Is CANADA a 2nd rate country?

Is the Canadian government/people taking a 'side-line' or 'back-seat' to world views?

Are Canadians too passive when it comes to world issues or should they take on more aggressive roles in the politic and military secters?

IMO "We are a PEACE-KEEPING nation".
___________________________________
(Excerpt) Quote from Prime Minister Stephen Harper:

"Canada appears to be content to become a second-tier socialist country, boasting ever more loudly about its economy and social services to mask its' second rate status".
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Full details:

www.canadafreepress.com...

Our Prime Minister (later clarified?)went on to add that he wasn't describing Canada as 2nd rate but only the Liberals were 2nd rate and ('likened' us to 2nd rate) to other nations (The U.S.)

*NOTE* Stephen Harper is Conservative.

Does anyone else share this notion?

I'm a Canadian and am PROUD OF MY COUNTRY.

When it comes to the medical side of things:

I'm glad for these an many other things:

1. I don't have to pay $thousands$ of dollars to birth a baby in my country. - IT'S FREE?

2. I don't have to pay $thousands$ of dollars to have a 'transplant' organ surgery. - IT'S FREE?

3. I pay enough TAX DOLLARS to afford these things. - IT'S FREE?

All (or pretty much of my tax dollars) goes to the government/hospital/military- taxes. - IT'S FREE!??????

OR IS IT?

Canadians pay the 2nd highest TAX RATES next to Switzerland/Sweden, and yet WE AS CANADIANS get away with 'Scott free"? So to speak.

What are your views on this?

If Canada didn't have such high taxes it would be almost as powerful as america. Socialism sucks

Originally posted by powerbomb1123
If Canada didn't have such high taxes it would be almost as powerful as america. Socialism sucks

I find this to be a rather interesting comment. What do you mean by saying "as powerful" as America? Does one rate countries by rating their military might? Does a large and "powerful" armed forces mean that a country is better than another?

Someone once said that a country should be judged by how it treats the poorest and most vulnerable of their citizens. Using this context, Canada is far more powerful than the United States.

As an American who has visited Canada before I can say I wouldn't mind living there if it weren't so damn cold in the winter!

...or a summer house in Banff would be pretty nice.

Originally posted by uberarcanist
As an American who has visited Canada before I can say I wouldn't mind living there if it weren't so damn cold in the winter!

...or a summer house in Banff would be pretty nice.

Well I am an American who lives in Canada. I have experienced both the U.S. system and the Canadian system first hand.

I wouldn't want to be an enemy of the United States. The U.S. is certainly a powerful country -- militarily. But the U.S. is powerful at the expense of the most vulnerable members of that society. Imagine becoming severely ill and being hospitalized in the U.S. Even with medical insurance, it can mean bankruptcy -- financial ruin -- for many in that situation.

Canada, like any country, is far from being perfect but at least it seems that it is a country that tries to maintain a universal "safety net" for ALL of it's citizens. Sure the health care system in Canada has it's problems and it's "horror stories" but, by and large, Canada does an amazing job to provide a universal system of excellent health care for all of its' citizens.

If I or a loved one was struck with a catastrophic illness, I know that I will never hear the phrase "how will you be paying?" uttered in a Canadian hospital.


As far as Winter goes.....yeah, it's cold but thank God for Global Warming.

[edit on 4/1/2007 by benevolent tyrant]

The countries in the Top Twenty of life expectancy all have universal healthcare, right?

Originally posted by uberarcanist
The countries in the Top Twenty of life expectancy all have universal healthcare, right?

That's correct, though this fact is often ignored or dismissed by those critical of anything that prevents private companies from making obscene amounts of money.

Check out the rankings....note that Canada is #12 in life expectancy from birth while the United States doesn't even rank in the top twenty.
Is Canada a 2nd rate country or is it the U.S.? I would suppose that it all depends upon the criteria that one uses.

Rank Countries Amount (top to bottom)
#1 Andorra: 83.51 years
#2 Macau: 82.19 years
#3 Singapore: 81.71 years
#4 San Marino: 81.71 years
#5 Hong Kong: 81.59 years
#6 Japan: 81.25 years
#7 Switzerland: 80.51 years
#8 Sweden: 80.51 years
#9 Australia: 80.5 years
#10 Guernsey: 80.42 years
#11 Iceland: 80.31 years
#12 Canada: 80.22 years
#13 Cayman Islands: 80.07 years
#14 Italy: 79.81 years
#15 Gibraltar: 79.8 years
#16 France: 79.73 years
#17 Monaco: 79.69 years
#18 Liechtenstein: 79.68 years
#19 Spain: 79.65 years
#20 Norway: 79.54 years
#21 Israel: 79.46 years
#22 Jersey: 79.38 years
#23 Faroe Islands: 79.35 years
#24 Aruba: 79.28 years
#25 Greece: 79.24 years
#26 Martinique: 79.18 years
#27 Austria: 79.07 years
#28 Virgin Islands: 79.05 years
#29 Malta: 79.01 years
#30 Netherlands: 78.96 years
#31 Luxembourg: 78.89 years
#32 Montserrat: 78.85 years
#33 New Zealand: 78.81 years
#34 Germany: 78.8 years
#35 Belgium: 78.77 years
#36 Saint Pierre and Miquelon: 78.61 years
#37 Guam: 78.58 years
#38 United Kingdom: 78.54 years
#39 Finland: 78.5 years
#40 Man, Isle of: 78.49 years
#41 Puerto Rico: 78.4 years
#42 Jordan: 78.4 years
#43 Guadeloupe: 78.06 years
#44 Bosnia and Herzegovina: 78 years
#45 Bermuda: 77.96 years
#46 Saint Helena: 77.93 years
#47 United States: 77.85 years

www.nationmaster.com...

Being beat by Bosnia, that's pretty embarrassing.

I don't mean any offense to Bosnians, I'm just saying that we're still losing even though Bosnia is still recovering from a war on their own soil!

Canada has a grand total of 36 million people at last census.

US has 10X that amount. That's over 300million people.

Canada doesn't have the human resources necessary to throw cannon fodder overseas for the sake of 'foreign policy'.

If that makes Canada a second rate country, that's fine by me.

I've always wondered why the US doesn't have universal health care when they have this HUGE tax base to tap.

Perhaps our 'socialist' country just cares about our people a little more. Although, because I pay taxes, I'll be darned if I give money to people on the streets. They can just darned well take advantage of services available for them. I mean honestly, I wouldn't mind free food, free lodging, free schooling.. geez.. there's no reason for people to be on the streets here. But just in case people still feel sorry for those still on the streets, just remember that these free places don't allow drug dealing or drug use, so that's why we still have people crawling the alleys.. When I actually heard one of them say that, I stopped feeling sorry for them myself.

Sorry, just raving.. (first post after all, but you ARE dissing MY country)

Regarding the cold, well, you get used to it. I remember being a kid shucking jackets in -15 degree weather 'cause it just gets too hot when you're playing outside. It was a 'dry cold' at the time. Until our mum's start yelling at us.

I'm very happily Canadian. I don't think being content to care for our selves and deal with our own problems (mostly) instead of trying to meddle in everyone else's internal affairs makes us second rate.

we take care of our own, and (generally) welcome immigration; our population is growing much faster in terms of immigrants than native births. we also do help on the world stage; we send aid and participate in peace keeping missions where possible. we don't go hurling ourselves into situations we can't handle (IE: iraq) when there's no ostensible benefit to us, and nobody is asking for our help.

generally, i consider myself pretty damn lucky to be a Canadian. and the cold? bah. it's not that bad. my igloo's pretty cozy, and my pet moose keeps me warm.

I live in Australia, but come the end of this year my wife and I are going to Canada to see what its like. If it suits our needs, we will be making applications to move there permanently.

Australia is, no, was a great country. But over the last 10 - 15 years I have watched our nation turn into a politically correct, police state. Extremely high taxes, a hopeless health care system (even if you pay for health insurance as we both do) more speed camera's on our roads than anywhere else on the planet (road toll hasn't changed, but that doesn't stop the Govt from raking in billions each year) housing costs that are SO high, the average family can no longer afford to buy. Hoon laws - thats a new one, if you get caught doing burnouts, excessive speeding, basically the typical things young people like do in hotted up cars, the police confiscate your vehicle and sell it at auction, with proceeds going straight to Govt coffers. I dont think communist countries even stooped to that level. And every year it gets worse, with new laws, new taxes, new ways of sucking the last drops of your hard earned out of your pockets.

We've had enough and are hoping Canada allows us to go back to a time where life is simple again.

Originally posted by Burginthorn

I live in Australia, but come the end of this year my wife and I are going to Canada to see what its like. If it suits our needs, we will be making applications to move there permanently.
We've had enough and are hoping Canada allows us to go back to a time where life is simple again.

I have lived here all my life, and I can say several things for certain. You will need a sharp axe with which to clear the area for your cabin, a good hunting rifle to shoot at the plentiful rabbit population for dinner, and a couple of bucks to buy the prescription meds you must be on if you think its' any different here than there!

We have the same kind of BS you do, except there's more room to get away from it. Many of the things you describe apply here too, remember we're a part of the same Common Wealth you belonged to. Similar court systems, similar laws, similar idiots running the show.

I hate to break it to you, but you may be flying 24 hours for a cold climate, but better beers!

Cheers Mate!

Originally posted by TheDuckster
I'm a Canadian and am PROUD OF MY COUNTRY.

When it comes to the medical side of things:

I'm glad for these an many other things:

1. I don't have to pay $thousands$ of dollars to birth a baby in my country. - IT'S FREE?

2. I don't have to pay $thousands$ of dollars to have a 'transplant' organ surgery. - IT'S FREE?

3. I pay enough TAX DOLLARS to afford these things. - IT'S FREE?

All (or pretty much of my tax dollars) goes to the government/hospital/military- taxes. - IT'S FREE!??????

OR IS IT?

Canadians pay the 2nd highest TAX RATES next to Switzerland/Sweden, and yet WE AS CANADIANS get away with 'Scott free"? So to speak.

What are your views on this?

Since tax freedom day gets further back on the calendar every year (July 2 or some such) I'm inclined to say it sucks. But I'll take universal health care, and (mostly)-freedom of speech any day!

i'm british and have been to both america and canada and id say canada is better country to live in than the US.

some parts of the US i was appalled with, some areas are so 3rd world its unbelievable how the US government allows people to live like that in a country that is 'supposed' to be the richest nation in the world, i think america is a strange culture though anyway, for me american society is very comfortable in calling someone a 'bum' if they have a low income and struggling in poverty, when its not that at all.

education/health all cost $ in america so if you've been brought up in poverty in the US chances are you will always be in poverty for the rest of your life, unless you a gifted individual (ie good at sports/acting etc), unemployment - america’s welfare system is appalling, there’s no income for the unemployed and hardly any great systems for finding employment (unless from a major city).

yet in country’s like britain/canada/australia, health is free/education is free (ie college), if in England i get unemployed tomorrow i can sleep at night knowing id be getting some sort of income and the rent payed until i find employment.

America is a great country to visit and a great country to live in if your incredibly rich, but the for average american, I would concider emigrating.



[edit on 1-4-2007 by Sepiroth]

No, Canuckistan is first rate. We may pay taxes as high as Sweden and Switzerland but the amount set aside for social programs is closer to the American model than the European. Norway applies a full 49% towards the social safety net, Canada 11% and America 6%. So what they're dismantling the medicare system and bilingualism has ensured the ghettoization of English speakers, rather than the vice versa that gave rise to the FLQ. So what they're selling off the municipal water treatment plants so that foreign investors will own that precious resource and our economy is still run like a third world country's with the export of raw resource and very little manufacturing. So what they've redrawn the electoral map so conservative pockets are over-represented in a country that is traditionally an oligarchical government, the land will outlast them.

We are first rate, we Canuckistanians and as far as our passive peace loving image is concerned, when the smoke clears, the meek shall inherit the earth. Still plenty of people around willing to put themselves out for someone else. When we had the big power outage, there wasn't a wave of looting and such, there were porch parties and much coming together.

Nostradamus said, Canada is the surest place.

[edit on 1-4-2007 by clearwater]

Originally posted by condorgirl

Perhaps our 'socialist' country just cares about our people a little more.

I'm sorry, but perhaps you are unaware of USA supplying weapons to the wars in Africa and other countries? they don't give their new stuff either i guess they just want to get rid of their old weapons to make money off of them in-stead of destroying them so that other countries could not destroy them selves with cheap left over weapons they sell just to make a buck at the expense of other countries.

Yeah, USA really cares more about other countries when it suites their agenda and that is mostly MONEY over people.

Originally posted by Sepirothyet in country’s like britain/canada/australia, health is free/education is free (ie college), if in England i get unemployed tomorrow i can sleep at night knowing id be getting some sort of income and the rent payed until i find employment.
[edit on 1-4-2007 by Sepiroth]

Well, last time I checked we still had to pay for college and university here, and it's been going up for the last decade or so. And in Ontario we do pay a health fee every year so medical is not free (isn't free anyways because the cost of health care comes out of our taxes, which are high.) And the unemployment system has been stripped down so much that it usually runs out long before you find work again, that's if you even qualify for it.

Having said that I still think Canada is a good country to live in. Even though our politicians and bureaucrats are corrupt.

Hell no. You guys are 1st Rate in my book. You come here legally and you let me fish up there, and your scenery is boobs and you let me hang out in the middle of it.

Thanks for bein' a great neighbor, Canada!