Question about Canadian government

The average age of your lawmakers is about 60ish, while Canada's (and all other western countries that I've looked at) is 50ish.

10 years doesn't seem like much, but there seems to be a big difference in world view between those younger than late-50s and those older - at least in my experience. Something must've happened in 1955 that affected how children were raised.

 

Believe me, the Canadian government is severely lagging behind on key issues related to environmental integrety. We haven't just had lack of progress, we've regressed in many ways. This is coming from a Canadian studying the environment.

Also on the topic of coins, I think the nickel should be phased out as well.

 

A lot of people seem to, actually, and I heard it's being seriously considered. Someone was referring how 'we are going back to the age of the old west', or something similar to that. A bit of paraphrasing there.

 

Being a Canadian, I think I have the right to say that our government is absolutely despicable. True, we have health care, but we also the Alberta tar sands, the upcoming pipeline, and Stephen Harper. I'd give a lot to have Obama instead.

 

Yeah, we're basically being led around by our noses by the economy and major corporations. I wish we had someone in power who would say no to solely relying on the economy to guide the country. Yes, it's important, but casually tossing aside the environment as if it were not important is a bigger mistake.

 

I think it's cause our laws aren't governed by constitution as most laws are in the USA. When something is passed in the USA it usually stays passed. You guys also have only two parties which happen to be on opposite sides of the central political spectrum and half elections 4 years later while we get ours as soon as we think someone might have a chance at kicking the old guy out. We also have 3 major parties, and though the NDP's have never ruled, splitting the votes among three usually gives. Clear winner. Also I'm a little bit sad to see some guys here aren't happy with Steven Harper, I'm personally against NDP's but I can be liberal is the right leader comes atound(please not Justin Trudeau, that man is an actor). I kinda like the usa's lack of change too cause whole it's hard to get something, at least you know it's staying for a while if it's good. Not nice to worry about losing benefits the very next election. Like abortion is brought up so many times and you wonder if the current laws and rights will stick cause Canadian politics change so easily; almost too easy to make changes.

 

Our PM, Stephen Harper is essentially a reflection of Bush. Some of his party members tried to bring back up the gay marriage debate even though it has been legalized since 2005 and his environmental stand point is just $ first

 

I'm not Canadian but my mood is! By the time I was politically knowledgeable, I started wanting to move to Canada or Britain because of George Bush.
The Canadian government has its problems too, but from what I've read, it's better.

 

Cultural differences.

 

The current federally governing party (the Conservatives) is corrupt and my current provincial government was until recently under completely inept leadership (and the jury's still out on Wynne). So I'm not too high on Canada right now, to say the least.

Our government has absolutely no concern for the environment, the wellness of our First Nations, or immigrants. They've also been accused of attempting to censor scientists and academics recently, and have unsuccessfully tried to pass laws giving them full access to information regarding private citizens' internet usage (with the "nothing to hide" excuse), which is a complete invasion of privacy.

In Ontario, health care's a bit of a mess too. Most hospitals are underfunded, and as a result, wait times for MRI scans and simple procedures are absurdly high.

Just want to make a small correction: Although the results of our federal elections typically don't come as a surprise, a majority government has only formed once since 2004, and that's the current one.

 

Re: the environmental issues, it's certainly far from perfect (look at the goddamn oil sands) but it's also hella expensive to fix them all. The world revolves around money. I can't remember the exact numbers (so don't hold me to it), but the oil sands make up a massive chunk of our economics... something like 1/3 nationally or something? They're also geographically the size of Greece. It isn't something that you can just "give up" doing.

 

This, and the fact that the US has over 300 million people and very heterogeneous values and cultures unlike most other nations.

 

Canada's major export is lumber, but the oil sands are certainly providing a temporary economic boom. The thing is, it won't last. We need to start weaning ourselves off of petroleum now and start focusing on greener alternatives. How about instead of the oilsands, we set up large solar collection facilities or wind farms to create jobs? We don't NEED oil, we have many alternatives. The technology is already here, but people are too blind to see it.

Basically, the government is focusing our economic efforts on oil too much because when it runs out (which is soon), we will have nothing. We need to start creating infrastructures for creating greener ways of producing electricity, renewable ways.

 

^ oh don't get me wrong, I agree 100%. I'm just reiterating we can't just "shut down" the oil sands. Our economy would collapse quite a bit if that were to happen.

 

Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't have worded it like that, I apologize. What I was trying to get at was there are usually 2 opinions to a problem and since there are 3 major parties, usually 2 of the 3 will be on one side and get something passed or be against it, whereas having 2 opinions and 2 parties of near equal representation in the USA results in gridlock.

 

You are buying the Canadian propaganda?

I am not buying the US propaganda.

The truth is far different than the propaganda.

 

I really think that this is a case of "the grass is greener on the other side" - it rarely is. You just trade some brown grass in the front yard for some brown grass in the side yard

You mention the Canadian healthcare system. From what I understand (and I'd like the Canadians on here to correct me if I'm wrong), there's ludicrous waits for things unless you're having a heart attack or something similarly serious.

Take a few years ago, I broke my shoulder in a fall. Nothing immediately life threatening, but painful. Of course I would have gotten emergency care in Canada just the same as I did here, but as for the followup which ended up needing surgery, I'm fairly certain it wouldn't have been as fast as it was - saw the orthopedist a few days to a week after the injury (only reason not sooner is I was traveling). Orthopedist said "to prevent permanent damage, we should get you in for surgery ASAP. Let's look at the calendar - is next week good for you?"

Then I was in the OR, and in physical therapy after that. Everything was good. Since it wasn't life threatening, I doubt I would have had that surgery for MONTHS in Canada, especially since the pain had subsided, but the function was nowhere near what it should have been.

Again, someone who is actually Canadian can correct me if I'm wrong, and you don't know how much I'd like to be wrong

 

In Canada... My SIL had cancer. The life expectancy for this type of cancer is 24 months. She waited 2 months for chemo.

Saw a man with an arm in sling and asked if it was sprained. He told me the bone was shattered, living on pain killers, waiting weeks/months for surgery.

Free is great! Huh?

 

But on the other hand, if you're down and out in US, you don't get any healthcare. If you're down and out in Canada, you get exactly the same wait times as everyone else.

Personally, I'll take the wait times over the chance of no healthcare at all.

I'm Canadian, and I think Canada's way better than US. Sure, we have our problems (we're really behind compared to many places in Europe, for example) but most of the problems I have with how Canada is run are even worse in the US.