UPDATE:
Helpful? You Americans won't think they're so helpful when they come pouring over the border, armed with bottles of maple syrup, hockey sticks, and toques. Faster than you can say beaver-tail, they'll have occupied your factory outlet stores, commandeered every shoddy RV, and turned Florida and Arizona into giant Canuckoid colonies. Pretty soon, the word "eh" will be mandatory in every sentence, and you'll be trying to figure how much of the color coded Monopoly money they use for currency it takes to buy a six pack of Molsons. Beware, its not to late to stop them...

ORIGINAL:
Given how much of our natural resources Americans use, I'd say Canada is pretty helpful to U.S. society.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau once described the relationship of Canada and the U.S. as that of a mouse and an elephant. When Brian Mulroney became prime minister he apparently decided that the best way to get the two countries closer together was to insert the mouse into the elephant's rectum. Canadians are still paying for that.

Look, would you rather have Zimbabwe or Venezuela as your next door neighbor. Granted, sometimes there are tensions between the US and Canada, but that shit happens. As for international affairs, nothing I've seen or heard strikes fear in my heart.

They may have a somewhat different lifestyle than us here in the states, but all in all I'd have no problem visiting the country...in summer. I can't stand the cold in Mass. No friggin' way I'm heading to the frozen north in winter.

Hey, Canada is our friend and a damn good neighbor. My only concern is that if this Global Warming Theology is true, their permafrost could melt and the entire country would cave in to gravity and slide down over us.

Frank? How does Omaha sound?

Update: I hope my cousins Brenda and Sandra from Montreal are looking. 5 Stars !!

Original:
I love Canada. It's like the US but cleaner.

A good neighbor. they put up with our loud rock music and uncut lawn and we put up with the constant beer bottes strewn around their yard. Its worked well for the past hundred years or so.
But note to the Americans reading this, a little tip: they secretly hate us.

Our neighbours to the north harmful? Helpful? I guess.

I know that I am one of the few (seemingly) who remembers a little event called 9/11, but I will never forget Fox and CNN showing the videos of Canadians- from all different parts of the nation- singing the American National Anthem on 9/12/2001.
They have been with us since October of 01 in Afghanistan as well.

Where would we be without Canada? I would miss those exciting curling games on the tube.

I don't see, in my books, how Canada can ever be hurtful to society. If anything, the good old U.S. of A. could take a few pointers from Canada.

Canada has us by our petrolium soaked gonads...and most goobers would never know where our biggest oil sources are coming from.

The last time I checked, beavers aren't going to invaid the States, anytime soon.

The only cases I can make against them are Celine Dion and Bryan Adams.

I want my baseball teams back.  And you will not get the Bills. . .

Seeing that Canada is our number one trade partner, and staunch ally for nearly 200 years, how could you consider that country hurtful to our society whatsoever?  Because you're a drooling rightwing sorehead who's bearing a grudge against that country because it wisely saw beforehand how the war in Iraq was a reckless mistake and ardently opposed it?  Grow up, kiddies.  You were wrong before the war started, wrong all along, and those of you who still think that disasterous fiasco is a noble effort that is promoting democracy and is in the best interest of our nation obviously have a turd where your brain should be.  Long live Canada, truly the only brother nation of the U.S. on this planet.

Extremely helpful to Canadian society, but by "helpful or hurtful to society" I assume the list is assessing U.S. society. In Canada we refer to our relationship with the U.S. as sleeping with an elephant. The U.S. is a good friend to be in bed with but God help us if she rolls over. The comic A. Whitney Brown was at a comedy festival in my hometown and he listed what is good about Canada. In addition to a high standard of living, relative safety in our streets, and affordable health care, he pointed out that we are protected by the greatest fighting force in the world - the United States Army.

Canada is a well disciplined, yet complex country trying to gain it's own identity beyond the world's view of a "little America". Historically, they have always been America's best friend (forget Britan), and have gone to the global arena on numerous occasions to rationalize our school house temper tantrums. They are revered by virtually every nation on the planet, and, for what ever reason, they're not intimidated by us. Drop the superior attitude, USA (me included), and learn a little. If they have shown us anything, they've shown us that respect, and civil betterment doesn't always have to arrive at wrong end of rifle.

Canada is low-key and stays out of trouble. We could learn a lot from Canada's reasonable example.