blame Canada

Verb

blame Canada (third-person singular simple present blames Canada, present participle blaming Canada, simple past and past participle blamed Canada)

1. (US, humorous, idiomatic) A catch phrase for shifting attention away from a problem or serious social issue by humorously laying responsibility on Canada.
   • So, if you don't like this performance, blame Canada!2004, The Mockingbird Foundation, comp., The Phish Companion: A Guide to the Band and Their Music, 2nd edition, San Francisco, Calif.: Backbeat Books, →ISBN, page 113
   • We surely can't blame Canada. Nike, we suspect, is where we must point the finger for what has become the somewhat too familiar norm in television advertising put forth by major global sporting goods brands. As we all know by now, it was Nike and the agency's longtime marketing partner...2007 November 14, Lewis Lazare, “Ads are ‘sno’ big deal; Reebok spot gives Bears chance to sparkle”, in Chicago Sun-Times
2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see blame, Canada.
   • A few days after the sick Holstein was identified, Dr. DeHaven announced that the cow had been part of a herd of seventy-four cattle shipped from Alberta, Canada, more than two years earlier. […] The National Cattlemen's Beef Association immediately resorted to a blame-Canada-first strategy...2005, Howard F. Lyman, Glen Merzer, Joanna Samorow-Merzer, “Is Mad Cow here to Stay?”, in No More Bull!: The Mad Cowboy Targets America's Worst Enemy, Our Diet, New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN, pages...
   • So even if we were letting these people into Canada, and I'm not saying that's true, shouldn't the Yanks be keeping them out of the US anyway? […] It seems like every time the US can't get its act together, instead of looking at themselves to solve the problem, they blame Canada.2009, Jeff Rose-Martland, Game Misconduct, [Raleigh, N.C.]: Lulu, →ISBN, page 83