Think Canada's the Place to Be? Think Again (A Canadian expat explains)

The Seattle Times ^ | December 12, 2003 | Jennifer Meeks

[quidnunc]

It has been said that Seattle mirrors Canada in its tolerant attitudes, but there is a dark side to this utopia across the border.

My husband and I left Canada six years ago to start a new life in the United States. Tens of thousands of university-educated, middle-class Canadians leave Canada for the U.S. every year. The Canadian government even has a name for us — "The Brain Drain."

Why do we leave?

Taxes – Ever wonder why you see so many rusty cars up north? It's not just because they salt the roads in the wintertime. People can't afford new ones.

Fifty percent of the Canadian paycheck goes to taxes. And, in Ontario, for example, there's a 15-percent tax at the cash register. Think about paying that every time you buy a car, a fridge or clothes. The Canadian middle class has almost been taxed out of existence.

Official bilingualism – This is what most of the taxes pay for.

Learning and speaking another language may seem like fun to most Americans. Forget about that textbook Parisian you learned in high school. My husband speaks French fluently but not by Canadian government standards. He'd be passed over in employment by someone who speaks a government-approved level of French.

Canada is officially bilingual and that means everything must be in French and English. Everything. It's the law.

If you or your company do not comply with regulations then the official language "police" will be at your door. If you want to pursue a career in retail, the police, the post office, government, business and even the military, you must be bilingual.

The U.S. has its issues with African Americans and Canada has its issues with French Canadians. Affirmative action in the name of official bilingualism has resulted in a great deal of conflict.

Employment – If you are English-speaking in Canada, it's difficult to find a job.

Salaries are much lower than in the U.S. When we moved to the U.S., my husband almost tripled his salary.

Our standard of living is beyond what we could have ever achieved in a lifetime living in Canada. Our relatives can't believe how well average, middle-class Americans live. Our son, who has a learning disability, is getting the best education ever in an American public school.

-snip-

[Dunedain]

The poster must be from the East. I feel sorry for you. :)

I'm Western Canadian, so I don't have to deal with the bilingual crap too much. I voted against the Charlotten Accords which was an attempt to bribe Quebec not to leave Canada. If they want to leave, leave, but I'm not paying you to stay. My bigger beef with our politicians is that THEY made the French thing an issue. It could have simmered away as people got bored with the separatists, but NOOO, the Tories and the Liberals had to constantly throw it in our face.

Canadians and Americans assume a lot of things about our tax systems. Both systems are good and bad for various reasons. One thing that annoys me is that gas tax in Canada gets into general revenue. It does NOT largely get spent on roads. But Canada also has larger exemptions than the US. I know because I did my wife's taxes. She is an American living in Canada with me.

I live in Victoria and its one of the most beautiful places on earth.

The biggest problems we have compared to America isn't taxes.

The first one is healthcare. America has problems too. But Canada refuses to acknowledge that the system is unsustainable. As the population ages we will likely spend 100% of tax revenue on healthcare. Trying to suggest that perhaps the patient should pay a portion of the cost (say 10% of a 100,000 procedure) gets thrown back in your face as anti-Canadian.

Our other problem is we are run as a socialist regime. The CRTC (TV regulation branch of the government) had the police confiscating satellite dishes? Why? Because they picked up 100% US content. Canada wants to control how much US content we watch on TV.

We have a lot of socialists. Too many. Even Christians who profess to believe in socialism. Which is not rational if they knew the tenents of that belief.

Really nothing can be done to change how things are here. Canadians are not known to take action. Separation is unlikely. But it could be worse. We could be France.

[Allan]

Canada is far more selective than it is here in the U.S. --
they don't operate under the silly notion that any 18 year-old with a heartbeat
and a moderate ability to respond to light and heat
is a candidate for college admissions.

You are kidding of course.
I teach mathematics in a Canadian university.
I would say the average IQ of my students is 100
ie. that of the general public.
That would not be too bad
except for the fact
that because of their dismal high school education
they are unable to do mathematics at the grade 10 level.

[Alberta's Child]

I'm also willing to bet that I'm one of the only people in the United States who knows that the "Petro" in Petro-Canada is actually an acronym . . .

Pierre Elliott Trudeau Ripped Off - Canada

LOL.

[mitchbert]

"I didn't move to Canada -- I moved to Alberta."

Good one!

[vanmorrison]

Canukistan IS France...

[americanSoul]

Bilingualism:

After a certain level in any Federal dept (military, civil service,...) there is a legal requirement for being bilingual. Since a frenchman is much more likely to speak English than the other way around, the result is that in a lot of departments, some 70% and more of the senior managers,commanders are french.

Health Care:

They have a top notch (equipment, personnel) Defense Dept. hospital in Ottawa - the catch: only senior military, civil servants, and politicians are allowed in! Shades of the Soviet Union.

Also, the universal access - oh yeah, looks good on paper, but you can die on the waiting list for service and the equipment is simply not there. To get to the front of the line, it's who you know.

It's been calculated that this taxpayer health care comes out to about $3000CDN per capita. You can get a lot of private insurance coverage for this amount in the US. So this health care is a false sacred cow.

[Alberta's Child]

Like I said . . . heh-heh.

Where do you teach? Most of the people I worked with were engineering grads from the University of British Columbia, the University of Alberta, and the University of Calgary -- so maybe I'm a little biased towards engineers here.

Having said that, I will point out that most PhD.-level students in the U.S. probably couldn't do 10th-grade mathematics, either.

[americanSoul]

The people who make this a miniature Canada are my friends and neighbors

Are these the same that voted for having a giant statue of Lenin put up in the city?

[Dunedain]

Actually Federalism is a big movement here. Ottawa tells us what to do but then expects the provinces to foot the bill. Taxation WITHOUT representation.

Plus we practice regional welfare. Canada taxes the richer provinces and transfers the money to poorer provinces. For example gas taxes go to one federal pot. Most is wasted on things like 1 billion for gun registration. The rest is divided unequally. BC gets back about 1/5th of its gas taxes paid to Ottawa. Regions close to Ottawa of course get the Lion's Share.

Canada has been ruled by 3 multi-millionaire lawyers for the last 3 decades. Maybe that's what's wrong.

[Dunedain]

I'm with you. Trudeau was the worst thing to ever happen to Canada. Case closed.

[Dunedain]

I can assure you it isn't. At least where I live.

Canadians know how to wait in line. We smell good. We say please and thank you. We clean up after our dogs (most of us). We don't eat horses. And we fought in World War II!

[hosepipe]

If you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it's 'free'- PJ O'Rourke

[Sunsong]

Thanks for your comments: "I emigrated from Canada and became a US citizen 10 years ago. I love to visit Vancouver, but I would never go back to live. The differences are subtle, but real. Canadians are less free than we are, and accept a level of government intrusion into their lives that Americans would find intolerable. Unfortunately, nearly 2 generations of socialism had bred an apathy and acceptance of their situation. It frightens me to think that Dean, Hitlery, and the other commie left here in the US want to make us more like our socialist northern neighbors. We must be ever vigilant to make sure our freedom stays intact, despite our politicians."

Yes, we need to re-elect President Bush. It is imperative that we do. And we need to keep our eye on Canada, because not only do they show us what we do not want to do, they are so lax on immigration and terrorism that they pose a danger to us.

[ppaul]

Lenin in Seattle

[CanadianLibertarian]

Most of it. My bachelor's cost maybe 10000 Canadian over the 4 years.

[VOA]

My Canadian friends are anything but poor - huge new homes.

As much as I love my Canadian uncle, some things he's said point out one of the
few things that irk me about Canada.

He told me (and I think he believed it): "All Americans care about is money!"

It wasn't until a few years later that I found that Canadians had one of
the highest levels of MONEY stashed away in their saving accounts and personal belongings
of any country.

Hypocrisy is the one trait of Canada that I dislike the least.
And I dislike it in Americans (and myself) as well.
Also, their hate-crimes (and though-police) movement is disturbing...and I don't like
our Supreme Court looking to Canada for legal precedence.

Otherwise, I love their clean cities, beautiful countryside and civilized living.

[kanawa]

"I find it really very difficult to fathom"