Can you tell Canadian accent from American accent?

As an Australian, I'm pretty sure I can't. They both sound American to me, but I'm sure if I lived in Canada for a while I would be able to tell them apart.

I can't really distinguish them.
The so called "Canadian Raising" is also to be heard amongst Americans.

I also find it hard to tell Kiwi apart from Aussie English.

Canadian accents sound a lot like Western American English. If you come across a Canadian with no Canadian Raising and CVS it's impossible to tell they're from Canada (unless they use Canadian lingo)
I live in California and have this friend that's Canadian. I always took him for a Californian and I was incredibly surprised when I found out he was Canadian. He purposely keeps his Canadian lingo down, but he has no raising or sings of CVS at all, which I always found funny given I have raising of /aI/ and I'm not Canadian.

But Josh, those might not be the distinctions we're listening for to distinguish Canadian-ness. (I know I wouldn't pay much attention ot how someone said "writer".) There may be tons of minor details that would be dead giveaways for the linguistically-minded that sail right over the heads of ordinary people, who are only listening for "ewt" instead of "aowt".

<<Ask him if 'writer' and 'rider' or 'router' and 'louder' rhyme. >>

If these rhyme, does that mean someone is Canadian, or non-Canadian? (They rhyme for me, BTW).

>>If these rhyme, does that mean someone is Canadian, or non-Canadian? (They rhyme for me, BTW).<<

Someone probably is not Canadian if both of these pairs rhyme, but there is no assurance that someone *is* Canadian if both rhyme (as there are dialects in the northern US with Canadian Raising of both /aI/ and /aU/).

<<but there is no assurance that someone *is* Canadian if both rhyme >>

Glad to hear that, since they both rhyme for me, and I'm not Canadian.

Whoops - meant to say "if both do not rhyme" above.

You should listen to Canadian singer, Tamia, for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diNyoOyTI5g