blaming 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
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...