Interesting Perception of Canada

During my haircut in Manhattan this morning (at 07:30... can you believe that?), the barber asked where I'm from and I replied, "Calgary, Canada."

Barber: "How far is that from here?"
Me: "About 4 or 5 hours flight."
Barber: "That far?"
Me: "Calgary's in the west. It's north of Montana."

The barber's co-worker overheard this and explained to him, "It's French Canada that's close to here. American Canada is further."

The co-worker continued, "It's easier to get into Canada... as long as you have $50,000, you're in. They have a lot of wood-working jobs up there, right?"
I thought about it and commented, "Yep, there probably are."

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For those who don't get it, the term is usually English Canada. This is definitely the first time I've heard it referred to as American Canada.

Why did this happen? Are we not putting in enough effort to portray an accurate image to the rest of the world? Interesting...