Canada

Since the snow and the Winter Olympics bring Canada to mind this week, and since folks have asked ... yes, we do get snows like this up north (and sometimes worse) -- but not very often, especially with accelerating climate change in the last few decades. The big differences I'm noticing between the Canadian and Baltimorean snow experiences are, first, the government's ability to deal with it; and second, citizen reactions. First, the government. We pay higher taxes in Canada, and most of us don't mind.

Renaldo Kuhler created, designed and even crafted the written language for an entire imaginary country, right down to its film industry and noxious odors. Nek Chand created an elaborate concrete garden in the midst of an Indian jungle. Gayleen Aiken gave birth to a family of 24 cardboard cutouts, through which she re-created the pastoral Vermont of her youth. Grandma Prisbrey created a village out of bottles and other recyclables. Fringe artists like these are not just different from you and me; they're different from other artists as well, operating so far outside the mainstream that society often doesn't know whether to cherish or mock them.

Everywhere Mike Green looked during the Washington Capitals' recent three-day visit to Vancouver, the high-scoring defenseman was reminded of the question that has consumed him since summer: Will he, or won't he, make Team Canada's final cut? The four Olympic rings and the words "Vancouver 2010" adorned everything from billboards to taxicabs. Every other story on sports television, it seemed, focused on the approaching Games. Each morning after practice, a gaggle of reporters gathered around Green's locker room stall at GM Place to capture his thoughts on the matter.

It isn't every day that one's very own hakapik arrives in the mail. It is probably reasonable to assume that I'm the only person on my block to be the un-proud possessor of the aptly named bludgeoning and hacking instrument used to slaughter baby seals. April 15 may be tax and tea party day in the U.S., but it's baby-seal death day in Canada. Although the season began March 23 (19,411 down), the largest phase was to begin Wednesday, during which sealers will destroy and skin another couple of hundred thousand seals, most between 25 days and three months old. Like most, I've known about the baby seal hunts for decades and have averted my gaze.

Could actress Natasha Richardson's tragic death have been prevented if her skiing accident had occurred in America rather than Canada? This is a legitimate question because of how Canadian and American medical care differ. Canadian health care de-emphasizes widespread dissemination of technology such as CT scanners and quick access to specialists such as neurosurgeons. While all the facts of Ms. Richardson's medical care haven't been released, enough is known to pose questions with profound implications for both countries.

I'm thinking of going to Victoria, British Columbia, for the Olympic torch run. Where will the route be? Are there any promotions? The Olympic torch relay for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver will be the longest such relay in a single country. After being lit in Athens on Oct. 22, the sacred flame will make the trans-Atlantic flight accompanied by a representative of host country Canada. The official relay will begin in Victoria, the charming provincial capital, on Oct. 30. Accompanied by more than 12,000 torch-bearers, the flame will travel by land, air and water (ferries)

With big league stars on both sides and national pride at stake, the United States and Canada gave their World Baseball Classic opener an October feel. Adam Dunn and Brian McCann each hit a two-run homer, and Team USA held off feisty Canada, 6-5, yesterday in Toronto to avenge a surprising loss three years ago. "This is a playoff atmosphere," U.S. pitcher Jake Peavy said. "Everything is on the line." Kevin Youkilis added a solo shot and J.J. Putz closed it out in a nervous ninth inning for Team USA, which was upset by Canada in the inaugural WBC. Former Oriole LaTroy Hawkins worked a scoreless inning for the win, and Putz earned the save after allowing Joey Votto's broken-bat RBI double in the ninth that cut it to 6-5 with one out. Putz then retired Justin Morneau on a grounder and got Jason Bay on a fly to right.

OTTAWA -President Barack Obama offered the nation's largest trading partner assurances yesterday of his support for robust cross-border commerce in a seven-hour visit to Canada that was his first foreign trip as president. In a news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Obama said he wanted to "grow trade and not contract it." His remarks set a considerably more enthusiastic tone than during the presidential campaign, in which he had called for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement that governs commerce with Canada and Mexico.