Why is there such an imbalance of what Americans know about Canada vs What Canadians know about the US?

There are a number of reasons which could contribute to Americans not knowing the name of the Prime Minister of Canada. For starters, he's not the President of Canada, which would seem more familiar. What the heck is a Prime Minister anyway?

Second, Canada has a lot of trees. Perhaps they can't see him for the trees. Canada only has one land border, with the US.

Americans have to divide their attention between two countries, Canada and Mexico. Possibly another factor is the extent to which Americans and Canadians get their information from Google. If you google "Prime Minister Harper" you get 231,000 results.

If you google "President Obama" you get 86,500,000 results. So the Canadians have much more opportunity to read about the American president. Somewhat surprisingly, if you google "Prime Minister Harper" and Canada you get 96,400 results.

If you google "President Obama" and Canada you get 9,670,000 results, ten times as many. I wonder if this leads many people to think that President Obama is president of Canada too? But when you get right down to it, most Americans know that Canada has lots of trees, snow, and beer, and that its policemen wear red coats.

Isn't that enough?

It's just the media. It's not unique to Canada either. Canadians (like most people) enjoy television and movies.

You Yanks toss in all sorts of bits of history into your television and movie content. From photos to factual historical content (Forest Gump, Nixon, JFK, etc) you guys are very patriotic. Good on 'ya.

Since Canadians (and other folks around the world) enjoy movies and television so much... and because the U.S. Makes the best television and movies... well it's only natural that we pick up (and enjoy) the historical, economic, and social lessons that they contain. Some folks think that this means that Canadians loose part of their heritage. On the other hand, folks like me appreciate that Canada is made up of many different pieces and a big one of those is our connection to the U.S. We even have a very serious law up that is enforced by a crazy government group called the CRTC caled "CanCon".

This law and these folks force media outlets and providers to distribute Canadian content; depending on the specific medium, Canadian content must be distributed in a "fair" ratio! You can find out more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_content Here's a fun video of a Canadian comic asking folks from the U.S. Some pretty funny questions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhTZ_tgMUdo This is actually a video from a WHOLE SERIES of videos. Rick Mercer (the guy doing the interviewing) asks some pretty funny questions.

I can't find it right now, but he (of course) got some funny answers from Bush one time.

To some extent that would be true of the US and any other country, and also of any large country and a small neighbour. (Small not in geography of course when it comes to Canada, but population, economy etc! ) While it's sometimes upsetting to the citizens of the smaller neighbour, it's really pretty natural. There are more Americian TV shows, actors, musicians, businesses that are followed in Canada than the other way around.

How could there not be when America has vastly more people? In Europe there's a joke that goes something like this: "I can only name three famous Belgians, and two of them are fictional." Even if you are a well-informed well-travelled person, you may know who the Prime Minister of Great Britain is, and the President of France.

But do you know the equivalent for Holland or Norway? People in the US may be less informed about the outside world than people in some other countries, but possibly it's because the outside world doesn't impinge on their lives so much. I leave you with two facts to ponder... 1) During the run up to first Gulf War when there was a big international coalition with troops in the field, I saw a video of US troops being trained on who their allies were.

They were asked in their training: "Great Britain - friend or foe? " 2) There were people in housing projects of Chicago that had never heard of the Twin Towers until 9/11.

We need something like that. youtube.com/watch?v=_Rp9MXoBNL8.

As a french canadian, I can say the reason why know so much about America is well it's in our everyday lifes. But it's not really that we know so much about America, I doubt your average Canadian can name all your states, etc.. but ask us things about celebrities, politics and culture and you'll get an answer. Have you ever watched a Canadian television show?

Know any Canadian Bands? Ever had a poutine? It's not that they don't exist, but our "culture"( or whatever is left of it) Is being americanized.

Most of our tv channels are american (so when your president wants to make an announcement, it ruins our tv show too), our tabloids are about american celebrities and well we have all the same fashion brands, everyone wants an I phone.. etc.. But why American don't know much about us? Well thanks to some nice stereotyping, Beer, hockey and mounties. I bet your thinking I have a nice french accent der, eh?

There might be more trees in canada (thank god for that) But it doesn't mean people live in trees.. There are cities here too, most people live in cities. Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto.. Very big cities will all kinds of people. If only some americans could stop thinking they're number 1 and take the time to notice this country, they'd be very surprised.

But then again, I rather they not populated on our very green land :) (I would like to state, I have no issue with americans, just ignorance. ).

Canada is an exporting nation, it pays to know your customers. Turn on the Canadian national news and they will almost certainly be a story about the U.S. Anything that will affect out trade with the U.S.Like who is the president, whether he is a protectionist which way the congress is leaning is vitally important to our national interest. That's why we pay attention.As others have said the high degree of U.S.Media penetration into Canada also allows us to learn by osmosis.

The average American doesn't realize how important Canadian national resources are to their economy because we are a benign presence. This lack of knowledge also feeds Canadian's feeling of moral superiority when it comes to our neighbours to the south.My American friends, get a passport, come to Canada to visit and spend you Yankee bucks. We loves you, your TV and your money.

Please leave your handguns at home, rifles are ok because we got big hairy things* for you to shoot here and 25 lb. Lake trout to catch if you are fisherpeople. * - bear, deer, moose, chipmunk BUT ABSOLUTELY NO BUNNY HUNTING!

As a general stereotype, many Americans don't know much about most countries. Growing up in Indiana, I really didn't pay much attention to Canada because it didn't have much effect on me. I took several trips across the border, but never paid any attention to the politics, just the scenery (it is a beautiful country by the way).

Also, I think Canada is seen by many Americans to be "harmless", as in not a threat to the US either militarily or economically. So knowing about Canada's government doesn't rank very high. On the other side, America's government, culture, pretty much everything is world news (for better or for worse) There was a Jon Stewart piece recently where they were interviewing farmers in the countryside of Iran and Americans on the streets of a big city.

The Iranians could name pretty much all of our political figures and the Americans either didn't know the Iranian politicians or couldn't pronounce their names. But I think given a reason (a new Canadian friend, a trip to British Columbia, etc. ) most Americans would brush up quite quickly.

This is simple. Most Americans don't know, or care, much about what goes on in Canada because it does not affect them. Canada is a country with a population that is roughly a 10th of that of the United States.

The state of California contains more people than Canada, so it's simply not on the average person's radar just as, for example, senators from California aren't (unless you live in California). The U.S. Is so geographically and ethnically diverse, there is not as much of a desire to travel outside of the country. I consider myself a pretty culturally-savvy person.

I've traveled a lot, including to Canada, and I found it beautiful. Although, I *can* name more than one province, and I bet a majority of Americans can, I will admit that I have no idea who the current Prime Minister is. Knowing this information is just not of any relevance to me at all.In contrast, to the chagrin of some, the politics and popular culture of the U.S. Plays a major role worldwide.

When Canada starts producing the most popular films and music, becomes a military superpower, and has elections that are covered worldwide, I would be willing to bet that more people will be able to name the Prime Minister of Canada.

Well, Canada is not a superpower, and its not because the US are next to it that they know much about it. Most states don't even border Canada, and lots of Americans don't leave their state much, or else they don't tend to go to vacation in Canada (too cold, even though it can be hot in the summer).

Because Americans are only concerned with themselves and don't really care if they know their neighbors or not. We are a very egocentric country imho.

The short answer: The trees won’t let Americans see the forest behind! The long answer: In the west one ocean, in the east another ocean, in the south one Latin country they don´t understand, in the north another Anglo-French country they don´t understand, in the middle their president who guide the nation´s world wide leadership and doesn´t speak other language different than English, 270 congressman of which only 15% has a passport and a whole country of 300 million citizens not in the need to learn, communicate or interact with the rest of the world. No wonder why Americans don´t know much about Canada!

I think part of it is that so much of the Canadian population lives so close to the U.S. Border, that it more immediately effects them. This is not the case in the U.S.Our population is not concentrated by the Canadian border. Plus we have a lot of concerns with immigration from Mexico, so we tend to pay more attention to that neighbor.

While Canada may have invented things in the past, modern Canada doesn't have a visible role in the average American's life, but a decent percent of Americans see a Mexican every day.

The US is always the focus of many things and the US doesn't learn enough in school of Canada.

Canada's economy is completely dependent on America's economy. So Canadians carefully watch news of America's politics and economy: because the Canadian economy rises and falls with America's economy, like it or not. America has no such incentive to watch Canada's economy and politics.

Add to this, America's habitual isolationism and the failure to know anything at all about Canada or about any other country's politics and economy is a natural consequence. This will all change, of course: if Canada ever becomes the global superpower - or if the Canadian dollar is named as the benchmark international currency.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.