Replies

1) One of the biggest reasons Canada can afford it's [expletive deleted] national health plan is because it doesn't have to pay for a national defense.

So much depends on where you are. A growing oil area (Alberta, Sask.) doesn't have nearly enough doctors. And God help you if you don't agree 100% of what the doctor wants you to do.
The worst thing to me about the nationalized health care is the way it warps the thinking of even otherwise conservative citizens (subjects)? Even those who lived and thrived before the socialization are afraid of seeing it go, like the U.S. with Social Security.

2) Immigration? Last time I checked, there wasn't much problem of illegal immigrants sneaking into Canada from the US. What issues do they have there?

It is pretty easy (compared to the U.S.) to buy your way into Canada (landed immigrant). They don't have the RFK designed quota system we have. There are plenty (not, of course, as many as here) who come from Mexico and below. My Canadian wife's family knew one man who feared for his life in El Salvador and made his way all the way up on land. Asians (Indians and Far East) aplenty. They don't really assimilate, but mostly aren't big on crime, either.

3) "With far fewer lending excesses, Canada didn’t really have a housing bust or a credit crisis to recover from."

Yeah, it's hard to find a standard 30 year mortgage in Canada, and rates are generally higher than here, as are housing prices. You have maybe half a dozen real banks. That said, they really DIDN'T have a housing bubble or collapse, and no one was playing funny games with derivatives etc. That may not be a bad thing. No collapse means no taxpayer subsidized bailout. Net plus in my book.