They basically freeload off of us, which is fine. They repay us by providing safe haven for disaffected liberals, which is a valuable service.
I think it's also fair to assume that their standard of living is worse than ours. Far more Canadians immigate into the US, than US citizens immigrate into Canada. There has to be a reason for that.
Lets see...
Canada GNP = 760 billion
USA GNP = 10,533 billion
Comparison?
Three reasons our economy has grown faster than the US economy:
1. Major tax cuts at the provincial level in the late 1990s.
2. A cheap dollar.
3. Resource exports to Asia.
Locations with moderate weather tend to have more homeless than those that threaten deadly cold.
You really can't compare one country against another with statistics. Canada has much fewer people, vast untapped natural resources, and a whole lot more Rumanian strippers.