why do Canadians sound British?

Can't say I've heard any Canadians who sound "British".

Australian accents, on the other hand, have strong similarities with SE english accents, but I wouldn't ever confuse the two.

people from Manitoba sound like Valley girls in Minnesota ;)
they pronounce Donna like Dawna (with the DAWN vowel in General American, not with the DON vowel ;) ) that pronunciation is very funny

>> people from Manitoba sound like Valley girls in Minnesota ;) <<

Are there Valley girls that far east? I know that there are some cot-caught merged people in Minnesota, but do they really have the Canadian vowel shift?

''I know that there are some cot-caught merged people in Minnesota, but do they really have the Canadian vowel shift?''

well, they might have Canadian raising ;)

"Wrong. NZ is the most like Britain. US is no way like Britain "

I think it was George Bernard Shaw who once said: "England and America are two countries separated by a common language."

"This is ridiculous. Canadians aren't British, and we don't sound like them either. "

Not all of you. Just the English speakers. The Quebecans are French people.

"Happy Independence Day, Adam. I wonder how much of a poodle your new prime minister will be. "

Hopefully as much as Blair was to Bush and Thatcher was to Reagan. Both Britain and the US get lots of benefits out of the Special Relationship (such as the super-duper new American-built Tomahawk missiles that the Americans have given to the Royal Navy but will not allow any other country to have them).

People such as Canadians, the French, Germans - anyone - who make fun of the Special relationship are just jealous they their country doesn't have such close ties to the richest and most powerful country in the world.

"Which is the first then?"

Australia is the first choice for British people moving abroad. But Canada is NOT second. Spain is second.

Not that I get much chance to hear Canadian broadcasters do their thing, but most regular Canadians I've heard sound identical to Americans. Even when they say their strangulated "about" it comes off more as a regional variation than as a foreign accent. In fact, there are some varieties of American English that sound more peculiar to me than Canadians.

Australia first, Canada Second (I prefer north America to down under), although the information could be old the EUs only benefit and disadvantage is the ease at which people move across borders.

<People such as Canadians, the French, Germans - anyone - who make fun of the Special relationship are just jealous they their country doesn't have such close ties to the richest and most powerful country in the world. >

We don't need such close relationships because we DO care about human lives. ;)

Canadian raising is so West Virginia
country roads take me home .... :)

Hey I'm a Canadian from Ontario Canada. My friends cousin is from Rochester New York and she said our accents if she had to pick a simular sounding accent it would be British? I dont really notice it. Some words i notice it with but not all of em.

I am a non-native speaker and I have taken a canadian for an aussie while we were chatting on skype. I told him that I'd visit his country Australia - damn he told me that he was living in Canada not Australia. I am exposed to a variety of Aussie accents, so his candian accent was more close to an Aussie accent than a British one(atleast on my ears).

I honestly do not get why people say that English-speaking Canadians, at least those from Ontario or to the west of Ontario, "sound British", since honestly to me at least they do not sound all too much different from most Americans at all. I have encountered Americans that sound far more like actual English people than most Canadians, such as two coworkers of mine who are actually from North Carolina but were originally said to be British when they first came to work where I work. Of course, the thing is that they are actually non-rhotic, whereas most southerners today, AAVE-speakers aside, are rhotic (such as another coworker of mine, who is from Georgia).