference. I know you create very different content but would love a collaboration as unlikely as that is despite you guys probably living a few miles of each other.

[@JJMcCullough]

We actually share a studio

[@CaeserOct]

@@JJMcCullough JJ replied to me! That’s pretty awesome. Hope that brings a future collab “Canada’s Foreign Ministers While Going Across Manitoba by Train”.

[@osmia]

Learned lots. This was a great one to see come up. Thanks for filming it

[@benjamincloutier4553]

I love when JJ willfully ignores major events that makes Canada look worse when talking about Quebec separatism like the Night of long knives. So cool!

[@JJMcCullough]

You don’t know what you’re talking about

[@benjamincloutier4553]

@@JJMcCullough The federal government of PET signed the constitution without Lévesque’s knowledge effectively excluding Québec from the constitution. This is why we got the Lake Meech and Charlottetown accords, Mulroney’s effort to correct that. So, it’s a pretty important to the context of both referendums. This is literally part of Quebec’s high school curriculum and you don’t seem to be aware of it.

[@isabellebreton8284]

are you surprised?

[@JJMcCullough]

@@benjamincloutier4553 They did not "sign the constitution without Levesque's knowledge." And in any case I explicitly mentioned the constitutional discussions that took place in the 1980s and 90s to address Quebec's concerns, and that the failure of those negotiations led to the '95 referendum. It is impossible for the so-called "Knight of the Long Knives" to have contributed to the holding of the 1980 referendum, which happened two years before the constitution was patriated.

[@benjamincloutier4553]

@@JJMcCullough 1. Sure they didn’t sign the constitution without him. PET and the premiers of the other provinces did however agree on the terms of the constitution IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT (clearly an attempt to exclude Lévesque from the conversation). 2. You never mention this event in your video, so your audience has no idea what are "Quebec’s concerns" related to. 3. I know very well that the Night of Long Knives happened after the 1980 referendum, changing the constitution was the main promise made by PET during the referendum campaign. Idk if I was to promise a new constitutional project to Quebec, I wouldn’t stab them in the back 2 years late , but that’s just me.

[@richdobbs6595]

Found memories of staying at the Baniff Springs Hotel for a snow boarding trip in the early 2000's. The weather was incredilby cold, but layers upon layers of fleece resulted in no memories of actually getting cold. The snow was great.

[@jarrodmarx9873]

In the US we also have diverse levels of county governance, and in fact some states such as my home state of Connecticut don’t have any at all due to its dissolution :) so at least in Connecticut, the state government is the next level of government above our town/city governments (though the counties still exist, but functionally in name only).

[@ninjaconsultantsixshot]

Speaking of Canadian writers. A few prominent successful current comic book writers are Canadian like Jeff Lemire, Chip Zdarsky (current writer of the main Batman title), Mariko Tamaki, Bryan Lee O’Malley (creator of Scott Pilgrim), etc.

[@Will0398]

The best PBS show is Arthur. You can’t change my mind.

[@JakeRoot]

HBC also extended into Washington State; Fort Nisqually and Fort Vancouver were both built by Hudson’s Bay Company. Fort Nisqually’s granary is the oldest structure in Washington State.

[@mbogucki1]

The hilarious and rather tragic fact about all those "nostalgic" products in Hudson Bay stores is that 99% of them are made in, you guessed it, China. Rather sad that we as Canadians can't even make blankets or cups here at home as they would make very nice souvenirs from Canadas past. Also the CBC is way more related to the BBC than PBS.

[@Ryan-Petre]

I'm fine with Canada having little internal manufacturing, Global trade being what it is, but you're right for products where the principle appeal is sentimental value, being made in low cost labor countries definitely hurts it.

[@FrothingFanboy]

The 1%, Hudson Bay's iconic Point Blanket, is made in England, and is of appropriately high quality and price.

[@kingding-a-ling9794]

JJ's hot take on Canada is what got me HOOKED on this channel

[@eyezak_m]

I was intrigued by your take on Canadian Railways. I would be curious if you would ever do a video on Public Transportation in Canada overall. Especially with the younger generation's appeal to using transit and trains more often that previous generations have.

[@gailism]

Hi J.J.! Really appreciate you mentioning the territorial & provincial norths, as (understandably) we northerners are often overlooked in any discussion of Canadian politics. A quick note on the provincial norths being left-leaning: this is not only because of the relatively higher Indigenous populations, but also because many northern economies revolve around blue collar work-mining & forestry especially.

[@larrybxl5406]

well done segment, facts were clearly described/explained

[@mind-of-neo]

I love these sorts of videos! Thanks for answering all these great questions.

[@marcello7781]

The more I watch J.J. McCullough the more I want to go to Canada.

[@h.y.w.6932]

Lol! The shoutout to DownieLive in the train section made me happy to see. 😂

[@FatNorthernBigot]

I recently saw the movie "Moose Love III: Hold My Antlers". Is this Canada's greatest creative endeavour?

[@italiansoutherner]

Fun Fact: Regarding county executives, Spiro Agnew, our 39th Vice President, went from County Executive of Baltimore County (in Maryland) to Governor of Maryland and then to VP. He might have become President outright had it not been for controversy surrounding corruption he engaged in throughout his career.

[@thoyo]

6 seconds in Absolutely no one: ... J.J.: "a boot"

[@DanielHerrera-rl1vw]

We have counties - and within the county, you have incorporated cities and one of these is usually the county seat. Within the county, you also have unincorporated communities called a census-designated place some are rural and some are not - and typically in large metro areas, many counties are anchored by whatever big city is near them - the sphere of influence. For example, the Sacramento metropolitan area where I live has several counties within it but are all under the sphere of influence of Sacramento.

[@DatTrashCat]

Calling out DownieLive actually made me cackle out loud

[@SylviusTheMad]

I remember Hudson Bay Oil & Gas. H-BOG, as it was known, was a significant player in oil exploration and production in until about 1980, when it was acquired by Dome Petroleum (which itself was acquired by the Amoco - Standard Oil of Oklahoma - about 7 years later.

[@SamAronow]

Canada should get serious about passenger rail again. You can frame it as a way to be morally superior to the US as the US starts getting its own act together on the issue.

[@williamcoleman8731]

County government in Ontario can get a lot more complicated! There are regional municipalities, like you mentioned (typically more urban areas, possibly made up of multiple towns and cities). There are also counties, which are typically larger and made up primarily of small towns and rural communities. There are also single tier cities that fall directly under provincial jurisdiction. And sometimes a single tier city can be located within a county but be somewhat independent from it (eg. Guelph, ON is within Wellington County, but is mostly separate from it).

[@Christian_Martel]

Very similar to Quebec, actually.

[@yengyang4870]

JJ, blink twice if Bill C-18 and C-11 is holding you hostage on the next video. So we will know. 😅😂

[@finneganmanthe8984]

I think counties in the United States are a lot more important and known than he gave it credit for (although he did say he didn’t know much about them). In most States, city (municipal) government only covers certain areas, while counties cover all areas. For example in my home county of Washington County, Oregon, some of it is covered by the cities of Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro etc. but most of it is unincorporated, even in some suburban areas, and in those places the county government provides the Police and roads and stuff. Cities often go across county borders (Portland is in 3) and sometimes large enough cities will become a merged city-county government (Denver is one of these). It might work a little different in other states (you guys are gonna have to tell me) but that’s how it is here in Oregon

[@sempersuffragium9951]

JJ should really do a video on the regional government in Canada. It just seems like such un overlooked topic

[@JJMcCullough]

I don’t think it’s that interesting

[@IkeOkerekeNews]

​@@JJMcCullough Its interesting to me.

[@sempersuffragium9951]

@@JJMcCullough I find it very interesting, hoever I do concede, that I might be the outlier here Tell you what: you should do it on nebula. Maybe that would get me to migrate

[@admiralawesome2012]

​@@JJMcCulloughbruh, obscure canadian topics are your bread and butter.

[@reddykilowatt]

wait until they do something he doesn’t like. then you’ll never hear the end of it. 😂😂

[@MStonewallC]

There is variation in how counties operate in the USA too. In Connecticut they're almost ceremonial with very few responsibilities, but in California counties operate their own jail systems, law enforcement, maintain certain roads, administer state social programs, etc etc etc

[@graycin3391]

Trailer park boys video or segment soon plz

[@shuriflwrs]

i love the use of sound effects in your video (especially the DKC ones haha) really love your content man!!❤

[@ajisagoodname]

I would love to see a video talking about how cities in the US and Canada changed so much from walkable cities to very car oriented ones we see today

[@gfin4576]

he just doesn't stop winning. very good fairly non politicized answers. I am very happy with this honestly.

[@Ottawajames]

Anyone watching this video please take the contents with a grain of salt. JJ McCullough often presents his opinions as facts.

[@JJMcCullough]

Such as?

[@Ottawajames]

@@JJMcCullough such as your opinions on the purpose of the Senate, which you presented as fact to a room full of newcomers. There's also your opinions about Quebec.

[@JJMcCullough]

@@Ottawajames what opinions?

[@davidb708]

Looking forward to a JJ's Canadian hot takes video soon hopefully

[@patricklippert8345]

Following up on the literature question and in a similar vein as the school lunch video, what do Canada and other countries have as required reading in their literature classes?

[@JJMcCullough]

It’s a good question. I’m sure things have changed a lot since I was in high school, but we did lord of the flies, catcher in the rye, the outsiders, and probably some others I cannot remember.

[@Ryan-Petre]

When I was in High School in the mid 10's it was To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter, Handmaid's Tale, The Great Gatsby ect.

[@carmenrachelweigel4520]

Northern Ontario kid here! We had Lord of the flies and to kill a mockingbird. We did not have Hand maids tale, but I wish we had. I think it was too spicy for our relatively conservative area.

[@geoffrymcgary]

Loved the Downie drop that's a fun channel

[@Bacopa68]

Always good to see a video like this. I've always had a hard time believing Canada exists. Mexico makes sense and is a few hours drive away. But Canada? Exotic to the point it seems like a made up place.

[@cheynworn3496]

Hi JJ, great video, very well explained/researched as usual! I thought about your question about counties and I have a bit to add about their role in the US. Their role varies heavily from state to state; in small states like Connecticut, counties can be purely ceremonial, but they are more important in Texas and other less densely populated states, where cities can be far apart; in Texas (I live in Harris county!), counties essentially function as local administrative branches of the state. They collect state taxes (mainly property and vehicle registration, among others) and administer services, such as road rebuilding and repair, mosquito spraying, flood control, non-city fire departments, census-taking, county police and courts, voting, park maintenance, among others. Counties here are run by a commissioners' court headed by the county judge; despite the names, none of these elected positions do anything judicial, weird names but they're essentially "just" a board that administers funds and things. Some important administrators (such as the clerk, treasurer, etc.) are also elected positions. I also wanted to share an old but interesting video about "what Harris County does" - kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5mYYpWeq5irqdE

[@Moicke_]

JJ, my friend recently told me that Vancouver has an issue with Irish people (lots of stores even preventing their employment) during the summer. I’d love to see something about the topic! Maybe something on Canada’s diverse minority population more generally.

[@victorlucy2355]

I am from Vancouver and I think that was more just your friend, not about Irish people.

[@JJMcCullough]

There is no issue with Irish people in Vancouver.

[@rod9829]

No dogs or Irish lol

[@waynejohnson1786]

Racism against Irish people is basically non-existent in North America nowadays. The whole “Help wanted - No Irish need apply” is something from the 1800s 😂

[@mma0911]

I see a lot of visitors in the summer but not discrimination

[@Gur7910]

I was actually lucky enough to STAY IN the Cheateau Lake Louise a while ago. :)

[@BS-vx8dg]

J.J., doing what he can to make the CRTC happy.

[@Christian_Martel]

I did vote in the 1995 Referendum. I remember it was the Monday of my university midterm break week. Few of my friends and I all voted before going to the woods hunting for 5 days. Among our group there was 2 Yes for 1 No. There was intense discussions a couple of times, but always civil. Where we heard the results that night on the only AM station we could get, we turn off the radio and we realized no matter the decision we were friends anyways. The result set the question for two or three generations at least.