Canada's military wasn't always tiny. At the end of WWII we had the 3rd largest navy, and 4th largest air force in the entire world. During WWI, 10% of ALL Canadians volunteered for the military, which is the largest % of any voluntarily military force in history. Canada doesn't generally get credit on the world stage, but if you're Canadian, you'll know Canada has played it's fair role in global wars / politics. For example, this thread even somewhat hits a nerve. I have a high school buddies who served in Afghanistan, and we're one of the main forces out there, or at least were.
We unfortunately fucked it up big time, but 20 - 30 years ago, we were THE peacekeeping force in the world. We were large, everyone liked us, and everyone respected us. When Canadian troops rolled through the streets of a country to provide peace, everyone knew that is was ok, because they were Canadian. That was 20 - 30 years ago though, and very unfortunately, we managed to fuck that up big time. At one point though, we were known as the world's peacekeepers. When the UN needed a peacekeeping mission done, they'd first look at Canada to handle it. That era is gone now though.
The problem of course is that 99 out of 100 Americans don't know this and are so consumed by their own superiority complex that they'll never hear it either.
Carry on with your big bad selves.