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Is Canada the promised land? One American thinks it comes close
Globe and Mail ^ | June 28, 2019 | Lawrence Karol

Posted on 06/29/2019 11:02:55 AM PDT by rickmichaels

I am a recovering American. This is a major admission on my part. Since moving to Canada in 2017, I’ve kept this part of my identity hidden from everyone except my closest friends. It’s a fairly easy sleight-of-hand. I’ve lived in various parts of the United States so I’m not easily pegged by any regionally-identifiable accent. The rest was simply a matter of a few linguistic somersaults: saying washroom instead of restroom; parkade, not parking lot; chatting at dinner parties about stratas rather than condo boards; and casually ordering deli meats by the gram (thanks to the conversion app on my phone). And to my utter delight, if my dirty little secret is revealed the universal response has been: “You’re American? But you seem so nice!”

To address the elephant in the room – quite literally, I suppose, since it’s the mascot of the Republican Party – yes, the tipping point for my relocation was the 2016 presidential election. Yet, I wasn’t one of those people who wrote angry Facebook posts and threatened to leave the country if Hillary Clinton didn’t win. That seemed overly dramatic – until, well, until the unimaginable actually happened.

I know some of my American friends think I took the easy route – the coward’s path, if you will. To the people who question my decision, I respond, “Do you really think it’s that easy to just pick up and leave the country where you were born and lived your entire life?” But the day after the election – and this is actually hard to really put into words – I just felt a seismic shift in my overall sense of well-being and thought, “I’ve got to get out of here.”

(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: coward
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To: PGR88
Your observations about the supercilious anti-Americanism of Canadians is in keeping with what I've seen on You Tube videos with Canadians and their raving about their vaunted ‘’free health care’’ with they feel makes them morally, economically and politically superior to every form of life and culture on the planet.
81 posted on 06/29/2019 1:17:49 PM PDT by jmacusa ("If wisdom is not the Lord, what is wisdom?''.)
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To: backwoods-engineer

“How can we get another 10 million to go?’’ Re-elect Trump.


82 posted on 06/29/2019 1:19:07 PM PDT by jmacusa ("If wisdom is not the Lord, what is wisdom?''.)
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To: ifinnegan

Hes a liar.


Yep. Any decent third generation Canadian could sniff him out, and he has managed to adopt mannerisms that scream not “Canadian” but “upper class snob from Vancouver.”

I’m a Yank who has been in Ontario most of the last 27 years and I’ve never heard anyone refer to a parkade and had no clue what a stratas is. People around here use both washroom and restroom.

There are Canadianisms, but his persepctive is something equivalent to thinking that a 1940’s Philadelphia or Bostonian blue blood was the definition of American.

Anglo Montreal was like this up until the quiet revolution. Canadians certainly can have a condescending smugness at times, but most of them aren’t first class p***ks. However, you can find them in all nations.

Best sign at the gold-medal game in Olympic Hockey some years back: loser keeps Bieber.

Sorry does.


83 posted on 06/29/2019 1:22:36 PM PDT by Hieronymus ("I shall drink--to the Pope, if you please,-still, to Conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards.")
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To: sparklite2

Considering Canada would be Mexico without the US on their southern border I’m sorry you feel that way. Perhaps I should say I hate the anti-American ones. I do have a daughter-in-law from Calgary. She left and doesn’t want to go back.


84 posted on 06/29/2019 1:23:20 PM PDT by jmacusa ("If wisdom is not the Lord, what is wisdom?''.)
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To: Hieronymus

parkade and had no clue what a stratas is.


I wondered about those, too. Maybe we’re not ‘woke.’


85 posted on 06/29/2019 1:24:29 PM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: sparklite2

A while back, when Quebec was having a referendum on independence, I think I remember hearing the Maritime Provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island) were considering asking to join as American states if Quebec went independent.


86 posted on 06/29/2019 1:24:44 PM PDT by OldNewYork (Operation Wetback II, now with computers)
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To: Nordic Breed

Not according to what I’ve see on You Tube, Good God the way they go on about their ‘’free health care’’ you’d think the place was The Garden Of Eden.


87 posted on 06/29/2019 1:25:13 PM PDT by jmacusa ("If wisdom is not the Lord, what is wisdom?''.)
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To: kaehurowing

Check out the video of a young woman named Faith Goldy. She’s awesome. She’s one Canadian I DO like.


88 posted on 06/29/2019 1:27:57 PM PDT by jmacusa ("If wisdom is not the Lord, what is wisdom?''.)
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To: rickmichaels
From the perspective of a former outsider, I’ve been struck by the overarching societal notion that everyone should be treated equally.

Egalitarianism abolishes causality in the earning of income, resulting in people doing too little, and it abolishes causality in the spending of income, causing people to be unconcerned about cost, resulting in people spending too much. The evasion of causality is one of the signs and symptoms of irrationality.

89 posted on 06/29/2019 1:28:08 PM PDT by mjp ((pro-{God, reality, reason, egoism, individualism, natural rights, limited government, capitalism}))
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To: jmacusa

When I flew into Calgary, it felt like I was back in Texas.
The other passengers wore boots, Stetsons, and wool-lined jackets. Then I saw a bunch of Pakis. Nope, we’re not in Texas. LOL

But I made many friends, had some excellent employees, and enjoyed my years spent there. To say I hate them would be a lie.


90 posted on 06/29/2019 1:28:22 PM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: Jonty30
It is Quebec that rules Canada.

Quebec swings the elections. The left needs Quebec for solid victories. But so far as I can see, the price of that is to let Quebec do what it wants on its own territory. Anglo-Canada is screwed up in its own way by itself. Quebec isn't responsible for that.

91 posted on 06/29/2019 1:31:48 PM PDT by x
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To: OldNewYork

The Maritime economies are generally so dependent on transfer payments, the US might not want the expense. And since they are Quebec’s natural market, Quebec would want to keep them.

And I expect they’d pull each other into penury.


92 posted on 06/29/2019 1:32:27 PM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: Hieronymus

Nice post.


93 posted on 06/29/2019 1:33:00 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: rickmichaels

There is, or was, a separatist movement underway in Alberta in the last few years. They want to become our 51st. state. I say no. Good God that’s all we need. More millions, not just Albertans but thousands more who would flood into Alberta and then here. We’re already a nation of 324 million. We’re not Motel 6 for God’s sake.


94 posted on 06/29/2019 1:33:05 PM PDT by jmacusa ("If wisdom is not the Lord, what is wisdom?''.)
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To: sparklite2

I have no clue what “woke” is and if I never learn that’s ok by me. I don’t think anyone in my town does either—but I’m in a fairly back woods part of Ontario where most of the folks would fit in well with the rural folk in flyover county.

Bear hunting, moose hunting, deer hunting, ice fishing, snowmobiling, fishing, canoeing and drinking. Trucks probably outnumber cars.

Not exactly west Vancouver.


95 posted on 06/29/2019 1:33:41 PM PDT by Hieronymus ("I shall drink--to the Pope, if you please,-still, to Conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards.")
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To: Kickass Conservative

How about fire arms ownership?


96 posted on 06/29/2019 1:34:29 PM PDT by jmacusa ("If wisdom is not the Lord, what is wisdom?''.)
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To: ifinnegan

Thanks


97 posted on 06/29/2019 1:34:31 PM PDT by Hieronymus ("I shall drink--to the Pope, if you please,-still, to Conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards.")
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To: jmacusa

She is hot. Apparently the interview I saw just now got her fired. Don’t know any details.


98 posted on 06/29/2019 1:36:51 PM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC

“”Universal response” among Canadians? My butt!”

Maybe it’s universal amongst the folks he hangs with.


99 posted on 06/29/2019 1:38:08 PM PDT by ModelBreaker
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To: Hieronymus

Sorry. ‘Woke’ was used sarcastically. It is a meme of the left indicating someone has bought into the leftist narrative. And how about those TiCats?


100 posted on 06/29/2019 1:38:46 PM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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