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The term freedom is too broad a term. Most people use it simply to mean 'their ideal nation'. Although that would almost certainly not be an accurate term.
Easiest way to measure freedom is to simply count the number of liberties each country gives its people. It gets a little complicated here as although on the federal level the U.S. restricts far fewer liberties then Canada, It is often the case in the U.S. that on the state level things... vary. Some states possess levels of liberty that border on anarchy while others come very close to being police states.
I imagine the same applies to Canada. This however is an unavoidable consequence of the need to delegate authority due to the extreme size of our respective countries.
However there is yet another complication, freedom does not necessarily man more liberty. In my opinion freedom is the opposite of tyranny. And tyranny comes in three forms. Tyranny from the state, Tyranny from the people and tyranny from oneself.
The state needs to restrict some liberties through laws and regulations to avoid tyranny from the state and self.
Based on this it is my opinion that any law or regulation that does not directly fight tyranny is in itself a form of tyranny. And based on this and my admittedly understanding of Canadian laws, I m of the opinion that Canada is slightly less free then the U.S.
Right, you also are culturually homogeneous, have 1/10th of the population with the same number of natural resources, marginal illegal immigrant problem. Give me a break.
20% of the population in Canada are immigrants. How is that homogeneous? America's immigrant population is 13%.
20% of the population in Canada are immigrants. How is that homogeneous? America's immigrant population is 13%.
16.3% of your population are "Visible minorities" per Statistics Canada 2006. The majority of your immigrants also come legally to be Canadians and work. You don't have 1.5 million illegal immigrants in your country (thats the proportion you'd have). All I am saying is that the US faces a lot more substantial and different challenges than Canadians do.
A pretty self-explanatory thread. This was inspired by my fiancee, who is a Canadian citizen. We were discussing the political views of many American conservatives and she mentioned that many may feel that Canadians exchange their "freedoms". What do you think?
I consider the citizens of Canada to have far more freedom, and live a far higher quality of life than people in the U.S. (except for the American rich).
In the US, you can't exercise your freedoms that would infringe on the rights of others. In Canada, there are far more restrictions including restrictions on offensive and hate speech.
I disagree with you about almost everything, but you're absolutely right on this point.
I absolutely support that, it is like that in most civilized countries... The only thing that needs careful attention is where to draw the line, there should be a broad consensus on that, not some few people deciding supposedly in the name of everyone.
The question was whether Canada is less free than the United States, not whether it's a good idea.
From this post you seem to agree that Canada is less free than the United States, but that that is a good thing.
True. I am an American living in NS being sent here by my company. My daughter loves Kinder Eggs and toy inside is too big to choke on despite what the FDA says.
The problem our government has about them is they have no idea to classify it is a confection or a toy.
It really shouldn't be a concern of the government. They should not care or know.
16.3% of your population are "Visible minorities" per Statistics Canada 2006. The majority of your immigrants also come legally to be Canadians and work. You don't have 1.5 million illegal immigrants in your country (thats the proportion you'd have). All I am saying is that the US faces a lot more substantial and different challenges than Canadians do.
You're absolutely right. So why do you keep letting them in?
I consider the citizens of Canada to have far more freedom, and live a far higher quality of life than people in the U.S. (except for the American rich).
Well, you would be wrong as usual.
The Heritage Foundation ranks countries on a freedom scale every year. Canada and the US are quite similar with Canada ranked #6 and the US ranked #10 out of 177 countries.
The US has 25% higher GDP per capita which generally reflects quality of life.
Last edited by Roadking2003; 05-03-2013 at 03:47 PM..
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