FLORIDIAN considering moving to TORONTO (rental, car insurance, home)

[pk00]

Originally Posted by blacksax

We learn the metric system in school, we just don't use it down here.. So yeah, Americans know what "K" means... Also, don't underestimate all Americans based off of the few ignorant ones who travel around thinking and saying "America is the best damn country in the world".. and blah blah blah. They ruin it for everyone.. Not just those with whom they inconvenience.

Doesn't the american military use the term 'klick' which is slang for kilometer?

Also american drug dealers sometimes use the term 'key' to refer to kilograms of drugs!

[blacksax]

Originally Posted by pk00

Doesn't the american military use the term 'klick' which is slang for kilometer?

Also american drug dealers sometimes use the term 'key' to refer to kilograms of drugs!

I don't know about the military, but I think when it comes to drugs they use the term kilo, not key.

[KevK]

Originally Posted by pk00

Doesn't the american military use the term 'klick' which is slang for kilometer?

Also american drug dealers sometimes use the term 'key' to refer to kilograms of drugs!

No the term "klick" means jail. Like "I got tossed into the klick last weekend"

[lucknow]

Just come on up here to TO, hogtown, the little apple and you are going to wish you did it 20 years ago. My son in law is a really black really big dude, 6ft 10in. that came here to Toronto when he was 10 years old. Last week I asked him if he had ever experienced racism directed against him since he came here. He thought for a minute and then said,"I really can't think of one episode that I remember." I don't worry in the least that my grandson will experience any hate because of his colour. He's about the same colour as President Obama and just a real handsome 3 year old beautiful child. I travel a lot in the USA and it's like a different universe here in Canada.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by KevK

No the term "klick" means jail. Like "I got tossed into the klick last weekend"

I thought the slang word for jail was "clink"...

[Cart24]

Originally Posted by lucknow

Just come on up here to TO, hogtown, the little apple and you are going to wish you did it 20 years ago. My son in law is a really black really big dude, 6ft 10in. that came here to Toronto when he was 10 years old. Last week I asked him if he had ever experienced racism directed against him since he came here. He thought for a minute and then said,"I really can't think of one episode that I remember." I don't worry in the least that my grandson will experience any hate because of his colour. He's about the same colour as President Obama and just a real handsome 3 year old beautiful child. I travel a lot in the USA and it's like a different universe here in Canada.

He might not experience any outward racism, but he will still face the issue that there are not many people of colour in Management Positions and City/Provincial Politics. Blacks in Toronto lag behind the rest of the pack just like any other US city, sometimes even worse. When I was working in Toronto after graduation there were hardly any people of colour in Upper Management positions and my wife who worked at one of the largest Law Firms in Toronto at the time, said that there was not even ONE partner in the firm of colour.

You may think the streets are paved with gold in Toronto, but that is because you are a member of the "majority" and cannot speak on this topic if you have never lived it as well.

Also for your information outward racism is not a major problem in all areas of the US, by you generalizing an entire country based on a certain region or the radical fringe is lumping yourself in with the same ignorant people you are denouncing.

[SpartacusTheSpartan]

Originally Posted by kkgg7

Good for you Steve! Unfortunately, Canada doesn't have a single city that has nice weather all year around I will probably move in a couple of years as well when I simply have enough of the word "wind chill"
Life is short and is not worth being spent shoveling snow.

You guys are babies... The tempature is ***** tempture just add another ****ing layer and go to work. the greatest part of snow and the cold is you actually get CHRISTMAS. Christmas needs SNOW, SNOW needs Christmas! Boohoo -20C -29C is puss weather now get outside and enjoy it. It's snow it won't kill you Mr. Palm Tree!

[aggo]

Originally Posted by SpartacusTheSpartan

You guys are babies... The tempature is ***** tempture just add another ****ing layer and go to work. the greatest part of snow and the cold is you actually get CHRISTMAS. Christmas needs SNOW, SNOW needs Christmas! Boohoo -20C -29C is puss weather now get outside and enjoy it. It's snow it won't kill you Mr. Palm Tree!

LOL!

[peanut35]

Originally Posted by minibrings

Canada isn't immune to bigotry and racism. I doubt there is any country that is free of bigotry. There are quite a few immigrants who have a tough time in Canada finding work that meet their qualifications and take more menial jobs. There was an incident where a muslim Canadian coming back to Canada via the US was detained by US immigration and he ended up tortured in the middle east; the Canadian government did little and may have been complicit. In Toronto I remember several commercials promoting the hiring of immigrants. If you want to see an eyeful of unhappy immigrants there is a website, notcanada DOT com; though you have to tkae what is posted with a grain of salt.

True, every country has a degree of racism. That said, I would argue that the racism is MUCH more rampant in the US compared to Canada...by a long shot. I think there are 3 major contributors to this:
1) Although the US and Canada may *appear* to have more commonalities than differences, their histories are very different (in regards to slavery). Major.
2) Lack of equal access to higher education. College is a business. No money, no school. Either that or massive debt. (And although primary education is free, it's not created equal and it has it's problems, but that's a whole 'nuther story).
3) Americans are not well-traveled in comparison to other 1st world countries. I personally think that is huge. If you've traveled you know what I mean. You gain an appreciation for people who are different than you are. I don't know what the exact percentage is, but the number of Americans who even own a passport is embarrassingly low.

oh wait, there's a 4th...FOX News.

Anyway, US cities are generally more tolerant overall (of course that's true anywhere), but it's all relative. I've lived all over both coasts, in tiny towns and big cities. You remember the LA riots? You can STILL sense the rift between African Americans and Koreans at times. I'm white, but but my husband is Japanese-Canadian, my niece and nephews are black/white, and my friends are just about every ethnicity you can think of...anyway, I could tell you story after story.

It's funny because one of my friends (from my hometown) and I often chat about how we can't believe we both turned out to be so liberal after growing up around people in our small town where people were openly racist, unknowingly close-minded, and all-around "backwards". It's not that they're bad people, just ignorant in a lot of ways. Lucky for the two of us, our parents were able to send us to school, we got decent jobs, traveled, and moved around. I guess you could say we "went the other way". I feel lucky for that. But that's kind of my point too...Not everyone has an equal opportunity to get the good education, to get the good job, to go travel, etc...You get the point...I'd better stop here before I write a novel

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by peanut35

3) Americans are not well-traveled in comparison to other 1st world countries. I personally think that is huge. If you've traveled you know what I mean. You gain an appreciation for people who are different than you are. I don't know what the exact percentage is, but the number of Americans who even own a passport is embarrassingly low.

Hopefully this won’t come across as too condescending, but I have found in my travels that people in smaller countries tend to be slightly more “worldly”. (In any event, I personally think that in general, Canadians are only semi-worldly, and certainly not nearly as cultured and sophisticated as they like to think they are.)
Now, my little pet theory is... I wonder if it doesn’t have something to do with the fact that every country, from the biggest to the smallest, only has *one* ambassador to China, one ambassador to Chile, one Olympic swim team coach, etc.
So if you are a citizen of a small country (provided it is reasonably wealthy – but even that is not always needed), you have a much greater statistical probability of obtaining one of these high-prestige positions that can give access to “worldliness” (hate the term but can't find a better one).
I mean if you just look at ambassadors, about one out of every 500 or 1000 Icelanders or Luxembourgers gets to be an ambassador to a foreign country, versus one out of how many Americans or Chinese?