Canadian Bacon pocks fun at both the United States and Canada and their relationship.  With the Cold war over, the approval rating of the president of the United States (played by Alan Alda) is falling in the polls so the National Security advisor (Kevin Pollak) concocts a scheme to make Canada the aggressor in a war against the United States.  Niagara Falls, New York, sheriff Bud B. Boomer (played by Canadian John Candy), takes the Canadian threat seriously and with three deputies invades Canada.  I can imagine John Candy loved making this movie.  It is a comedy that fits his style; it also creates laughs at both the expense of Canadians and Americans. But maybe you have to have a weird Canadian sense of humor to really appreciate this movie. Americans (on imdb.com) rated it only 5.3 of 10.

I showed the movie to a class of American students and asked them to identify the cultural characteristics, true or false, about Canada and Canadians.  My students came up with two: Canadians say "aboot" and "eh."  I came up with 71 distinctive characteristics shown in the movie (many of which are not true). Maybe you can suggest some I missed. (Excuse the duplicates. Just being polite.)

Here is my list:
1. Hockey players sing "Oh Canada," out of tune but with gusto.
2. The beaver is a great Canadian symbol.  The hockey team is called the Ontario Beavers.
3. Canadians wear toques and ear muffs.
4. At the hockey game Canadian are polite and Americans rowdy, until Canadian pride is insulted.
5. Candy insults the Canadians by saying their beer (Molson's Canadian) sucks.  Canadians love their beer which has 5% alcohol compared to U.S. 3%.
6. Hockey players brawl -- and a fight over beer is as good an excuse as any.
7. Canadians have an inferiority complex which they compensated for by building the biggest freestanding structure in the world, the CN Tower in Toronto.
8. Canadians have ruined the lives of Americans by adopting the metric system and introducing Neil Young to the music scene.
9. Canada is like -- what -- a 51st state.
10. Canada is free from crime and minorities.
11. Canada is run by socialists, with free medical, free college, eyeglasses, and condoms
12. Canada and snow are intricately tied together so "wake up and smell the snow."
13. Canada is the 2nd largest country in the world.
14. Canadians walk freely across the border, and are undetected among Americans.
15.  Canada eliminated the Miss Canada contest. Shame.
16. Canadians are polite.
17. Canada is freezing, snow covered, and Canadians drive dog sleds.
18. Canada owns more of the U.S. than any other country.
19. Canada's military is built and supplied by the U.S.
20. There is no Canadian culture.
21. But Canada is a leader in Zamboni technology.
22. Canadians put mayonnaise on everything.
23. It snows 11 months out of the year in Canada.
24. Canadians listen to Ann Murray all day.
25.  Canadians are identified by skates, Canadian beer and maple syrup.
26.  A war with Canada would be over in a matter of days.
27.  If you want to imitate Canadians wear fur collars and maple leaf hats.
28. 90% of the Canadian population is amassed on the U.S. border.
29.  It is the longest unprotected border in the world.
30. Canada bought Hacker "Hell Storm" technology, because it needs high tech weather forecasting.
31. Throwing garbage in Canada would "drive them crazy."
32. Proof you are in Canada is "do you smell anything?"
33. Mounties wear red uniforms and ride horses. (While Americans carry sophisticated firearms, the Canadians don't seem to have any weapons. at least no one pulls a gun on the U.S. invasion force.  Canadians seem to be a non-violent people -- and polite.)
34. They speak the Queen's English with British accents and correct each other's grammar.  "You can't end with a preposition."
35. Canadian bacon is -- well -- Canadian.
36. The U.S. mounted Operation Canadian Bacon and "drew a line in the snow."
37. The beaver and the moose are proud symbols of Canada. Is this a duplication?
38. There is "not a locked door in the country."  Canada must be a safe place, or Canadians are just naive.
39. Canadians entrust their hydro facilities to an old couple, who are extremely polite. They are nice even when they are tied and gagged.  (Ruthie was played by Canadian Beth Amos.)
40.  All Canadian electricity is controlled from one location near Niagara Falls.
41. The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) headquarters is in a cabin.
42. Mounties write thank you notes to former prisoners?
43. The mounties greet new arrivals with "Welcome to Canada."
44. Cannuck. That's what they call Canadians.
45. In the U.S. they have the constitutional right to bear arms, but not so in canada.
46. Add fudge to great Canadian foods.
47. There are rabid wolves in the Yukon, wherever that is.
48. In Canada the worst crimes are "putting regular gas in an unleaded tank," "having too many bad moods," and "merging companies and firing employees."
49. Free mental health exams are available in Canada.
50. The capital of Canada is Toronto, not Ottawa.  At least that's what Americans think.
51. More red uniforms.
52. All it takes is three Americans to "kick Canadian butt."
53. Snowbirds sung by Ann Murray is a Canadian favorite.
54. Canadian prisons are a joke.  The guards play cards with prisoners.
55. Canada is a sportsman's paradise.
56. Dan Ackroyd, another Canadian, playing a highway patrolman, pulls over Candy and his companions.  Is it because we have no snow tires.  Driving on the wrong side of the road.  No, its because there is no French language graffiti on the truck.  Canada has a language law.  All signs must be in both English and French.
57.  Canadian money is not worth a lot.  $1000 Canadian is worth $10 U.S.
58. If you were to name a Canadian prime minister, what would you call him? Clark MacDonald.  A combination of names from Canada's first and one of the shortest sitting prime ministers. Then choose Wallace Shawn (a wimp) to act as the prime minister.
59. What would be the best gift Canada's prime minister could give to the leader of the free world.  A Gordon Lightfoot recording.
60.  Canadian medical care may be free, but its not the best.  Candy stripers diagnose and propose kidney transplants.
61. Canada is depicted as a wilderness.
62. The cities are spotless and deserted except for two guys carrying a canoe and a kid with skates.
63. Canadians are polite. Have I listed that already?  "Say please one more time and I'll shoot you."
64. Can Canada be called "foreign" or "a country"?
65. John Candy and the U.S. Omega forces race through the crowd to the CN Tower, knocking people down as they run and bump into them.  "I'm sorry," say the Canadians. "Excuse me.  Pardon me. So sorry."  Did I say Canadians are polite?
66. Yup, mounties dress in red uniforms.
67. Canadians are -- frigid?
68. The president "summers up there."  And so do most other Americans.  (On the other hand, Canadians winter either in Florida or Arizona.)
69. The Prime Minister puts his wife, Claire, on the phone with the President right at the most critical moment.  The president speaks to her in broken French and she compliments him on how well he speaks.
70.  Signs are in French and English.  "Bateau au rent."
71. Boomer and Honey escape back to the States, a polluted skyline in the distance. "It is so nice to be going home." And away from clean, unpolluted Canada.

Now, that you have seen this list, maybe you would like to prepare your own list of characteristics about the United States from the movie.