Why is Canada so thinly populated, compared to say, Alaska? (real estate, crime rate)

[ajau]

Originally Posted by The_gateway

I absolutely agree with you on that one. A lot of other people on both sides of the line would also agree with you.

The problem is too many people might have too much to lose, in a sense. Some of those same people are sometimes powerful, hence why we don't have an "open" border.

It's excruciatingly frustrating sometimes, because the answer is right there, and governments are shooting themselves in the foot right now.

Interest groups who have a economic advantage predicated upon artificial constraints definitely would have issue with removing roadblocks... Both in the US and Canada. Look at the pharma, ethanol and sugar industry in the US and look at the Dairy, telecom and financial industry in Canada.

It's all about playing interest groups... Always was, always will be.

[darrensmooth]

If not for the Weather (mainly), high taxes, uptight people (Toronto mainly), excessive government control on certain things (CRTC & LCBO), this would be the perfect place to live.

If the border opened up tommorow, i'd be one of the 5-10% going to the US, not that I hate Canada, but I just feel the US way is more up my alley.

[ajau]

Originally Posted by darrensmooth

If not for the Weather (mainly), high taxes, uptight people (Toronto mainly), excessive government control on certain things (CRTC & LCBO), this would be the perfect place to live.

If the border opened up tommorow, i'd be one of the 5-10% going to the US, not that I hate Canada, but I just feel the US way is more up my alley.

There is no LCBO outside of Ontario ... Alberta has private liquor stores. See the thread that was started on this forum. Even other Canadian provinces think the LCBO is excessive.

CRTC, thought that was to protect the Toronto arts establishment ...

High Taxes, yes but after paying for health insurance in the US instead do an analysis and compare... Might be lower, but actually be higher in the US...

Weather and uptight people, agreed... In Calgary it isn't so much uptight folks (much much easier to chat with women in the US and Calgary than Toronto) but the "Ned Flanders vibe" that gets to me... There is nothing edgy about Calgary or Canada whatsoever...

I've lived in the US before, I like it... Not sure I'd live their again but wish it was easier to go back and forth, especially without having to declare any shopping purchases...

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by sunshineleith

You are presuming quite a lot. As I am actually here in the UK speaking to people, the reasons I hear (not the ones I am taking a stab at) are clean air, wide open spaces, good property prices, a strong economy and a national healthcare system and gun laws similar to Britain's. In fact when I hear people here say "It has always been my dream to move to Canada" I suggest they check out the immigration policy as it is quite easy to get in and most don't realise it! Ease of immigration is quite obviously therefore NOT the reason for the dream. The other two countries Brits seem to dream of are NZ and Oz. The USA is seen as the land of opportunity - Canada is seen as the land of the free. Not sure either is entirely accurate, but there you have it from a firsthand point of view.

I would say that out of all these countries Australia is far ahead when it comes to places Brits think about emigrating to.

Canada is seen by many as having most of the good stuff the U.S. has, minus most of the bad stuff. For Brits at least, I would say climate doesn't play into it that much, as most Brits moving to the U.S. settle into the New York/Northeast region anyway.

I also should say that it seems like a lot of the Commonwealth countries have what one might call "insider's prejudice" when it comes to the U.S. People in Canada, the UK, Ireland, Oz and NZ watch so many American TV shows and movies, often violent or "dumbass", that they get this skewed view of what life in the U.S. is really like. A lot of people from these countries that I talk to are totally irrational and out in left field when it comes to estimating how much actual physical danger you are in when *just* visiting the United States.

All this being said, and Canada's good reputation notwithstanding, you encounter few *young* British immigrants in Canada these days. Most of the British accents you hear these days in Canada come out of the mouths of people 60 or over. Whereas in Australia everywhere you go there are young Brits. There are also quite a few young Brits in U.S. cities like New York, Boston and Washington.

It may be a question of a lot of "talk" being about moving to Canada, but when push comes to shove the "action" is going to the States.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by ajau

I hate to say it but you are probably right. Canada is many immigrants 2nd choice for country to live in and many Canadians would be living in the US today if there was a EU style labour mobility scheme....

I agree 100% that Canada is a second choice for many immigrants who could not get into the U.S. However, most of these people end up putting down roots in Canada and taking a liking to this country's lifestyle. After a few years in Canada most would not up and leave for the U.S. even if you paid them.

Of course, there is a proportion of immigrants that do land in Canada and then leave for the U.S. when it becomes possible. And this proportion is higher than most Canadians realize or would like to admit - probably in the 25% range according to studies I have seen.

[Acajack]

I would also like to add that weather does not play into immigration destinations as much as some might think. Two of the top five immigration destination cities in the U.S. are cold weather cities: New York and Chicago. Chicago is actually the second biggest settling place for Mexican immigrants to the U.S. after Los Angeles.

The second-tier of immigration cities in the U.S. features a mixture of Sunbelt and colder places. Cities like Boston, Minneapolis and Philadelphia all draw their fair share of immigrants.

[Gary Siete]

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/emig1107.pdf (broken link)
Almost two thirds of all British citizens emigrating abroad went to live in one of five countries. Based on IPS-only estimates:
• 32 per cent went to live in Australia or New Zealand
• 24 per cent went to live in Spain or France
• 8 per cent went to live in the United States


http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=15054 (broken link)
Long-Term International Migration, estimates from International Passenger Survey:

Top 10 countries of next residence of migrants who are British citizens
2008-2009 combined
72,000 Australia
26,000 Spain
25,000 USA
20,000 Germany
19,000 France
16,000 New Zealand
13,000 Canada
12,000 United Arab Emirates
9,000 Republic of Ireland
5,000 Switzerland

[ThroatGuzzler]

The US is far from heaven on earth; to be honest the amount of social problems there alone is enough to keep me away from wanting to live there. The middle class is almost non existant (aka HUGE gap between the rich and poor), a good amount of tax dollars are put to war, section 8 housing, food stamps, welfare etc... it's just too much for me to handle. Gun control is a huge issue over in the US (see Arizona shooting just a few weeks ago), inner city crime and ghetto's, and the economy has hit absolute rock bottom. The health care system really only benefits the ultra rich as they can simply pay out their *** to get the best possible service and treatment. On top of it's astronomical foreclosure rate, crippling infrastructure in many of it's major cities due to lack of state/federal funding, illegal immigration and drug smuggling problems, Canada's looking like the country one would rather live their life in. Canada has NO ghettos, a crime rate less than 1/10th of the US, gun laws that work, a larger middle class, and one hell of a great public school system.

Now don't get me wrong, it's a great place to visit. But to live? I'll stick to Canada. But I guess that's just me..

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by ThroatGuzzler

The US is far from heaven on earth; to be honest the amount of social problems there alone is enough to keep me away from wanting to live there. The middle class is almost non existant (aka HUGE gap between the rich and poor), a good amount of tax dollars are put to war, section 8 housing, food stamps, welfare etc... it's just too much for me to handle. Gun control is a huge issue over in the US (see Arizona shooting just a few weeks ago), inner city crime and ghetto's, and the economy has hit absolute rock bottom. The health care system really only benefits the ultra rich as they can simply pay out their *** to get the best possible service and treatment. On top of it's astronomical foreclosure rate, crippling infrastructure in many of it's major cities due to lack of state/federal funding, illegal immigration and drug smuggling problems, Canada's looking like the country one would rather live their life in. Canada has NO ghettos, a crime rate less than 1/10th of the US, gun laws that work, a larger middle class, and one hell of a great public school system.

Now don't get me wrong, it's a great place to visit. But to live? I'll stick to Canada. But I guess that's just me..

Much of this is true, however the U.S. is so big, diverse and offers so much economic opportunity that you can effectively live most of your life there totally oblivious to almost all of these problems. Or at the very least, they won't affect you much.

If you look back in history, the U.S. has almost always had very "significant" problems and crises (civil war, civil rights, Vietnam, presidential assassinations, decline of cities, explosive crime rates, drug abuse epidemics, dubious foreign wars, terrorism on its soil), yet this has never really prevented a large segment of its population (the vast majority in fact during most periods) from living the American Dream to its fullest.

[ThroatGuzzler]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Much of this is true, however the U.S. is so big, diverse and offers so much economic opportunity that you can effectively live most of your life there totally oblivious to almost all of these problems. Or at the very least, they won't affect you much.

If you look back in history, the U.S. has almost always had very "significant" problems and crises (civil war, civil rights, Vietnam, presidential assassinations, decline of cities, explosive crime rates, drug abuse epidemics, dubious foreign wars, terrorism on its soil), yet this has never really prevented a large segment of its population (the vast majority in fact during most periods) from living the American Dream to its fullest.

Yes, there are pockets of good in the United States. But aspects such as gun control, education, health care, and where your tax money goes will follow you wherever you decide to settle down. But I agree, many of it's problems you can either ignore or turn a blind eye on.