The 51st State of USA

The immigration officer at Toronto airport is friendly, even though I was selected for special interview.
"When are you going back?"
"In weeks time"
"OK.. enjoy your stay here. The weather is nice this time of the year"
"Who are you kidding? At 7 degrees Celsius, hazy sky and rains you have to be high on Canada Dry to think 'beautiful'", of course I did not say this. I am more polite with "Thank you".

Cab driver wants to make sure that I will pay cash. He is not interested in card payments and wouldn't run meter. He explains me the difference between Canadian dollar and US dollar at great length. The radio in cab plays commentary on Dallas Cowboys; I am curious... big mistake.
"Why are you listening to US NFL?" [it is like me watching Judo matches in Japan.. no interest and no attachment] "Did you think I was interested?", my global American English accent(!) is deceiving at a times.
"No", it turns out mon chauffeur is really interested in US NFL.
"What is Canada's favourite game then?"
"Ice Hockey" [my favourite part, players can actually hit each other with sticks for 3-min penalty]
"What about [American]football?"
"Oh yeah, we have CFL, CBL, CBA"... OK so replace N with C and it becomes Canadian? Figures...and all this time I was thinking Canada was a different country.
"Don't you have this bilingual requirement of boards being in English and French?"
"Yes, but that is more outside Toronto", all right my inadequate knowledge slip is showing now.

In hotel room the radio is playing Malyali and Hindi songs, ahhh welcome to NRI-land. The TV is showing all American ads and shows, including The Simpsons. I thought may be this is just Sunday evening thing. Next day the local newspaper - The Globe and Mail ("worldwide coverage with Canadian perspective") has front page photo of American Football player. California Wild fire is the most prominent news. The city mayor is way down in the bottom with feeble attempts of making news for Canadians obsessed with what is happening in the 'south of the border'. Okay... I am getting this now. So my next test is in the coffee shop.
"Do you accept US Dollars?"
"Not really, but we can make arrangements", right, you pass the test Ms. Average Jane Canadian.
This was my first impression of Canada. Never been there before, so I always had this different country picture in my mind. In reality it almost looks like another state of US sharing Lake Ontario on border. The road signs are green with white lettering and in English, in Toronto at least. Some of the merchandise comes with bi-lingual notices but mostly people simply speak English with accent. Almost everything from TV to newspapers is covering the American news (OK.. barring few about Quebec wanting to declare independence from rest of the Canada - and given the US obsession of rest of the Canadians, I would not blame them!). Even the CN Tower of Toronto looks copied over from Seattle Space needle.

I wonder what makes Canada call itself different from US. It has similar history (immigrants outnumbering natives and settling in) and is same old cultural melting pot of the world due to immigration. The continent of North American really contains only one country and that is USA. Canada is just another state with some French speaking people, colorful currency and friendly immigration staff.

I think US had it all figured out, they even made the 51 stars flag for such situations, and they love ice hockey too!