Just say what you mean.

You come from a country where people often say what they mean, straight out. Such directness is often seen as uncivilized in Canada. You have to be prepared for that.

It's definitely still the English influence in Canada to say nothing at all, but still come across as friendly, courteous, and polite. Confrontation and disagreements are largely avoided.

The "feel-good" society is all-encompassing. You should be happy with all the easy and polite words, but your conversation partner should be happy too. Everyone is happy with a constant smile.

Some people actually get irritated by this after a while. Does it really have to be this way? Can't you just say what you mean?

The imposed politeness sometimes comes across as a bit false. What do they actually mean when they try to be so courteous?

The most common example of false courtesy is the endlessly repeated question of "How are you doing?" As is well known, people don't want to know how you're doing; this is simply a polite gesture.

But there are so many examples. Even people you've chatted with at length at an event who were really smooth, nice, and friendly—but if you run into them again tomorrow, they won't even recognize you.

An implied invitation to enter into a friendship often turns out to be just a speech formula without any content.

If a Canadian says to you, "We should have lunch sometime," or it could also be coffee or a visit to a pub, it doesn't mean anything. That lunch, coffee, or whatever usually comes to nothing. Perhaps the invitation was just a polite way to end the conversation?

Politeness even extends to the point where you often receive a rejection in the most blunt terms. Even though they were very impressed with blah, blah, blah, they still decided...

Some immigrants easily accept insincere politeness, while for others it just doesn't work.