Unfortunately, many Canadians, like many Americans, like many Europeans, like many people in general, are intellectually lazy. Among the symptoms, in this country, too many, especially younger Canadians, define themselves in terms of not being American, rather than being Canadian, despite our exceptional history. Some Americans brag on their 'exceptionalism', Canadians who know their history, do not need to brag on their 'exceptionalism'; a look at history reveals it.
As for me and many Canadians, ours is a history, similar, but different from the US. You fought a war in 1776-83 for independence. My ancestors waged a battle in the British Parliament for a ‘responsible government’, the consequence being the birth of an independent country in 1867, achieved without war or much violence. (1837 'rebellions' in Upper and Lower Canada.)
You birthed the Monroe Doctrine and ‘manifest destiny’, the idea that ALL the Americas should be colonies of the US. From that Doctrine, you tried to conquer Canada, failed and as a result, in 1814, a small backwater town on the Potomac (Washington, DC) got put to the torch in response for your torching of a small backwater town on Lake Ontario called York (now Toronto) in 1813! In the end, the outnumbered Canadian militias and the small British army in Canada repulsed all the attacks, defending our country. Finally, when the Brits were free of the European war, Dolley and her beau, wisely realised that fighting the full force of the British Empire was a losing proposition, sued for peace, the Treaty of Ghent. What this little war also led to, was the creation of a Canadian identity, rather than a British colonial identity amongst Canadians.
The Monroe Doctrine and ‘manifest destiny’ led to the annexation of Texas from Mexico. The US loaded Texas (then a part of Mexico) with American settlers, then war broke out, with Mexico being outnumbered in Texas and the US eventually annexed Texas. Substitute ‘Russians’ for ‘Americans’, ‘Ukraine’ for ‘Mexico’ and ‘Crimea’ for ‘Texas’, and you have the current Russian adventure in Eastern Europe!
A stroke of a pen in 1833 freed slaves in all British colonies, including the Province of Canada. It did not take the deaths of 750,000 men, women and children in a brutal war, as it did in the US.
On the Great Plains, Canada expanded through unbroken peace treaties with First Nations, rather than wars and broken treaties. The exception to war being the Red River Rebellion of 1869-70 and the North-West Rebellion of 1885, led by a metis (half-breed French and Ojibwa), Louis Riel. The former led to the establishment of the Province of Manitoba and the latter led to M. Riel's brief but shocking (at least for him) encounter with a hangman's noose in 1885.
In both World Wars, Canada was in within one week, defending freedom for others, rather than the 2 years it took our southern friends to react. In WW1, 620,000 served in the CEF out of a population of 7.2 million. In WW2, over 1 million served in the Canadian Army, RCAF and RCN out of a population of 11 million. At war's end, Canada had the fourth-largest air force and third-largest naval surface fleet in the world. The lefties in the country try to spread the lie that Canada is a nation of 'peacekeepers', forgetting the past, that the Germans, especially during the '100 days', feared attack by the CEF more than attack by the French, Brits or Americans. Herr Schicklegruber remembered that in WW2.
Over time, all empires recede. It happened in ancient Egypt and ancient Rome, and after WW2 it happened to France and Great Britain. It is happening now to the American empire. Most empires die from internal rot and decadence. Europeans for the most part, began to succumb to secular humanism in the inter-war years. Canada, being a 'middle ground' between Europe and America, succumbed to this, and to immigration from the wrong places, especially beginning in the early 1960s. By God's Grace, we (Canada) have had a Christian Prime Minister who has been quietly holding the line against such folly. Unfortunately, the US has elected characters like Clinton and Obama, furthering the decadent destruction of the US.