O Canada, eh!

I had the good fortune to spend most of the week in Quebec City.
It was a complete change of climate. Not only did Quebec register a frosty 32F, to the balmy 70s of my current Virginia plantation, but life, as we live it in the US, seems to be totally lost in translation.
Up here, in La Belle Province, no GWOT, no paranoia, no orange alert, no fear.
Our Canadian neighbors have already had their "fire the bums" catharsis. They voted the Liberals out of power, and the Conservatives in. Only now, they have noticed their PM, Stephen Harper, is trying to be a small GW. His popularity instantly descended to the level of his model's.
I worked in the National Assembly building of the Quebec parliament. There , one party aims to achieve independence for Quebec. The opposition party wants to keep the Province within the Federation.
Quebec, with over 7 million inhabitants, and 7 times the size of France, would be a very prosperous country of its own. Hydropower alone makes it energy independent already.
Canada's economy is at a very enviable place right now. The Loony (Canadian $), is worth over 90 US cents. Universal health care, free college education, and a very strong immigration makes it a very good place to live.
Canadians have an ambiguous relationship with their non-metric neighbor to the south. They wish they could build a wall to prevent the smuggling of drugs, weapons, and the general onslaught of American culture. But they think a wall between countries is a repugnant affair, would be too expensive, and useless. American retirees would always find a way to overcome it to get their cheap Canadian medicine anyway.
The same baby boomers who fled the Vietnam war to Canada in the 60's are now retracing the same path to get their meds.
As one RCMP officer told me: "Meme si on construisait un mur de 8 pieds, ces sacres tabernak des Etats iront acheter des echelles de 9 pieds a Wal-Mart."