Why Canada Sucks....

[Misty1979 0]

I too can play this game!

1. Americans, do you like home-grown terrorists/dis-gruntled citizens flying planes into your IRS buildings and shooting fellow Americans at the Pentagon?

2. Do you like that many Americans are one medical crisis away from bankruptcy?

3. How about US hockey team winning SILVER? No wait...as a poke to that Russian athlete who called his silver medal "platinum" medal, you guys won the PLATINUM medal.

There are pros and cons to every country, and everyone has their own preferences and opinion--very hard to argue on that.

I like this person. Blunt, to the point, and like myself knows how to recognize a person wanting attention when she sees one. Kind of a pointless thread for the OP to make, really. We all know almost all of us miss some of the benefits that we had in Canada, but value some of what we now have here. Just a misguided attempt to get the Canaliens all stirred up and hopefully grow some e-peen in the process.

[SapphireDreams 71]

"Luckily" my wife was just in Canada going for permanent residence status and by leaving she can never apply for a visa there again. I guess if something didn't work out in the States with her status she'd have to look back to Europe cause of that stupid bill hehe

Was so frustrating, same type of thing happened here in Michigan when our mortgage was sold to another bank. We had to call about 30 phone numbers to find out who we could actually send our check to on time, sooooo annoying

Oh yeah, then you're golden. I thought about not paying, but didn't want to tarnish my credit in Canada "just in case".

[Revenesque 2]

I like this person. Blunt, to the point, and like myself knows how to recognize a person wanting attention when she sees one. Kind of a pointless thread for the OP to make, really. We all know almost all of us miss some of the benefits that we had in Canada, but value some of what we now have here. Just a misguided attempt to get the Canaliens all stirred up and hopefully grow some e-peen in the process.

Well....ha, I like you too!

[BriCar 0]

Cell phone companies are regulated by the government. The insane taxes put on alcohol are set by, you got it, the government. The price of beer is the price of beer...its the taxes that double the cost. Private companies are free to charge what ever they want, and if the Canadian people think paying twice as much for the same thing is fair then I guess we the people are the MORONS.

Canada taxes everyone so hard to pay for the many universal (free??) social benefits and programs.

As for lower cost goods if business from both countries go on a shopping trip to lets say China, where almost anything is made anymore, and due to the size of the US purchase being 10X bigger than a Canadian business the volume buyer gets the better price.

Then good old capitalist competition passes it on to the consumer.

and then in the US home mortgage interest is a deduction on income tax...

How did both countries start out at the same time with the same type and amount of people with the greater balance of rich natural resources going to Canada end up today with one growing to ten times the population of the other?

[Revenesque 2]

Canada taxes everyone so hard to pay for the many universal (free??) social benefits and programs.

As for lower cost goods if business from both countries go on a shopping trip to lets say China, where almost anything is made anymore, and due to the size of the US purchase being 10X bigger than a Canadian business the volume buyer gets the better price.

Then good old capitalist competition passes it on to the consumer.

and then in the US home mortgage interest is a deduction on income tax...

And despite this, the median Canadian household's net worth is US$122,260 vs American's $93,100.

How did both countries start out at the same time with the same type and amount of people with the greater balance of rich natural resources going to Canada end up today with one growing to ten times the population of the other?

Easy...

1) US has a much higher birth rate than Canada

2) US has a much higher immigration rate, legal and illegal combined

3) US has a much bigger, LIVEABLE geography

[Malrothien 6]

I took this thread to be more tongue and cheek than the last one personally, hope that was how it was intended lol

Personally I really miss the general niceness of the people in Canada compared to here. It was very cool to build so many friendships and relationships with people in Canada and I was just there on the weekends visiting my wife. I've got many old friends here in the States but it's very rare to go to a bar or a bowling alley in the States and to see the kind of manners and stuff that I saw in Canada and that was only about an hour to an hour and a half away lol

And with that, I will have to point out that I found Vancouver to be a very rude, self-absorbed city compared to the places I lived in the US.

I have seen more manners in the month I've been back than the 4 years I lived in Vancouver.

I do have to say that continuously comparing to the two countries is starting to drive me batty. We get it, we all have likes and dislikes of the two countries, whether based on various things/reasons. Can we just drop it already?

Edited March 6, 2010 by Malrothien

[CDAgirlMI 51]

2 can play this game...

What I hate about the US

Their f'd up Social Security Office (changing my name is impossible)

Their f'd up Secretary of State Office (getting a DL in my married name is impossible)

Their f'd up immigration rules that prevent me from visiting one of the BEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!

(just a little frustrated about a few things.....heh)

Edited March 6, 2010 by CDAgirlMI

[Sc0tt28 26]

Lol Just wait till there's a gap in your health insurance and a testicle falls out or something, you'll be wishing you were paying more for beer haha

Yeah, but you'll only have to wait in line for 6 months to get it put back in and sewn up. Oh, and the people ahead of you in line are the morons that go to the hospital knowing full well that the doctor is just going to say "get some rest and drink plenty of fluids" because there is no cure for the sniffles.

[OBX 51]

I do have to say that continuously comparing to the two countries is starting to drive me batty. We get it, we all have likes and dislikes of the two countries, whether based on various things/reasons. Can we just drop it already?

[trailmix 77]

Canada taxes everyone so hard to pay for the many universal (free??) social benefits and programs.

As for lower cost goods if business from both countries go on a shopping trip to lets say China, where almost anything is made anymore, and due to the size of the US purchase being 10X bigger than a Canadian business the volume buyer gets the better price.

Then good old capitalist competition passes it on to the consumer.

and then in the US home mortgage interest is a deduction on income tax...

How did both countries start out at the same time with the same type and amount of people with the greater balance of rich natural resources going to Canada end up today with one growing to ten times the population of the other?

We know it's not free.

While the volume purchasing power of the U.S. is a fact, those same goods then make their way up to Canada. Many of the businesses here are just American companies in Canada. They choose to charge higher prices to Canadians.

Many people who settled in Canada were Americans or Europeans who came north. I would venture a guess that the reason the population is smaller is because Canada was only for the hearty - and even then, 90% of our population lives close to the border, that isn't because of shopping sprees - it's because it's warmer

[LeslienScott 6]

While I am looking forward to giving Rogers the big "kiss my a$$", & can't wait to not pay this wonderful HST that comes into effect on July 1st, after missing my family & friends the biggest thing I will miss is my Smirnoff Ice. We in Canada sell it with vodka in it as it should with the name Smirnoff, the Americans sell it as a malt beverage! Ughhhhh!!!!! I will have to pack cases & cases of it when I move. Hahaha! That's my rant for today... Anyways, there are tons of advantages & disadvantages for living in each country but that is what makes each country unique. We will all have to work, have a place to live with our new spouses, groceries to buy, new friends to make & new gripes about our new country...it's just life.

[Texanadian 10]

I can't comment on cell phones as I don't have one.

I never particularly minded paying GST/PST on locally bought goods in BC. But I sure did hate paying it on stuff I bought from foreign countries. I like that in the USA, they have competition between the states. You don't pay sales tax on stuff bought from another state or country.

Only 1 toll road in BC. I've never been on it. Lots of toll roads in Texas. But I avoid them pretty much all the time.

I lived on the west coast of BC. Nicest weather in the country. Having said that, spring and fall were long, dull, rainy, and boring. Down in south Texas we have summer for 10 months. 1 month of winter. And one month where it's winter and summer. (70° one day, 45° the next day). There is no spring or fall. Our leaves changed colour AFTER the Christmas decorations went up. If it snows, it melts in a day. Because the next day the weather will be 60°.

I walked to the grocery store one night here. Bought a 6 pack of beer. They wouldn't sell it to me because it was 12:03AM. Nothing allowed after midnight. Why???....The way I figure it, if you're starting to drink at midnight, you're not going to go anywhere. Should be safer for drunk driving.

I like that I can buy car insurance on the internet here. I've never seen an agent or been inside an office in the US. Had to go to an ICBC office when I lived in Canada. Texas has over 100 different license plate designs to choose from. BC has 3 different plates to choose from. And there are no license plate stickers in Texas either.

Friendliness is close in either area.

Canada sucks in that unless you live in south Ontario or in a few certain areas in Vancouver, you can't get antenna TV. I get over 50 channels in Houston with my antenna. With the US being all digital now, the picture is perfect. The HD channels look better than the HD on cable TV. In Ontario, you can pick up some of the Detroit stations if you're close enough. In Vancouver, the main network channels are in Seattle. So unless you're close to the border and not blocked by mountains, you're not going to get much other than CBC and CTV.

There is no reason why Best Buy Canada should sell the same TV they sell at Best Buy USA for 30% higher prices.

Credit cards in Canada don't have nearly the same amount of cash rebates, good airline mile plans as the USA. And if they do, the annual fee negates the deal. No annual in the US, $120 in Canada for example.

Canada has a more national feel. I prefer the state's rights outlook. I always felt more British Columbian than I did Canadian. Some place like Labrador or Quebec or even Saskatchewan seemed like another country to me. I feel like I live in Texas rather than the USA now. They even sell Texas edition pickup trucks here.

I rarely saw a BC flag back then. The Maple Leaf would be the more popular flag. Down here, the Texas flag is everywhere. The Stars and Stripes not so much.

Edited March 6, 2010 by Texanadian

[Danu 19]

I got lucky when it came to my cellphone. My contract ran out just shortly after we filed my K1 so I signed up with Koodo, no contract, I just paid off what I owed on the phone to close it out (a whole $75 )

One thing thats wierd to get adjusted to for me is the traffic. I moved from Kingston to Santa Ana. In Canada I was one of those people who avoided driving the 401 through Toronto because of the traffic but its NOTHING compaired to here. And going from one highway to another to another to find some exit for the mall is just bizzare (sp?) for me because I'm not use to it so I can't get my bearings as to where I actually am in the city.

Cost of living is huge here, the rent is insane. The plus side to this is food is cheep and I can get amazing produce all year long! They have a strawberry stand on the road next to mine, and its open in the middle of winter! Speaking of winter, I make a horrible Canadian that way, I really don't enjoy the snow at all, except for on christmas day, so running around in tank tops and capri's in February was awesome to me. Of course I got looked at funny because everyone here thought it was sooo cold so they were all in sweaters

For healthcare, I did like the system in Canada, knowing that I could go when I needed and be taken care of. Thankfully with Wes's job we have amazing coverage down here and I still can, though paying $10 for the visit seems odd to me. I don't like knowing though that friends like ashen can't go if they need to because they have no coverage due to job loss or something like that.

I don't really care about the alcohol situation in either area, as I'm not an avid drinker and the stuff I bought in Canada wasn't that expensive. The rows of alcohol in Costco was baffling to see the first time we went though. Totally didn't expect it for some reason.

Overall so far theres things I love (more accessibility to tons of different shops for just about anything! Butter with measurements on the package) and things I miss (Harvey's and Timmies) but so far the move hasnt been too bad. I thought I would miss things a lot more than I do. I miss my family for sure but I love this area as well, and while I don't think we will live in this particular city forever, I do see us living in socal for a long time.

[Texanadian 10]

I actually find highways here to be rather easy to navigate. Because instead of missing your exit, taking the next one and then trying to find a way to turn around.... every exit goes to a frontage road which will have a U-turn that runs underneath the main highway.

Not only that, but the U-turns (Texas turnarounds as they're called here) are extremely fast. You get to skip two sets of lights because it bypasses them.

In actuality, the main highway will be above everything.

City streets have U-turns absolutely everywhere too. None of this driving around the block stuff.

Edited March 6, 2010 by Texanadian

[MrsCat 6]

^+1 Tex.

They have those in the H-1 in Honolulu and I love their freeway. Edmonton's version of the Yellowhead is horrible, lights every 10 blocks (not a freeway to me). But the new Anthony Henday is great for commuting fast out of town.