Apologies if this is not the right place for such a niche question. However, I have always wondered why the Canadian military has appeared to have kept so many British military customs, at least superficially, especially when compared to other former British colonies such as Australia. For example, many Canadian units, such as the Governor General's Foot Guards, still wear bearskin hats and red dress uniforms, similar to many British units such as the Coldstream Guards. The same applies to unit names, eg) Black Watch, the Princess of Wales' Own, PPCLI etc. In comparison, the Australian military does not seem to share many of these features with their British forebears. As far as I'm aware, dress uniforms are mostly olive green with the famous slouch hat, while unit names are much more generic and prosaic, for example 1RAR, 1st Armoured Regiment, Light Horse Etc. Are there any historical reasons for these differences? This not a criticism of either side, just something that has always intrigued me given the relative similarity between each country and their respective militaries
The best single source for an answer to your question would be CANADA'S SOLDIERS, 1604–1954: The Military History of an Unmilitary People. By George F. G. Stanley in collaboration with Harold M. Jackson. if you can find a copy.
A shorter answer is the GGFG was deliberately modelled after the Coldstream Guards including the uniforms for continuity with the british tradition, partly to differentiate from the neighbours to the south and partly to maintain the image of the redcoat since the indigenous peoples associated the "redcoat" with fair treatment.
The Royal Highland Regiment of Canada(Black Watch) had a number of names before more or less ending up as that being at various times a reserve unit and a regular force regiment. It was one of several units that acquired more british names in the 1920s and 1930s post WW1.
The Princess of Wales Own asked for the name to honor the new bride of the future king Edward vii.
The PPCLI (Patricias) was named for the daughter of the Governor General of Canada at the time, a political move since it was privately financed.
A would note that the vast majority of Canadian Army Reserve units have territorial names reflecting their geographic origins often predating Confederation but most regular force units have more generic names RCR (Royal Canadian Regiment), Royal 22^(e) Regiment (Vandoos), Royal Canadian Dragoons (RCD) with only Lord Strathconas Horse having a british name after the individual who raised it personally for the Boer War.
Imho the largest reasons for maintaining the similarity was always to draw a sharp line between Canada and the USA as well as ease of integration with the Brits when necessary and the first reason may be the most important, a condition not faced by our commonwealth cousins.