In the political space, while America to the south is already entrenched in its ritual, brutal campaigns, across the Atlantic, Canada’s former mother country, Great Britain, is grappling with establishing itself in the world of international trade. Having left the European Union, analysts are now looking at Canada as the perfect model for the UK post-Brexit.
Even though there is a history shared between the two nations and a general fondness for one another, the two places aren’t thought of in the same circles, with Canada and Britain seeming like completely different entities. So, we’ve decided to check in on our distant relatives across the pond, starting our comparison between the UK and Canada with Surrey of England and our very own Surrey of British Colombia.
Surrey (UK) vs Surrey (BC)
The Surrey that we know well in British Columbia overlooks the water, with Crescent Beach and White Rock Pier connecting residents to Boundary Bay. In Canada, Surrey is a city, a part of the Vancouver Metro area, but is made up of several town centres, including Guildford, Fleetwood, and Newton. However, only amounting to an area of about 316.4 square kilometres, BC’s Surrey is the smaller of the two.
In the UK, Surrey constitutes a county that hosts many towns, including one by the name of Guildford. Both Fleetwood and Newton are places in the UK as well, but neither are in Surrey UK. Like Surrey BC, England’s Surrey is close to a major city, bordering the Greater London area, but the county is much larger – at 1662.52 square kilometres – and much more wooded than the modern-day Surrey in Canada.
The two Surreys don’t just share a name, though: British Columbia’s Surrey was directly named after the Surrey of England. Being a rather forested area at the time, when H.J. Brewer looked across the Fraser River to the land, he thought it reminiscent of his native county, hence the name. BC’s Surrey has since become very urbanized and modern in its city aesthetic. In contrast, Surrey county has remained a relatively quaint but affluent area of England, with golf courses, woodland, and horse racing tracks dotted around the county.
A similar people in many ways
There’s little point in denying the influence that the United States has had on modern life in both Canada and the UK, but both nations manage to maintain a strong sense of identity to remain separate entities entirely. It could even be suggested that Canada and the UK have many more similarities, particularly in attitudes, than either nation does with the US.
Looking at the cultures of the people and politicians of both countries, attitudes towards equal rights, value priorities, free speech, government responsibility, social welfare, and self-reliance are near-identical.On the entertainment front, both countries have been able to produce great movies and shows while also enjoying the content created in Hollywood. The UK and Canada also share a similarly passionate and pride-driven following of sports.
In Canada, of course, the focus is on hockey, with Surrey having forged several top-class NHL players while devoting a strong following to the Vancouver Canucks and the many Major Junior clubs of British Columbia. In the UK, soccer is the top sport, without question, but the presence of high-class soccer in Surrey UK is very meek – almost non-existent, in fact.
For top-tier sport, it’s all about Surrey County Cricket Club, with the ground, The Oval, often staging international cricket matches in the summer months. However, the seeming lack of sports teams in the area can’t be mistaken for lack of sports enthusiasm, with the people of Surrey following all forms of sport and using the best bookmakers in the country to claim generous free bets to back everything from football to horse racing.
There is a bit of a crossover in sports fandom between the Surreys, with the Guildford Flames hockey team in England cultivating a strong following for the local club and an ever-increasing amount of intrigue in the top domestic tier of the sport, the NHL. Naturally, the quality of the sport and style played on either side of the Atlantic are very different, but there’s still a strong affection for the game in both Surreys.
Over 7,750 km separate the Surrey of England and Surrey in British Columbia, and yet the two locations and the people within have much more in common than just their names.
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