Hi PiuYi,
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that those interviewing you were from England and Australia.
Canada is not well known in the Southern Hemisphere for producing well versed pilots. We certainly produce our fair share of pilots who can hand fly an airplane, but we do not produce a pilot who is as knowledgeable as his or her British, Australian, European, or Kiwi counterparts.
Now, before the PPrune crowd swallows me up and spits me out, I've spent 7 years of my career in New Zealand and one of my family members is a Cathay pilot, so I've experienced first hand the statements you are referring - I've also seen the training that other countries conduct.
For example, in New Zealand and Australia they require PPL, CPL, and ATPL holders to conduct one examination per subject (Met, Nav, Performance, Air Law, Human Factors, Aircraft Technical, and one other that eludes me right now despite looking at my books). That's upwards of 24 exams to get to your ATP!
We here in Canada only require one until the ATPL, then it's two. The NZ Instrument Rating is three exams - Canada is one. You are required to conduct an ATPL flight test in New Zealand on a multi-turbine aircraft; here it's a group 1 instrument ride within the last 12 months - a seneca will do fine!
Now, in saying that, there is material on those exams which a pilot will never, ever, use again. They load you up with so much material, that flying begins to sound like a frightfully stupid idea. However, the end result is that their pilots look at us having done three exams and three flight tests to get a CPL with a Group 1, they look at themselves who have had to do 17 examinations and three flight tests, and you start to get the picture.
Additionally, their flight test standards, specifically Australia and NZ (not sure about England) are slightly more stringent. +/- 50 feet, +5/-0 knots, +/- 5 degrees for a CPL - at least that's what they were 10 years ago when I did my CPL down there. Compare that to our standards here in Canada, and one could see why they see us as a little lackluster.
In saying that, Cathy does not seem to hold the Canadian training system at fault. They hire many Canadians and family working for them say they are all great guys and gals who have a good reputation on the line. You have to remember too that it depends on what you put on your resume and application and how you worded things. Something you wrote may have zeroed in on something, or maybe they saw someone do something stupid before and you happen to be from the same school.
Whatever the case, don't worry. If you did good on the interview and test, they won't hold your country of training at fault - that's kinda the whole purpose behind those cadet programs anyways - you become a padawan to the airline.