SOCIAL ISSUES BROADEN GAP BETWEEN U.S. AND CANADA

Gay Marriage, Drugs, War Lead Differences

TORONTO - Canadians and Americans still dress alike, talk alike, like the
same books, television shows and movies, and trade more goods and services
than ever before. But from gay marriage to drug use to church attendance, a
chasm has opened on social issues that go to the heart of fundamental values.

A more distinctive Canadian identity - one far more in line with European
sensibilities - is emerging and generating friction with the United States.

"Being attached to America these days is like being in a pen with a wounded
bull,'' Rick Mercer, Canada's leading political satirist, said at a recent
show in Toronto. "Between the pot smoking and the gay marriage, quite
frankly it's a wonder there is not a giant deck of cards out there with all
our faces on it.''

Mercer acknowledged in an interview that he was overstating the case for
laughs - two Canadian provinces have legalized gay marriage, and Ottawa has
moved to decriminalize use of small amounts of marijuana. But in the view
of many experts, the two countries are heading in different directions, at
least for the time being.

Drugs, Trade And War

Recent disagreements over trade, drugs and the war in Iraq, where Canada
has refused to send troops, have made the relationship more contentious and
Canadians increasingly outspoken about the things that separate them from
their neighbors.

"The two countries are sounding more different - after 9/11, dramatically
more different,'' noted Gil Troy, an American historian who teaches at
McGill University in Montreal. ``You hear a lot more static and you see
more brittleness.''

There have been frictions before, for instance during the Vietnam War, when
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau welcomed American draft evaders, but the
differences in those years were more political than social. Analysts say
Canada and the United States have always been similar yet different, and
the differences are often accentuated at the margins.

But today, many analysts and ordinary Canadians said in interviews around
the country, the differences appear to have moved center stage,
particularly in social and cultural values.

The nations remain like-minded in pockets, but the center of gravity in
each has changed. French-speaking Quebec, with a fifth of the population
and its nonchalant social attitudes, pulls Canada to the left, just as the
South and Bible Belt increasingly pull the United States in the opposite
direction, particularly on issues such as abortion, gay marriage and
capital punishment.

None of those has resonated much during the past decade in Canada, where
the consensus on social policy seems more solidly formed, its fissures
narrower and less exploitable.

Chris Ragan, a McGill University economist, observed: ``You can be a social
conservative in the U.S. without being a wacko. Not in Canada.''

Chretien Jokes About Marijuana

Drugs are one point of departure. A bill to decriminalize small amounts of
marijuana is working its way through the lower house of Parliament,
bringing threats from the White House that such a law could slow trade at
the border.

Recently, while musing about his retirement plans, Prime Minister Jean
Chretien said he might just kick back and smoke some pot. ``I will have my
money for my fine and a joint in the other hand,'' he said with a smile.

The glibness of the remark made it nearly impossible to imagine an American
president uttering it. But in a nation where the dominant West Coast city,
Vancouver, has come to be known as Vansterdam, few Canadians blinked.

When Massachusetts' highest court ruled for gay marriage, the issue
instantly loomed over American politics. Conservatives vowed to change the
Constitution. President Bush said he would defend marriage. Even the major
Democratic presidential candidates backed away from supporting gay marriage
outright.

Contrast that with Canada, where two provincial courts issued similar
rulings this year. With little national anguish, Canada became the third
country to allow same-sex marriage as a matter of civil rights.

Canadians themselves are not wholly united on the issue. Many elderly and
rural Canadians express reservations, and the Canadian Anglican Church is
almost as divided over homosexuality as the American Episcopal Church.

Still, Canadians remain tolerant of the shift.

More than 1,500 gay and lesbian couples have married since the court rulings.

Rachel Brickner, 29, a political science graduate student at McGill who is
from Detroit, said that despite her liberal views, she sometimes tired of
the anti-Americanism she encountered among Canadian students.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, she said, an old roommate told her that "the
U.S. deserved 9/11 because we're bullies.''

"Canadians are quick to blame the United States for not knowing about
Canada,'' she said, "but Canadians make a lot of ignorant statements about
the U.S.''