Oh, Canada?

 Pro and Con as a country to live in according to DigitalDefynd

PRO:

1. High Quality of Life

2.Multicultural Environment

3.Strong Economy

4.Work-Life Balance

5.Comprehensive Social Benefits

6.Progressive Labor Laws

7.Natural Beauty – Outdoor Activities

8.Career Growth Opportunities

9.Safety and Security

10.Access to Global Markets

CON

1.High cost of living – esp. in large cities

2.Harsh winters

3.High tax rates

4.Few Jobs in some sectors

5.Long time waits for health care

6.Language barriers

7.Job market competition

8.Limited public transit – some areas

9.High student debt

10.Bureaucracy and regulations

And from me having lived here for most of my 89 years:

PRO

· Our Canada Council and provincial arts councils have contributed greatly to our own culture – and have moved to greater understanding of our diversity and supported it.

·  While most of us live within 100 miles of the next country’s border, we value the whole environment and explore it.  Landing in Timmins on a flight to northern Ontario, I could only marvel that it was only half way up the province.

·   Our working lives allow for what Timothy Snyder views as the strength of unpredictability. Who would have thought that training as a teacher in 1960 would mean that I was later out of a job in 1980 when the post war babies grew out of adolescence and didn’t need so many teachers. About another forty years later I was in South Africa training a bunch of hotel and restaurant owners in business creativity – even though I never worked in such businesses. I was found online in 1999 by an intern of their association in working in Paris. When i first saw the invitation, I thought it must be a joke.

CON

·   All the cons are true enough – but it doesn’t mean we are not aware of them and trying to do something about them.

·   Currently the worst one is living next to a predatory leader who was elected by people we thought of as friends.

Several years ago during Canada’s 150th anniversary of its Confederation, Global News, one of Canada’s national services, did some interesting research asking Canadians themselves:

Best things about Canada:

·  Nature and the landscape

·  The people and their diversity

·   Their values

And their worst (somewhat surprisingly)

·   Their democracy and government – women and young people more predominantly

·   Their food – relating more to no national dish other than poutine.

·   Their cities – even though that’s where most people live

Best Progress

·       As a great place to live

·       Gender equality

·       Quality of life

Worst progress

·       Political leadership (probably a pair of them)

·       Opportunities for young people

·       Quality of healthcare

Defining our culture’s strengths

.Social services such as health care

·       Tolerance of people of other faiths and ethnicities

·       Multicultural diversity

Best country or area to live by Percent - according to Canadians

Canada: 67

Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific: 10

Europe: 8

Central America, Caribbean: 5

USA: 4

UK: 2

And for more fun in terms of stereotypes:

·   We like maple syrup and we share it; we are the world’s biggest exporter of it.

·   Three quarters of us watch the National Hockey League finals (not me often)

·   We do have cold winters. In 1947, the temperature in the Yukon was -81.4F  (I did start a car in the 1970s in Western Quebec at -40F

·   We say “sorry” more often – because we are polite and other people are not the enemy.

·   15% of Canadians visit the formerly Canadian Tim Horton’s every day. (I’m switching from Starbucks, but all Canadian Pilot is rather expensive)

·   When not drinking coffee, we’re more likely to be drinking beer. (personallyI prefer a good Canadian Reisling)

 SO – Blame Canada?

 I doubt that the US president has read any of our history books. (It occurs to me that I should value our historians more myself and do something about the deficit from my University days when the only history I studied was European, For that matter, it was not possible to study Canadian history I the late 1950s either.) More likely he got the idea of Canada not being a country from South Park here – not a real country. We might just start blaming . . . . And you can see my indebtedness to Timothy Snyder here as well.

 Here are a couple of other things that are real right now.

 ·   We’re not a major exporter of fentanyl. The US government says we sent 0.2% in a recent comparison- that is “zero point two percent.  Repeating it as the problem by both the president and the vice president is supposed to make it so. It’s a lie.

·   We do have a new Prime Minister – who is off meeting the pair of countries that established us as a modern one.  Like those of other countries they ignored and damaged people who had already been there for thousands of years. At least we know that now and very slowly are trying to do something about it.

·   We’re proudly Canadian and not interested in being annexed.  You wouldn’t like us anyway  - a second official language – or the fact that our provinces (think states) constantly have different opinions and argue both among themselves and with the federal government.  The joke is “Is –( whatever - you fill in the blank here) – A federal or a provincial problem?

·   We’re not enemies. But we do wonder what you are doing to yourselves.

·   Plans for annexation are not new – but they have never gone well.