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The New Conservative Love Affair With Canada
New York Times ^ | 09/19/2014 | Josh Barro

Posted on 09/20/2014 7:33:03 PM PDT by goldstategop

There’s a great deal of truth to the conservative praise for Canada. Its fiscal choices have shown how a country can maintain a strong social safety net while taxing and spending efficiently and encouraging private investment. Openness to trade and skilled immigration have made Canada an attractive place to invest; perhaps too attractive for some, given the dizzying way Chinese investment has driven up housing prices in Vancouver.

But there are two big caveats to the conservative case for Canada. First, the offsets. “The things conservatives love about Canada are closely linked to the things they hate most about Canada,” says Mr. Frum, a Canadian-American journalist. Canada’s light corporate taxes? Made possible, in part, by a value-added tax, imposed by a conservative government in 1991. Canada’s 1990s fiscal austerity? Made possible by top-down restraint of health care spending and a weak Canadian dollar.

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


TOPICS: Canada; Constitution/Conservatism; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: canada; conservatism; joshbarro; newyorktimes
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Canadian fiscal austerity accompanied by tight restraints on health care choice and the weakness of the Canadian dollar explain Canada's enviable position.

It has low spending, an oil boom and a smartly run single payer health care system. Conservatives praise Canada but leave out of some the things that make it work so well. Which they would hate here.

1 posted on 09/20/2014 7:33:03 PM PDT by goldstategop
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To: goldstategop

canada has no free speech.

they have human rights tribunals if you are not pc right-thinking.

homosexuals are very powerful and you can’t speak the truth about it.


2 posted on 09/20/2014 7:35:46 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Secret Agent Man

Value added tax, weak dollar and single payer. Conservative pet peeves.


3 posted on 09/20/2014 7:36:44 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop

great points.’’socialist heaven. plus they have lots of balkanization issues with the various indians and french.


4 posted on 09/20/2014 7:39:43 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: goldstategop
It has low spending

This is wrong. Canadian spending is much higher, but it's got a continent's worth of natural resources divided up over 35m people. We have a similar amount of resources, but it's divided up over 9x the population.

5 posted on 09/20/2014 7:41:50 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: goldstategop

Who is writing this bilge?


6 posted on 09/20/2014 7:42:14 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: goldstategop; All
..just ask, Mark Styne...An eviro-terrorist/wacko; for
speaking the Truth about Glo-Bull Warming, he's on
trial for Libel.

7 posted on 09/20/2014 7:42:17 PM PDT by skinkinthegrass (The end move in politics in always to pick up a weapon...eh? "Bathhouse" 0'Mullah? d8^)
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To: Secret Agent Man

It wasn’t that long ago when conservatives jeered liberals to move to Canada.

Now they love it in part because conservatives run it. But it has a powerful social democratic party that wants more things to be run from Ottawa.

Then they’ll hate the country again if it wins in 2015.


8 posted on 09/20/2014 7:43:24 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop

Their health care is TERRIBLE.

I have a friend who’s married to a Canadian gal. His father in law has a high psa test. They were very slow to treat him, telling him to wait and making appointments nearly impossible to get. Months later he was having worse symptoms — they finally biopsies and determined it was an aggressive small-cell carcinoma. The had many more delays before finally operating on him, too late. He died a few months ago. His daughter (lives with her American husband, my friend in the USA) is still devastated — she pleaded with him to push hard for treatment but like most Canadians he believed the government was doing all they could (and maybe they were within the constraints of the uncaring system).

It was a totally preventable death, if he had been treated promptly. They kept telling him “you have priority” which is meaningless when the system is so slow, cumbersome and impersonal.

In Canada you can’t change your doctor — and doctors don’t work much due to labor laws. If your doctor is on vacation you have to wait for them to return.

It’s fine for minor ailments, but if you have a real issue you’re SCREWED.


9 posted on 09/20/2014 8:30:46 PM PDT by zipper (In Their Heart Of Hearts, Every Democrat Is A Communist.)
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To: Secret Agent Man
canada has no free speech. they have human rights tribunals if you are not pc right-thinking. homosexuals are very powerful and you can’t speak the truth about it.

That's right. Although Canada has taken a few steps in the conservative direction in recent years, one must look at the big picture before concluding it is a conservative haven. It isn't. To put "conservative' and Canada in perspective, Canada had a "conservative" prime minister named Kim Campbell. She spent time in the Soviet Union studying their political system before becoming prime minister.

10 posted on 09/20/2014 9:16:58 PM PDT by Ethan Clive Osgoode (<<== Click here to learn about Evolution!)
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To: goldstategop

Isn’t gun control pretty idiotic and strict in Canada? I mean isn’t the populace pretty disarmed?


11 posted on 09/20/2014 10:06:05 PM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: GeronL
Who is writing this bilge?

We only need to see the name 'Frum' and we can know instantly what the agenda is.

12 posted on 09/20/2014 10:10:58 PM PDT by eclecticEel ("The petty man forsakes what lies within his power and longs for what lies with Heaven." - Xunzi)
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To: goldstategop
O Canada, WE stand on guard for thee!
13 posted on 09/20/2014 10:16:16 PM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: goldstategop

For those of us who like to read reeeeaaaaalllllyyyyyy long indepth articles, here is the link to another that is mentioned in the original NY Times piece...

http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/lessons-from-canada


14 posted on 09/21/2014 6:58:58 AM PDT by huldah1776
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To: goldstategop

They have a safety valve for the many shortcomings of their single-payer health system called the United States of America.

Worth noting.


15 posted on 09/21/2014 7:02:05 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: zipper

Ugly real-world example of what I pointed out just above. Many come to the U.S. for quick treatment.


16 posted on 09/21/2014 7:03:15 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: zipper

“In Canada you can’t change your doctor — and doctors don’t work much due to labor laws. If your doctor is on vacation you have to wait for them to return.”

Absolute utter balderdash. I’ve lived in four provinces and in every case, I chose my own doctor, and if and when that doctor was away someone of his/her choosing handled his/her patients in the interim. Where, pray tell, do you get your information?


17 posted on 09/21/2014 2:23:50 PM PDT by oldweesie
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To: Ethan Clive Osgoode

More balderdash. Kim Campbell was PM for 15 minutes - well, not really. It was four months and one week to be exact, in a scenario akin to your VP taking over from the Pres, if and when something happens to him. She even lost her own seat in the subsequent election.


18 posted on 09/21/2014 2:32:51 PM PDT by oldweesie
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To: oldweesie

From my friend married to a Canadian. Didn’t you bother to read the entire post, or did your nationalistic fervor kick in before you had the chance?

And I trust him more than you, though I won’t rule out the possibility than the rules from one province to another differ.

Now go ahead, tell us how great socialism is, dumba$$.


19 posted on 09/21/2014 11:04:44 PM PDT by zipper (In Their Heart Of Hearts, Every Democrat Is A Communist.)
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To: zipper

I’ve not only changed doctors at will, I’ve chosen my own on advice of friends and acquaintances, and I’ve even dumped a couple because I didn’t like their attitude.

I did read you’re entire post. I have to wonder which province your friend married to a Canadian was referring to. Was it Quebec, which is Canada’s basket case province by any metric you may choose? Can’t take being corrected, I see.

As for how great socialism is, I wouldn’t know. I don’t live in a socialist country. Our doctors are in private practice. They are not employed by the state.

If I were you, I’d not rely on a grapevine for information.


20 posted on 09/22/2014 3:51:27 PM PDT by oldweesie
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