How can I stop google from knowing where I am. i do not necessarily want to be routed from google.com to google.ca.

Typically Google geolocates you based on your IP address, assigned by your ISP. There is a special URL to bypass country redirection, so you could bookmark this or change your home page if applicable:

https://www.google.com/ncr

Google also might store location in a cookie. To remove your Google cookies, while viewing a page on the site, try either:

• right-click and choose View Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
• Tools menu > Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
• click the padlock or globe icon in the address bar > More Information > "View Cookies"

In the dialog that opens, you can remove the site's cookies individually. Please don't do this if you have any pending, unsaved Gmail messages, Google documents, etc., as you will be killing your session in the process.

https://www.google.com/ncr no longer works... it redirects to google.ca Oddly, when I use google.de , the german version, I get it without redirection. I already have a lid on the cookies

Hmmm, I'm not sure what you mean by having a lid on the cookies. You need cookies enabled for ncr to work, according to the help article (last section): Google.com automatically takes me to another Google site - Search Help.

(I think you can choose any country-specific site without redirection; it's only the .com that redirects.)

This still works: click the google.com link at the bottom right of the google.ca page to avoid country redirect.

jscher2000 ..I have my browser set, most of the time, to not take cookies, with a few exceptions. That, then, is why /ncr failed to work for me...

Not related to your question but an important note, please update to Firefox 25, 20 is no longer secure.