Frostingen AS - 1 Story

1) Boris på bjørnejakt (Posted by Tore Aursand, not the author) 1 July 2005
http://www.frostingen.no/index.cfm

In this article the Norwegian journalist writes that Canadian province of Alberta in Canada is a state. That is wrong. Alberta is a province in Canada, not a state, and has been a province in Canada since 1905. Canada uses the system of provinces as political divisions as used in France, Spain, China and many other countries. Canada has 10 provinces and 3 territories. There is no such thing as a state or states in Canada. There have provinces in Canada for 345 years since 1663 when Canada became a royal province of France. Provinces are different from states politically and legally in how they function. Mexico and the USA are the only two countries in North America with states, Canada does not. After e-mailing the journalist and some reluctance to correct his mistake he agreed and added these insightful thoughts: "You may have right about the "Norwegian confusion about USA and Canada", i.e. that we see the whole continent as 'one country'. I don't see it as a big problem, though, but I guess patriotism and nationalism is on a quite another level in Canada than here in Norway." Is he serious? Do Norwegians actually see Mexico, Canada and the USA as "one big country?" The continent of North America has three very different countries located on it, and Canadians (French speaking and English speaking), Mexicans (Spanish speaking), and Americans (English speaking) certainly do not see themselves all as "one" big country. Perhaps Norwegians don't have a problem to see Norway and Sweden as "one big country", but in Canada, Mexico, and the USA we are all proud of our individual countries and don't see ourselves the same at all. Perhaps Norwegians see themselves as part of Sweden because of their past union with Sweden, but Canada has never been part of the USA or Mexico. Canada was, in fact, the first foreign country to be invaded by the USA The British, First Nations, and Canadians defeated multiple American invasions of Canada in order to maintain Canada's freedom. Norway, unlike Canada, has never been invaded by the United States, nor like Canada, has had Norwegians killed by American armies.
"Continents - North America
North America is the world's third largest continent. It includes all the lands in the western hemisphere located north of the Isthmus of Panama. It includes the countries in Central America, the island countries of the West Indies, the many islands in the Caribbean Sea.
The countries of the continent are:
Canada
Mexico
United States
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Barbados
Trinidad and Tobago
Haiti
Guatemala
Belize
Honduras
Nicaragua
Panama
Cuba
St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Jamaica
Dominican Republic
Antigua and Barbuda
Dominica
Bahamas
St. Lucia
Grenada."
Does this Norwegian journalist mean he sees all these countries as "one country"? Please Note: NMW - Update & Correction - 20 September 2006: In an e-mail received 20th September 2006 from Tore Aursand he states: "I'm cited as the "author" of the article you are referring to, and I remember we had a discussion about the matter when the article was published. Let me just state that I'm not the author of the article. I was just the tech guy publishing it. I will also point out that the error was corrected immediately." - Tore Aursand