EASED LAWS ON GAY UNIONS, POT WIDEN IDEOLOGICAL GAP

Liberal Canada annoys U.S

WINDSOR -- It's 3 p.m. on a bright Monday afternoon, and Tim Morewood and
Jessica Oulette are sharing a marijuana cigarette with a group of friends
on the Windsor waterfront just a few barge-lengths from the Detroit shoreline.

Morewood, a lean 21-year-old with spiky blond hair and a chest tattoo,
isn't worried about Windsor cops catching a whiff of the joint and throwing
him in jail. In Canada, having less than 15 grams of pot typically results
in no jail time, just a ticket, fine and criminal record. Even less strict
penalties are being considered.

Morewood, who lived briefly in West Bloomfield, knows it would be different
in the United States. That's why he's glad he doesn't live there anymore.
"I hate their laws. You get busted with a roach and you get charged. They
should be focusing on crack dealers."

Welcome to Canada, the land of hockey lovers and Molson makers that has
established itself as one of the most liberal nations in the world.

First federal lawmakers proposed bills to decriminalize marijuana use,
which are pending. Now, the federal government has taken yet another bold
political step by deciding not to appeal a high court ruling that struck
down a ban on gay marriage, making it only the third nation in the world to
legalize same-sex unions.

Experts say Canadians always have been more left of center in their
political thinking than Americans. The legal drinking age is 19, national
health care has been in place since the 1980s, and guns are tightly regulated.

And while academics say such left-leaning politics are bound to continue as
long as Prime Minister Jean Chretien is running the show in Canada's
Parliament -- he's been in power since 1993 -- many policies put it at odds
with the United States, where hot-button issues such as gay marriage and
legalizing pot use are largely opposed.

Polls show approximately 51 percent of Americans oppose gay marriage, while
62 percent oppose legalizing marijuana. In fact, 37 U.S. states, including
Michigan, have laws that define marriage as only between a man and a woman.

"Canadian and American society seems to be diverging, not converging," said
Jerry Herron, a professor of English and American studies at Wayne State
University.

But will Canada's liberal ways rub off on the United States? Experts say
it's too early to tell, but suspect it's unlikely.

Will international law rule?

Challenges in U.S. court are likely by gay couples who marry in the Canada
and try to have their unions recognized in the States.

"Possibly an argument could be made that we have international law with
Canada and we're bound to recognize marriages in other countries, but
that's complicated," said Jay Kaplan, a staff attorney with the American
Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. "Given the current makeup of our courts,
(legal challenges) would be very difficult because it's quite conservative."

As for relaxing marijuana possession laws, U.S. customs officials suspect
little impact on the United States or border patrol. Marijuana is illegal
in Canada, but the proposed bill would simply relax penalties. Some
medicinal use is legal.

"Maybe there will be a large number of Americans going to Canada to smoke
joints, but I doubt it," said Pat Jones, a spokesman for the Bureau of
Customs and Border Protection. "I just don't see that happening."

Backlash already has erupted from some groups in response to Canada's new
stance on gay marriage.

Worried that Michigan's law against gay marriage could be challenged in
court, the American Family Association of Michigan wants a constitutional
amendment put on the November 2004 ballot in Michigan that would ask voters
to define marriage as an act between only a man and woman. One state
lawmaker has announced plans to introduce such an amendment at the start of
the fall session.

Executive Director Gary Glenn worries Canada's new stance, coupled with the
U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week to strike down sodomy laws in
Texas, could one day lead to Michigan's law being challenged.

"That's the motivation for putting it into the Constitution," Glenn said.

Countries far apart

Experts say there are myriad reasons why Canada and the United State are so
politically far apart, including history, geography, and a Canadian sense
of social responsibility. But they say U.S. and Canadian political
differences are a good thing.

"We're like the cantankerous brothers in a family at Thanksgiving," Herron
said. "But I think that's healthy. As an American, I feel profoundly
challenged by the moral dignity of a lot of things the Canadians do ... and
certainly we depend on each other in an economic way."

Nathan Menoian, a car salesman from Novi, always perceived Canadians as the
"pretty traditional family type." Now, he believes the country may have
opened up a political can of worms by allowing gay marriage.

"What that does is spark a bunch of other issues around it -- financial
issues, emotional issues, spiritual issues," Menoian said. "I don't think
of them as any less. I just think they're in for some stormy waters."

But many Canadians say they're just more relaxed than Americans.

Karen Steel of Windsor said she doesn't have a problem with either gay
marriage or decriminalizing marijuana use.

"I think everyone should get married if they want," Steel said. "You guys
are more into politics than Canadians. With us, it's just not an issue."
Jon Ellison, 36, of Royal Oak regards Canadian attitudes so highly he is
seriously contemplating moving there to start a hemp farm. He said it's
ridiculous he can't do it here.

"This whole country was supposed to be based on freedom and respecting each
other, and it's all broken down," Ellison said.

Two nations far different

Given that 90 percent of Canada's roughly 31 million residents live within
100 miles of the U.S. border, it's hard to believe that the two nations are
so ideologically different.

Herron contends American and Canadian differences are rooted in their very
histories.

Canada, a former French colony conquered by the British in the 1760s that
didn't become its own separate nation until 1931, still has ties to both
cultures, which tend to be more liberal, whereas the United States hasn't
had such European ties since the Revolutionary War.

Herron contends it is those ties to an older culture that allow Canada to
take chances on issues such as decriminalizing marijuana use, gay marriage,
even nude dancing, that younger cultures such as the United States might
balk at.

"My guess is that Canadians at some level feel attached to a culture that
is so old that you can take chances," Herron said.

But Philip Handrick, director of the Canadian Studies Centre at Michigan
State University, believes geography also plays a role in Canadians'
openness and acceptance of what might considered taboo in the United States.

Canadians, spread out across a land mass bigger than the United States,
have had to make sacrifices throughout their history to help the nation get
on its feet and survive, Handrick said.

"Canadians really have a sense of themselves as being a part of a
collective enterprise," Handrick said.

Religion separates countries

Experts say one of the biggest differences between Americans and Canadians
is religion.

While a 2002 ABC News/Beliefnet poll found that 85 percent of Americans
consider themselves Christian, many Canadians don't identify themselves
with a specific church or religion, said Howard Pawley, a retired professor
from the University of Windsor who spent nearly 20 years in politics,
including seven as premier of the province of Manitoba. A premier is
similar to a governor.

"There's been a shift in this respect over the last 25 years in Canada,
much more so than the United States," Pawley said. "The reasons -- I think
it's just been sort of an evolving situation. That doesn't mean Canadians
aren't religious, but they're less inclined to identify themselves with an
institutionalized religion." Canadians view Americans as very moralistic,
"drawing things in black and white," Handrick said.

"In Canada, they're much more skeptical," he said.

Moral issues also don't carry much political capital in Canadian politics,
said Bruce Tucker, an American history professor at the University of Windsor.

"Moral issues are not issues that a party can depend on to really get them
a lot of support, not to say it's an immoral country or an amoral country,"
Tucker said. "People are just not terribly interested in that kind of
discourse."

Canada has some issues

Canadians admit they aren't without problems.

Tucker said racism is a problem. Canada's economy is one-tenth the size of
the United States, Handrick said. And its unemployment rate is about 7
percent, compared to 6.1 percent in the United States.

And despite all its openness and acceptance, Amy Blake, owner of A Woman's
Perogative in Ferndale, said she's heard of lesbian bookstores in Canada
that had new books blocked at the Canadian border because customs officials
deemed them pornographic.

Kathy Kennedy, a resident of Onondaga, near Lansing, who sits on the
Michigan board of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws, said as puritanical and conservative as the United States may be
perceived, she believes Canada and the United States are really not all
that different, and change is coming in the United States. She said
politics are like a pendulum.

"We swung far enough to the left" during the Clinton administration "that
we had to swing back," Kennedy said. "It's just a matter of time."

How the nations' laws differ

Gay marriage

Canada: Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien plans to propose a bill to
legalize gay marriage. United States: The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act
defines marriage as an act between a man and a woman. Thirty-seven states,
including Michigan, now have similar laws.

Marijuana use

Canada: Proposed Canadian law would make possession of 15 grams or less of
marijuana a fine of $150 for an adult, but would not result in a criminal
record. Current laws result in a fine, ticket and criminal record. United
States: In Michigan, marijuana use can be a misdemeanor punished by up to
90 days in jail and a $100 fine. Marijuana possession can result in up to a
year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Strip clubs

Canada: Fully nude dancing is allowed in Windsor strip clubs. Rules on
lap-dancing and touching vary from province to province. United States:
Fully nude dancing only allowed in clubs with no alcohol. In clubs with
alcohol, only topless dancing is allowed. Laws vary from state to state.