Editing Talking to Americans (section)

== Content==
The intent was to satirize perceived American ignorance of Canada and the rest of the world.  
[[Image: Mercer SpreadtheNet.JPG|right|thumb|Rick Mercer ran the ''Talking to Americans'' interviews]]
The topics included:
*persuading Americans to congratulate Canada on legalizing [[VCRs]] or adopting the 24-hour day (then-[[Governor of Iowa]] [[Tom Vilsack]] was fooled by this one).
*various political controversies involving one or more Canadian [[province]]s.
*discussion of then-[[Prime Minister of Canada]] [[Jean Chrétien]], such as claiming that he was Canada's first Asian Prime Minister or that he just achieved a rare political feat called a "Double Double" (a nickname for a cup of coffee with two scoops of sugar and two creams) in which he received support from both sides of the Canadian parliament. Mercer fooled American TV personalities [[David Hasselhoff]] and [[Jerry Springer]] into believing that Chrétien was a small-town mayor who just issued a proclamation to them, while Mercer introduced himself as a journalist named "Jean Chrétien" to game show host [[Louie Anderson]], who failed to note the identity of the then-Prime Minister. In one of the feature's most famous moments, future President [[George W. Bush]] failed to correct Mercer when he falsely referred to Chrétien as "Jean Poutine" (see below).
*congratulating the Canadian government on building a dome over its "national [[igloo]]" (apparently a downsized version of the [[United States Capitol]] made out of [[ice]]) to protect it from global warming (one of the interview subjects so fooled was then-[[Governor of Arkansas]] [[Mike Huckabee]], whom Mercer later stated had asked off-camera if this was a "controversial igloo").
*changing the words in the [[O Canada|Canadian Anthem]] and asking Americans to sing it.
*congratulating Canada for officially joining [[North America]].
*congratulating Canada for moving the capital city from [[Kingston, Ontario]] to [[Toronto]] (the actual capital is [[Ottawa]], and then-Vice President [[Al Gore]] failed to correct Mercer regarding Toronto being the capital).
*asking Americans for their opinions on the US bombing/invading [[Saskatchewan]].
*asking university students and professors to sign a petition against the Saskatchewan [[pinniped|seal]] hunt and the Toronto [[polar bear]] hunt.
*asking Americans to condemn Canada's practice of euthanizing senior citizens by setting them adrift on Northern ice floes.
*asking Americans how many [[Constituent states|states]] Canada has (Canada has [[Provinces and territories of Canada|provinces and territories]], not states).
*saying that [[global warming]] is causing Canada's polar ice caps to melt and break in two, resulting in a bipolar Canada, and that the two polar caps can be joined back together with the use of [[tugboat]]s. He further asks if America would assist in curing bipolar Canada with the use of tugboats, and that Canada will be using a big tugboat named [[Theodore Tugboat|Theodore]].
*convincing tourists at [[Mount Rushmore]] that the [[mineral rights]] to the mountain had been sold to a Canadian firm, and that this firm was getting ready to drill for oil in Lincoln's forehead. Alternatively, he would ask their opinion on a plan to expand the monument to include sculptures of [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Brian Mulroney]]; interviewees all failed to note that the latter was a Canadian Prime Minister, not a US President.
*convincing Americans that the new wooden textured Canadian 5 dollar coin will be named the "woody" (a satirical spin on the "Toonie" two-dollar coin and the "Loonie" one-dollar coin), a play on the common slang term for an erection.

Professors at [[Columbia University|Columbia]], [[Harvard University|Harvard]], [[Princeton University|Princeton]], [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]], [[New York University]] and [[Stanford University]] were consistently fooled by absurdities such as the "Saskatchewan seal hunt". The only Americans who were shown outsmarting Mercer were: a university student who spent her time laughing at him (before finally answering), and a small child who pointed out to his mother, who was also tricked, that Canada had provinces, not states.<ref>Celine Taillefer, "Americans' ignorance of Canada really irks me". ''[[Sudbury Star]]'', May 11, 2000.</ref>