I don't hate Americans, and I'm Canadian. I'm vastly frustrated by the seeming 'incompetence' sometimes, but I'm highly aware that the media is a skilled manipulator that has "making-you-believe-us" down to an art. I've done my own research (being a high school student taking Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, Ancient History of Civilizations [up to 16th century], History of the World Relations [going past the 16th century] and World Religions) because I was tired of making relatively trite and audacious comments without real research being done. I'll also ignore my personal experiences , where on two separate occasions I was asked by an American (both were from very opposite parts of the country, I assure) if I may speak "Canadianese" for them.
Really, what it is I've discovered that could be a cause of growing resentment is a few things. First is the treatment of the environment. They refused to join the Kyoto Accord, and recently they've agreed to dig oil up in Alaska, within the boundaries of a wildlife preserve. Many Canadians find it a little distressing for several reasons: i) since our economy is largely supported by natural resources, our government and politics have probably always had more of an environmental edge than America, and therefore it is in our perceptions only ii) criticism of what first nation countries have done to our earth is at an all time high, and we're more sensitive that we would've been in the past, and iii) they view that Americans (who as far as newspapers have said) don't acknowledge the problem, the don't acknowledge their role as part of the cause and they don't seem to care. These reasons as, considering social influences and average information given, truly distresses a people who like to consider themselves as conscious and aware of their environment.
Secondly, compared to Canadian politics, American politics are much more conservative in all aspects and that just doesn't sit well on either side. Canadians passed gay marriages because as far as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is concerned, there's no reason why they shouldn't have the same ability to marry as other heterosexuals do. (See, Charter 15, "Equality Rights"), [1] ) This just doesn't go over well in America as it's been shown, and quite a few Canadians could see this as inequality and discrimination based on sex, which goes against the Universal Decleration of Human Rights (Article 2).
Thirdly, there is a (perhaps false, perhaps not) feeling of 'bullying' from the Americans, particularly for our natural resources and in particular, lumber. Several of these conflicts have sprung up in recent times, such as Canada's decision to not join the American war and not support it, Canadian prime ministers' (Paul Martin) recent (and blindly idiot) statements against the US, and several others. On the last one, if Americans reading this didn't already know, there was a big tussle over Paul Martin playing the "hate-America" card to try and win votes, basically. Naturally the ambassador of America staying in Canada was very upset and said several choice words of his own, which started a whole flurry of "The terrorists of 9/11 came in through Canada" statements again. It also appeared on several new stations interviewing a few congressmen that one of them made a vague comment of "Canada is the retarded cousin at the family reunion- you just pat him on the head and don't know what to say" (Ottawa Citizen, Front Page, Tue. Dec. 20, 2005)
Basically, it's heightened tension between personal beliefs (lets not forget Canada's commitment to trying to make sure no people of a particular race, religion or sex is offended in any way), politics and the recent strain in relations (America wanting to build a physical barrier between us) that causes people to say "hate". Hate is a strong word, my friends, don't use it lightly, for you wouldn't use "love" so lightly either.
~Don't stop being loving
Shiii