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Well I live in AB - no "additional" health care premiums here. Think you are looking at old information.... premiums were eliminated 5 years ago.
Agree. Alberta premiums were eliminated about five years ago. Mind they were still pretty small at that time--about $528 per year per person, if I recall correctly. But they no longer exist.
1. Why is Canada seen as a less desirable
place to live than the United States. Everything I read about Canada sounds better. It's safer, not as much racial tension particularly among blacks and Hispanics, ect.
A less desirable place? By whose standards?
By American standards, perhaps. After all, Americans think the rest of the world (including Canadians) are just drooling to live in the USA. But this is not the case. There are many immigrants to Canada who choose Canada first. They can be encountered on the streets of our cities, and after talking to them, you realize that they would rather be here in Canada than anyplace else in the world.
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2. Is your Health care really free or is it paid via taxes which I consider not free.
It's paid for by taxes. There is no payment of any sort (deductible, co-pay, etc.) due at point-of-delivery. Canadian citizens and permanent residents are all covered by provincial health insurance plans, no matter if they are unemployed, homeless, etc.
That being said, certain things are not covered: vision, dental, prescriptions, and so on. But there are supplementary insurance plans that make up for this. Regardless, "needing a medical procedure and being denied one owing to inability to pay for it" is totally foreign to Canadians. So is "mortgaging the house to pay for cancer treatments," and "clearing out the savings account to pay for necessary surgery."
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3. Why is it so hard now for Americans to stay in Canada. It did not use to be that way.
Today, Americans are no different than Jamaicans, Pakistanis, or Brazilians. They must meet Canada's entry requirements. If they do, great; if not, sorry. We welcome Americans as tourists or wannabe-PRs who follow the steps involved in becoming a PR; we do not welcome Americans (or for that matter, Jamaicans or Brazilians or Nigerians or Germans) who are trying to subvert our immigration system.
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4. Do most Canadians really like the United States better than their own country.
Where did you hear that?
I don't hear my Canadian friends moaning that "Canada should do like the US," or "Gosh, I wish we were American," or "The US is better than we are."
Sure, there are those Canadians who think that they could do better in the US than Canada. But there are undoubtedly those Nigerians who feel they could do better in the UK, those Vietnamese who feel they could do better in Australia, and those Italians who feel they could do better in Germany. However, in all cases, I'd suggest that numbers are small and insignificant. At any rate, most Canadians seem to me to be happy with the US as long as the US stays where it is: south of us.
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5. How does Canadian goverment see its people. In U.S. if your not rich then your just a wage slave meant to be used and overworked. Your basically just a number waiting for their time to end.
The Canadian government works for its people.
It may not always seem that way; and Canadians at the polls, have once or twice, handed the government its patoot on a platter when they have felt that the government is not listening to them. (See the 1993 election, for example.) Campaign contributions from individuals and corporations are legally limited. Canadian political parties must sell the electorate on their ideas and policies, rather than tell the electorate what it should do based on what the parties received from corporations.
Still, at any given time, some Canadians are dissatisfied with the government of the day. Their ideas, and the discussion/debate that ensues, makes sure that everybody is heard, that all ideas are considered, and that big-money corporate interests are minimized.
1. Why is Canada seen as a less desirable
place to live than the United States.
-COLD, even getting into people's souls.
-High tax
-Low wages
-Uniformity - people with higher education considered the same as not highly educated. A bus driver with at least 5 years experience will earn more than an IT guy with 20 years experience.
-Socialism/Communism.
-Doesn't even have a president.
-Summers (when they are) humid for almost all regions.
-Relatively small population, and concetrated in just a few ultra-dense area. No real consumer market.
-Companies are the king, and consumer the slave - can't really have a choice in terms of contractors, services etc.
-BIG OLIGOPOLIES.
-Bureaucracy and red tape.
-Liquor / Alcohol market heavily controlled (hidden form of prohibition).
-Bi-lingualism and parts of Canada considering themselves "more special"!
-Hidden discrimination towards immigrants
-Highly educated immigrants (i.e. PhD) becoming taxi drivers.
-The requirement to have "Canadian experience" for a job (doesn't matter if you are a highly skilled manager with 20 years experience and formerly leading teams of 100+ people and big enterprises or financial conglomerates!
-Rip-off prices everywhere.
-Lack of family doctors and long queues in getting health care.
-Rip-off, monopolistic banking system, with high fees and forcing you to do lots of tricks in order to get a decent "chequing account" without fees (i.e. simulated via a Line of Credit).
-No real choice for online trading system. Again, the damn monopolies.
-Government not held accountable for the expenses made and low return from the taxpayers' money in terms of improvement in the infrastructure.
-Big grocery or chain stores which charge the same price levels, instead of being differentiated per region (i.e not taking into account the local cost of living and income levels for a particular region)
-Rip-off prices for airlines/airfare.
-Companies/employers demanding a lot from you / pretentious in hiring but with so-so/low compensation for exceptional work being done.
-Falsely praising itself that it managed the 2008 financial crisis better than US or other countries, and that the big 6 banks have never received bail-out money from the Government. Totally false - there are documents showing that they did receive indeed money, secretly.
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Originally Posted by Ronnie101
2. Is your Health care really free or is it paid
via taxes which I consider not free.
No, it's not really free. You have to pay via your taxes, but the sum is modest in comparison to US system (about $500-$800 per adult, depending on the province).
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Originally Posted by Ronnie101
4. Do most Canadians really like the United
States better than their own country.
Me, personally, I tend to like US better. At least for diversity and more sense of freedom and getting rewarded better for one's one effort and hard work. The only thing that I have considered a positive for Canada was the standard 3-weeks vacation instead of 2-weeks which seems to be the norm in US. Also maybe that subsidized $7/day chidcare while I was in Quebec, but overall if you think about, it was provided on behalf of super high taxation (comparing to let's say, Ontario).
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Originally Posted by Ronnie101
5. How does Canadian goverment see its people.
In U.S. if your not rich then your just a wage slave
meant to be used and overworked. Your basically
just a number waiting for their time to end.
The Canadian Government is seeing all the consumers/non-corporations like pawns and serfs. Local municipal administrations are greedy and iresponsible, and increasing unsustainably water rates, property taxes, etc. Giving themselves a raise each year. I feel like still living on a feudal domain.
For eye-opening information, I would warmly recommend reading Mr. Gustav Meyer's book "A history of wealth in Canada".
It may not always seem that way; and Canadians at the polls, have once or twice, handed the government its patoot on a platter when they have felt that the government is not listening to them. (See the 1993 election, for example.) Campaign contributions from individuals and corporations are legally limited. Canadian political parties must sell the electorate on their ideas and policies, rather than tell the electorate what it should do based on what the parties received from corporations.
Still, at any given time, some Canadians are dissatisfied with the government of the day. Their ideas, and the discussion/debate that ensues, makes sure that everybody is heard, that all ideas are considered, and that big-money corporate interests are minimized.
I think much of this comes from the fact that we aren't stuck in the rigid two party system the US has. If a political party messes up, we can end them. They can't, even their state politics is all Republican and Democrat, there's no parties waiting in the wings to rise up and replace parties that have grown stale and calcified. Just look at the composition of the Canadian parliament from 20 years ago compared to the one today, as far as party representation and how many of those parties have fallen significantly or disappeared. Neither the governing party nor the loyal opposition at that time currently govern or compose the official opposition today. That's a huge difference and I can understand to a degree why they can't trust their governments, I wouldn't either.
-COLD, even getting into people's souls. - Cute
-High tax
-Low wages -Uniformity - people with higher education considered the same as not highly educated. A bus driver with at least 5 years experience will earn more than an IT guy with 20 years experience. - They are called unions. Get used to it. -Socialism/Communism. - wtf? -Doesn't even have a president. - wtf? -Summers (when they are) humid for almost all regions. - around the great lakes
-Relatively small population, and concetrated in just a few ultra-dense area. No real consumer market. -Companies are the king, and consumer the slave - can't really have a choice in terms of contractors, services etc. - there are more contractor/services than I could shake a stick at here in Windsor, so I don't know what you're talking about.
-BIG OLIGOPOLIES. -Bureaucracy and red tape. - goes for every government. Not unique to Canada -Liquor / Alcohol market heavily controlled (hidden form of prohibition). - In Ontario, yeah.
-Bi-lingualism and parts of Canada considering themselves "more special"! -Hidden discrimination towards immigrants - Not unique to Canada -Highly educated immigrants (i.e. PhD) becoming taxi drivers. - Yeah. Very unique to Canada
-The requirement to have "Canadian experience" for a job (doesn't matter if you are a highly skilled manager with 20 years experience and formerly leading teams of 100+ people and big enterprises or financial conglomerates! -Rip-off prices everywhere. - True -Lack of family doctors and long queues in getting health care. - haven't noticed -Rip-off, monopolistic banking system, with high fees and forcing you to do lots of tricks in order to get a decent "chequing account" without fees (i.e. simulated via a Line of Credit). - I didn't have to jump thru any hoops
-No real choice for online trading system. Again, the damn monopolies. -Government not held accountable for the expenses made and low return from the taxpayers' money in terms of improvement in the infrastructure. - currently building a $1.5 billion highway thru my city at the demand of the citizens. Works for me.
-Big grocery or chain stores which charge the same price levels, instead of being differentiated per region (i.e not taking into account the local cost of living and income levels for a particular region) -Rip-off prices for airlines/airfare. - Not unique to Canada
-Companies/employers demanding a lot from you / pretentious in hiring but with so-so/low compensation for exceptional work being done. -Falsely praising itself that it managed the 2008 financial crisis better than US or other countries, and that the big 6 banks have never received bail-out money from the Government. Totally false - there are documents showing that they did receive indeed money, secretly. - you'll have to show me some of that secret evidence.
.
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Last edited by Magnatomicflux; 02-20-2014 at 02:20 AM..
-COLD, even getting into people's souls.
-High tax,you want us to elect a head of state
-Low wages
-Uniformity - people with higher education considered the same as not highly educated. A bus driver with at least 5 years experience will earn more than an IT guy with 20 years experience.
-Socialism/Communism.
-Doesn't even have a president.... <snip>
Bwah-ha-ha! This is so absurd, I don't even know where to begin.
Socialism/Communism? Tell me, is Ford of Canada run by the government? GM of Canada? IBM of Canada? No, they are all owned 100% by their US parent. The Canadian government has no say in their affairs, which it would if we were socialist/communist.
Higher education? I have two degrees, both from top Canadian universities. I'm not an IT guy, but IT guys are a dime a dozen. I've met too many; IT guys think they're better than they really are. They're not.
I'm a specialist, and not in the IT field. Do you want an opinion on Canadian constitutional law? I'll give you one--if you can pay me for it; and my price is high. Perhaps surprisingly, a lot of people, both American and Canadian do. At any rate, I am in demand as a legal researcher. Heck, I've researched constitutional matters appearing before the Supreme Court of Canada--and yet, I can still have a beer with the regular boys at the sports bar. So much for your "uniformity" claim.
President? You mean that we should elect a Head of State? Why?
I could go on, but your whole post just made me laugh. Sadly, it did no more than just display your ignorance towards Canada and its people. Do some homework, and come back when you have a solid argument.
It's not all the same for each user in each province. The Alberta premium rates information I was looking at was from albertahealthcare.ca 2013. It's not something I'm prepared to get into an arguement about to prove any points, I'm just saying that health insurance premium charges are not unique to only British Columbia.
.
If you're not prepared to get into an argument, then don't post factually incorrect information and then get all defensive when someone corrects you.
Believe me... if there were premiums to be paid, I would be paying them... I'm not exactly low income.
The site you refereced is blocked by my McAfee virus scan - that should tell you something about the quality of your source.
-
The only thing that I have considered a positive for Canada was the standard 3-weeks vacation instead of 2-weeks which seems to be the norm in US. ".
The law in Canada is actually two weeks paid vacation. But if you have what is considered a "good'' job you get a minimum of three or more. I would say it's the same for "good'' jobs in the US.
I'm sorry to break it for you but it is true, rightly or wrongly, Canada is generally considered a less desirable place to emigrate than the US or even Australia (I was an immigrant too)....Australia has never had trouble filling up its planned immigration quota in the past, Canada occasionally did at least years ago...
Canada has always been and it still is a second choice to emigrate compared to the United States.
Without even considering work opportunities and other factors, just the weather reputation alone it's a disincentive.
Moving to Canada as permanent resident has always been way more easy than getting into the US
Try to hand out US green cards to recent immigrants to Canada and see what happens....
Guess in what direction the brain drain between Canada and the US historically has been flowing??
Even to this day there are people that are able to get immigration sponsorship from their employers to work as baristas or retail floor person...try to do that in the US..good luck with that...
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Tell me, is Ford of Canada run by the government? GM of Canada? IBM of Canada? No, they are all owned 100% by their US parent. The Canadian government has no say in their affairs, which it would if we were socialist/communist.
They are not run by the government but as good businesses they are very good at exploiting local conditions.....for example IBM BCS in Burnaby paid on average almost half the salary compared to their US counterparts..you know why?? Because they can get away with it, no where else to go for the piglets...IBM BCS was not more than a low cost service delivery center.
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I'm not an IT guy, but IT guys are a dime a dozen. I've met too many; IT guys think they're better than they really are. They're not.
That statement exposes your ignorance about the field...good IT people a dime a dozen?? Really?? You know how vast and different the IT sector is?? A dime a dozen maybe a code monkey capable of writing few lines of Java...a good IT architect, for example, is worth his/her weight in gold....depends on what field you specialize you can get a 6 figure starting salary + bonus straight out of college in IT here in the US right now...
I would add a line for the OP
Canadians (generally, using a wide brush) naively believe in good and honest government, Americans (again, generally) are naturally inclined to mistrust government.
Last edited by saturno_v; 02-20-2014 at 01:58 PM..
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