Canada - US "never more different"

Frank McKenna, former premier of New Brunswick, is Canada's new Ambassador to the US, and in an appearance before the Commons Foreign Relations committee had a few interesting things to say about relations between the two countries.

"I don't think I've ever seen the countries, in many ways, more different," McKenna told the committee. "We're going in a very different direction from the United States of America." By example, he cited legislative measures such as same-sex marriage, gun control and pot decriminalization. And he said Canada's "whole approach with respect to preserving the social structure, social security in Canada, is dramatically different from the direction of the United States of America.

"We just seem to be much further apart than we've ever been before. So my view is Canadians have done a good job of protecting our cultural integrity and our sovereignty."

Now we Canadians are obsessed with defining ourselves in opposition to the US, and we habitually think of ourselves as morally superior. But is it really true that the measure of how we are "protecting our cultureal integrity and our sovereignty" is that the liberal government has veered sharply to the left on marriage, drugs, and the role of the state?