Is Canada a Ripoff??? (employment, buying, tax rates)
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Europe is the "rip off" ...especially in Scandinavia (Norway/Sweden/Denmark)....a cup of coffee is like $ 10
try to get a hotel room in Switzerland for less than $ 300 a nite (good luck)
Great Britain is not cheap either ...the British Pound is treated like a dollar !
Canadian prices have always been abit more than the USA ....
a market of 33 million can not compare with a market of 300 million
it's economies of scale ...
Other than the "high end" jobs ...wages tend to be abit higher in Canada
for the same work (they need to be to compensate for slightly higher prices)
It's absolutely a ripoff. I'm a Canadian who lived in the States for the past 8 years and just moved back to Canada last year. I was shocked at how regular household goods are 30%-50% more expensive in Canada than the US, especially with dollars at par. This is one of the reasons (among others) I'm actually considering a return to the US and make it home forever.
LRUA has a good point that US market is much bigger and therefore prices are much more competitive. Besides, lots of goods are probably imported from US and therefore there are added importing taxes in Canada.
Honestly, I don't think it is fair to compare Vancouver with Seattle, or Calgary with Denver, despite the seemingly size similarity. Vancouver and Calgary are both among the largest 5 cities in Canada, while Seattle and Denver bear much less importance. Comparing with San Francisco and Chicago will be more appropriate.
Are you telling us that Seattle is less important of a city than Vancouver? Seattle, the city of Starbucks, Microsoft, Boeing, etc.
Or that Denver is less important than Calgary? Denver a city twice the size of Calgary which is much closer to the Rockies, with better weather, a much more diversified and larger economic base, and being a major hub for the utilities, communications, defense, and transportation industries...
Nope, Canada is a ripoff and with the savings I could realize in the use on a comparable home and expenses I could afford first class health insurance premiums... At least with US care you don't have to wait 12 hours in an ER or wait four weeks to start a round of chemotherapy.
It's not that Canada isn't amazing. I prefer Canada myself... It's just not worth spending twice as much on a home and major goods to live here...
I wouldn't trade living in Canada for anywhere else. Some foods might cost more, but other foods are cheaper, it all evens out in the end. We have freedoms here that no oone else can claim. There is less crime, lots of laid back citeis without the rat race of big urban cities. Our healthcare is one of the best despite the shortage of doctors, and as for waiting in the emergency for 12 hrs, this has never happened. You are put through triage and taken on a most serious to least serious basis. You might wait a few hours but if you need a bed while waiting you will be assigned one until a doctor sees you. The pollution is not as bad as in some other parts of the world, you don't get arrested for taking pictures, homeless people have shelters with hot showers, food and beds for the asking.
We are very diversified, we are a mixing pot of nationalities with equal rights for all, AND our kids are not sent off to war to die before they grow up. Those who choose to join the war do so because they choose to, not forced to.
I have friends in Spain who would love our freedom, education, wages and benefits. I also have friends in the U.S. who complain about their President and how let down they feel, they would transfer to Canada in a flash if they could.
It's really how you look at things and what you do about the way of life that counts in the end.
I wouldn't trade living in Canada for anywhere else. Some foods might cost more, but other foods are cheaper, it all evens out in the end. 1.We have freedoms here that no oone else can claim. There is less crime, lots of laid back citeis without the rat race of big urban cities. Our healthcare is one of the best despite the shortage of doctors, and as for waiting in the emergency for 12 hrs, this has never happened. You are put through triage and taken on a most serious to least serious basis. 2.You might wait a few hours but if you need a bed while waiting you will be assigned one until a doctor sees you. 3.The pollution is not as bad as in some other parts of the world, 4.you don't get arrested for taking pictures, 5.homeless people have shelters with hot showers, food and beds for the asking. 6.We are very diversified, we are a mixing pot of nationalities with equal rights for all, 7.AND our kids are not sent off to war to die before they grow up. Those who choose to join the war do so because they choose to, not forced to.
I have friends in Spain who would love our freedom, education, wages and benefits. I also have friends in the U.S. who complain about their President and how let down they feel, they would transfer to Canada in a flash if they could.
It's really how you look at things and what you do about the way of life that counts in the end.
1. and what might these freedoms be???? Unless you are an immigrant or a refugee or on welfare you certainly dont get much freedom.
2. a few hours is all that someone needs to sucumb to their serious injuries, i have been to the hospitals in toronto, the wait times are horrible, and the service is very poor afterwards, the waiting rooms are always clogged up and nobody ever seems to be able to see a doctor when they need to.
3. I have heard that montreal has the worst pollution in Canada, and one of the worst in North America.
4. and where would you actually get arrested for that, i cant think of any countries where you would except maybe China..
5. ye and guess who pays for all that, the average middle class taxpayers struggling to make ends meet...
6. Ye my neighbourhood is also diversified, which is why it has extreme levels of Racism.
7. neither are they in the US, or any other first world country.
I wouldn't trade living in Canada for anywhere else. Some foods might cost more, but other foods are cheaper, it all evens out in the end. We have freedoms here that no oone else can claim. There is less crime, lots of laid back citeis without the rat race of big urban cities. Our healthcare is one of the best despite the shortage of doctors, and as for waiting in the emergency for 12 hrs, this has never happened. You are put through triage and taken on a most serious to least serious basis. You might wait a few hours but if you need a bed while waiting you will be assigned one until a doctor sees you. The pollution is not as bad as in some other parts of the world, you don't get arrested for taking pictures, homeless people have shelters with hot showers, food and beds for the asking.
We are very diversified, we are a mixing pot of nationalities with equal rights for all, AND our kids are not sent off to war to die before they grow up. Those who choose to join the war do so because they choose to, not forced to.
I have friends in Spain who would love our freedom, education, wages and benefits. I also have friends in the U.S. who complain about their President and how let down they feel, they would transfer to Canada in a flash if they could.
It's really how you look at things and what you do about the way of life that counts in the end.
I know Canada is number one in the world with self righteous socialists who do not provide facts for politically correct "truths." Does that count for anything?
European prices are much higher than those of Canada which in turn are a bit higher than USA prices. The thing is the USA is living off of borrowed debt from China. If the Chinese (and other governments) pull their money out of US banks the US dollar will collapse and Americans will start paying the real world prices. The main reason right now gasoline prices are "low" in the USA is because the major oil companies (American) backed by US military set up a lot of puppet governments who signed lucrative long term contracts to sell at a very low price. Even when the world oil price goes up to US$147 companies like Exxon pay only $50 because of contracts, and so they end up making billions of dollars in profits each quarter.
I agree with a lot of what everyone has said, but in the same sense EVERY country will have its pluses and minuses. If you were to look back at the US during the Clinton regime things were definitely better but we still had problems.
You also have to take into consideration that as time progresses the world becomes more populated as well as more expensive. Everyday luxuries that we were used to back in the day have grown in price, as well as production.
Canada may possibly be a fair deal for the right person, if compareing Canada to the US.
It really upsets me when people bash Canada in this way. In terms of HDI, we are ranked 4th, which puts us exactly 8 spots ahead of the United States. Human Development Index - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a survey done by the United Nations,(which should be enough in itself) but because of the nature of the question, I would like to retort anyway.
The first difference that comes to my mind is Canada's record on Human Rights. Habeus Corpus was completely abandoned during the so-called "War On Terror". This denied all rights to anybody called an "unlawful combatant" by the U.S. government. This could include anybody the government deemed fit and denied them all rights of an attourney, and permitted the government to use "reasonable" forms of torture (simulated drowning) to extract information.
If you want to talk specifics, we in Canada have a better employment rate then the U.S.. Minorities in Canada almost double the employment rate in the U.S.. Our life expectancy is exactly 3 years higher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care
This page will also demonstrate that, despite what most of you think, our government spends less (per capita) in Canada than the U.S. does on it's people for Health Care. Perhaps our government is doing a better job allocating the funds than the huge burocracy in the States. In other words, WE PAY LESS PER PERSON FOR A SERVICE THAT IS PROPERLY ALOCATED TO US BY THE GOVERNMENT. I feel a great comfort in knowing that my family won't be burdened by my health bills when I grow old.
I'll continue this rant another day
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