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This is a favo(u)rite subject of mine, being a translator by trade and having studied linguistics. There's a wonderful, long-running blog dedicated to this (mostly British E. vs. American E., although Canada and Australia get their due as well) that's a lot of fun to read:
Speaking of Canada, one thing you'll notice aside from specific pronunciations are more general influences from British English, such as "going to university" or "went to hospital" rather than the American tendency to insert "the" into that type of construction, or the preference for "ginger" over "redhead", although that seems to be catching on a bit in the US these days (as are "full stop", "dodgy" and other Britishisms).
Probably the main thing though is just the Canadian tendency for hyper-articulation of the various "O" sounds. Aside from the famous "out and about" sort of thing (which is often mischaracterized by Americans), it shows up in other ways with many speakers. Common words like "log" and "dog" have a much more emphasized, rounded "O" than most of the flatter, more nasal sounding American accents, along with certain words like "offense" ("OH-fense"), which can sound a bit funny to American ears. Then there's the tendency for words like "ride" to almost transform into "roid", sounding a bit like a cross between Irish and Long Island-ese.
Being a huge hockey fan, my favorite Canadian dialect example is probably Mike Babcock, widely regarded as the best current coach in the NHL. He's a very intelligent man, but to many fans sounds downright goofy. No matter what he says, it all comes out sounding like a big jumble of over-emphasized "O" sounds all sort of blurring together into one big Canadian stereotype. I think he grew up in Saskatoon, so there may be a regional prairie provinces aspect to it (Barry Melrose being another example of the type).
Speaking of Canada, one thing you'll notice aside from specific pronunciations are more general influences from British English, such as "going to university" or "went to hospital" rather than the American tendency to insert "the" into that type of construction, or the preference for "ginger" over "redhead", although that seems to be catching on a bit in the US these days (as are "full stop", "dodgy" and other Britishisms).
Probably the main thing though is just the Canadian tendency for hyper-articulation of the various "O" sounds. Aside from the famous "out and about" sort of thing (which is often mischaracterized by Americans), it shows up in other ways with many speakers. Common words like "log" and "dog" have a much more emphasized, rounded "O" than most of the flatter, more nasal sounding American accents, along with certain words like "offense" ("OH-fense"), which can sound a bit funny to American ears. Then there's the tendency for words like "ride" to almost transform into "roid", sounding a bit like a cross between Irish and Long Island-ese.
Being a huge hockey fan, my favorite Canadian dialect example is probably Mike Babcock, widely regarded as the best current coach in the NHL. He's a very intelligent man, but to many fans sounds downright goofy. No matter what he says, it all comes out sounding like a big jumble of over-emphasized "O" sounds all sort of blurring together into one big Canadian stereotype. I think he grew up in Saskatoon, so there may be a regional prairie provinces aspect to it (Barry Melrose being another example of the type).
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