{"id":1862,"date":"2026-07-01T15:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T15:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calexis.com\/?p=1862"},"modified":"2026-06-19T02:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T02:10:12","slug":"canadians-an-international-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calexis.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/01\/canadians-an-international-strength\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadians – We Are Our International Strength"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Canada has opened up its international business strategy to gain more international trade around the world while avoiding relying on the neighbouring US who has, in the past, been our most reliable and endlessly hungry neighbour, especially for our energy \u2013 oil and electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canada is rich in raw materials, ores, wood, fish, agricultural crops from wheat to lentils and so much more. We export a lot of these goods and Canada\u2019s trade profile features them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We do manufacture goods as well. These have added value over the raw materials we have because we add our expertise. We have a lot of expertise; this is highly underrated. Canadians have developed and invented many amazingly important things from technology like telephones, to drugs like penicillin, even Ozempic, to sports like basketball or hockey, even foods like poutine or putting pineapple on pizzas. Okay, forget the last one.<\/p>\n\n\n
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We have Canadians who excel in the arts, in music, in acting, in writing. Compared to other countries, we are less likely to scream from the rooftops about our achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it comes to international business, Canada also has a hidden strength \u2013 Canadians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canadians come pre-loaded, equipped with a range of benefits other countries\u2019 representative often do not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canadians come prepared with a higher level of education than most, with humility instead of entitlement, with perspective, and a willingness to learn. As a smaller country, they understand scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canadians can make decisions without hedging bets with too test markets. While we sound like USians and are often mistaken for them, we definitely are not. We don\u2019t have the built-in racism and biases. We don\u2019t carry a gun. We usually come with a more open mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While we may speak English or French and often another language, we also understand that other people have their own languages that they speak. Maybe our multicultural approach has helped. You cant always tell who the Canadians are. When I worked in South America, every Canadian in our ex-pat community, learned Spanish, fluent or passable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Few of the US folks ever did learn, feeling that people should simply learn English. The US folks that learned Spanish tended to have grown up with Spanish speaking nannies or had Spanish speaking wives. Some did make the effort; not many.<\/p>\n\n\n
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Canadians have done very well as employees of US and other international companies. The recent naming of General Mills new COO is just one of the most recent. Canadians have served, almost invisibly, as leaders of many US businesses. The list is long – and I won’t include Elon Musk as an example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canadian talent is in many fields and often not recognized as being Canadian. In sports, not just hockey but baseball, basketball, and many others. In music, in films, in writing. Canadian education, attitude and confidence is everywhere. Not loudly. With humility and confidence. As the smallest of the G7 in population, by quite a bit, Canadian attitude and influence is outsized. It just under-boasted. From a talent perspective, Canada plays out of its weight class. Canada is consistently ranked as one of the most respected and politest countries in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We should come out from the shadows and reawaken the pride we all have in being Canadian. Not in a loud and obnoxious way. That\u2019s not us. But in the cool, confident, steadfast, cooperative way we all look out for ourselves, as well as each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Years ago I was at a small wedding in Ireland. We were amongst almost all Irish attendees. I sat next to an Irish hotel owner at the dinner chatting. After about 10 minutes, he loudly exclaimed “Wait a minute! Wait a minute! You’re not an American are you!” I said, “No, I’m Canadian’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He continued unabated, as the Irish often do, “You’ve got to do a better job at being recognized. We love you guys, but we are very guarded about the other ones. And you both look at sound the same to us!” And with that change of mood, we continued our dinners and our conversation in a much more open tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our Canadian sense of responsibility for our communities is probably part of living in a more difficult physical environment where survival is not just a greedy rush but a fearless, collaborative effort where we all benefit. We are ingrained to be ready for difficult times and know we can’t do it alone. It is nice. We can help each other without fear of an ulterior motive. Our humility with other cultures could be because we grow up with multiple cultures that live together and cooperate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have seen self deprecating as a national trait long enough. We are respected. We are now entering a period of national confidence. Time to remind the world of our strengths – and it is in our people as well as physical goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Addendum<\/strong>: Here’s a little joke I heard: Someone from the US and someone from Canada are living together. The USian decides to wash their socks and announces it to the Canadian. First the US person makes the announcement complete with words like greatest, iconic, historic, unbelievable, legendary. Then they issue a press release, make postings on social media using similar verbiage with photos of themselves holding up their dirty socks and a video of them carrying an overflowing basket of their dirty clothes. After doing all this, they head to the laundry room where they find, in the meantime, their Canadian partner is already folding their second load of clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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