Canadian attitudes towards Americans (best city, real estate, insurance)

[Alaskapat528]

We drove through Canada from Alaska to visit the lower 48. My husband and I found most canadians to be very unfriendly and downright rude (in a grocery store my husband was bumped by people with carts at least 5 times with no apology from them).

Do Canadians have a problem with Americans? I do know after driving through Canada two times I have no desire to do so again. Next time my money will be spent on airfare; not to overpriced hotels, overpriced food, overpriced gas and putting up with cold, unfriendly people. I can count on one hand the few people there who were friendly.

[OgleCo]

Canadians are cocky, and rightfully so.
Their schools, health care, crime, quality of living, economy, and foreign affairs among many are better than those in the US.
We took a trip to Ontario and Quebec last month and found very accepting views of Americans in Ontario, especially Toronto, but in Francophone Montreal and Quebec, a few negatives and a few positives. Can't have it all.

[jghoo]

living in Seattle for 20 years I always found the Canadians to be very accepting of their southern hillbillie neighbors. I must admit I did get tired of apologizing for the behavior of our current regime.

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by OgleCo

Canadians are cocky, and rightfully so.
Their schools, health care, crime, quality of living, economy, and foreign affairs among many are better than those in the US.
We took a trip to Ontario and Quebec last month and found very accepting views of Americans in Ontario, especially Toronto, but in Francophone Montreal and Quebec, a few negatives and a few positives. Can't have it all.

Actually I saw nothing to be cocky for period. Hate to say it, but I found Canada to be behind the U.S. Health care; from what I understand you wait and wait for appointments, not great if you have a serious illness. Economy: Not sure how the folks there afford the high prices of food, gas and taxes. Their economy has always been dependent upon the U.S. We did not go through Toronto, Quebec or Ontario. An early morning t.v. real estate show advertised double wide trailers beginning at $160,000, I consider that a poor quality of living with their health care and overall state of affairs.

[jghoo]

Originally Posted by Alaskapat528

Actually I saw nothing to be cocky for period. Hate to say it, but I found Canada to be behind the U.S. Health care; from what I understand you wait and wait for appointments, not great if you have a serious illness. Economy: Not sure how the folks there afford the high prices of food, gas and taxes. Their economy has always been dependent upon the U.S. We did not go through Toronto, Quebec or Ontario. An early morning t.v. real estate show advertised double wide trailers beginning at $160,000, I consider that a poor quality of living with their health care and overall state of affairs.

woooohoooo,
thats right if it weren't for us good ol boys Canada would be right down the sh**er.

I guess thats why Vancouver Is the most livable city in the world right now.
Canada has what 5 to 7 cities in the worlds most livable list while the US has what ZERO.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by OgleCo

Canadians are cocky, and rightfully so.
Their schools, health care, crime, quality of living, economy, and foreign affairs among many are better than those in the US.
We took a trip to Ontario and Quebec last month and found very accepting views of Americans in Ontario, especially Toronto, but in Francophone Montreal and Quebec, a few negatives and a few positives. Can't have it all.

As my Canadian neighbor reminds me about once a month, "Canadian healthcare is the best in the world until you actually get sick."

That being said, I travel to Canada a lot on biz. I've found 90% of all Canadians I've ever met are terrific. That being said, it always seems that, on every trip, I get ambushed by somebody who indulges in some gratuitous carping about the US. Last time I went up, I was working the crossword at a bar while waiting for my seat, and the barmaid started telling me how Americans don't have any personality because all our radio stations sound alike. I really don't think she was kidding.

Of course, I'm sure Canadians encounter the occasional (Maybe not so occasional) A-Hole in the States who takes a swipe at Canadians.

[snappy]

Originally Posted by Alaskapat528

Do Canadians have a problem with Americans?

How did they know you were American? Were you wearing a flag on your backs!?

[grmike]

if the wait times weren't an issue then most of the people who think the Canadian health care system isn't good would find something else to criticize. it's free and less corrupt than the US one.
unless you're in the system you can't understand everything about it. If you have a serious illness and x rays showed that there's something wrong you will get treated and should have no problem getting things like ct scans, mri's done fast.
the only time you might not like the health care is if you have a problem that isn't easy to diagnose. if you have a lot of symptoms, pain, and x rays, blood tests don't show anything wrong then you probably won't get the attention you need.

[carp killer]

I've seen the Canadian medical system up close in action. My aunt fell and broke her arm so we took her to the emergency room at the hospital. They immediately gave her some ice to put on her arm. The triage nurse came out and looked her over while she was checking in. We were in the exam room in 15 minutes. The doctor came in about five minutes later and sent the aunt to xray in about a minute. We waited for her to get the pictures for about 45 minutes. She had a temporary cast on in about two hours and was sent home and told to contact her personal doctor for all the follow ups. Later that evening, the emergency room nurse called back to see how she was doing and if she had called to set up an appointment with her regular doctor. Not bad for a system that the United States private insurance companies claim is failing. There were a lot of people in the lobby waiting but from what I could over hear most were things like a case of the sniffles and skinned knees. Those are the people who will get sent to the back of the line and be there for a long time.

As far as Canadians being rude, they treat me no different than they treat themselves. I don't understand how you think they treat you rude because your a US citizen. How would they know.

[ZX14TJ]

Originally Posted by Alaskapat528

Do Canadians have a problem with Americans?

In general, Canadians don't have problems with Americans or citizens of any other country. Unless you run around telling people you are American, the average Canadian would never know.

Originally Posted by jghoo

I guess thats why Vancouver Is the most livable city in the world right now.
Canada has what 5 to 7 cities in the worlds most livable list while the US has what ZERO.

Of course, this is all subjective. Since I have not died in any of the cities I have lived in, I would rate all of them very high on the "libability" scale

Ten different magazines can run "Top 10" best city lists and all come up with different answers. I read the Economist and like the magazine. However, their criteria for "livability" would not apply to everyone. A city that is great for one person could be very poor for another.

Originally Posted by grmike

if the wait times weren't an issue then most of the people who think the Canadian health care system isn't good would find something else to criticize. it's free and less corrupt than the US one.

Ahhhh, "free healthcare". This has to be the most misunderstood thing about Canada. Healthcare up here is far from free. In fact, if you do well financially, the healthcare is downright expensive.