Yes, being 35% richer in purchasing parity is a big deal. That's a 1st world versus 2nd world difference in wealth.

QoL metrics are dogshit because they have inconsistent methodologies that often produce absurd results (e.g. Honduras is the happiest place on earth). I don't put life expectancy in that bucket, it has a clear definition and it's easily quantifiable. But there's a myriad of reasons for why life expectancy is lower in the United States. A more spread out population means more driving (and driving deaths per capita are much higher), obesity is the single largest contributor to poor health outcomes (American obesity deaths per capita are far higher), and the United States smoking related deaths peaked earlier than Canada (more smoking deaths per capita), although that last one is starting to reverse. Sharing a border with Mexico is not good, and opiate related overdoses drag down life expectancy even more when the average victim is young. Canada in turn facilitates those deaths via Chinese money laundering.

Ontario is no more likely to turn into Alabama than Yukon is to turn into Ontario. The history of a place, its geography, all of that matters. The north-east benefited from the industrial revolution, the south was devastated by a civil war that left its economy in shambles. The result of free movement of trade and people would be significantly increased wealth for every province and state next to the border. That's what everyone should be working towards.



The United States gets your natural resources today. The question is whether we should collectively allow rent-seekers to take an unfair cut. Montana is a nice place, by the way.

I know Montana is a nice place, as is Utah, Colorado, etc. Love me some ski and scrambling areas. Although the price is too absurd now to make it worthwhile to go down from our rockies when I can ski for a fraction of the price up here for the same terrain. Difference though is our small towns in the rockies are still affordable. Kimberley, Golden, Nelson, Rossland, the list goes on. you guys destroyed yours and its just a multi-millionaires playground and then Vale came to Whistler and destroyed it too. Whitefish in Montana is the exception I guess ski wise because its not Vale owned. But that towns still cracked price wise for real-estate.

The USA gets natural resources, but the extent to how quickly and how much we rape Canada of it is quite slow compared to what the USA would do if it was a state. I mean you let billionairs hold huge water reserves with no issues at all. You look at someone like the Stewart and Lynda Rae Resnick and what they were allowed to do. No thanks.

This post was edited by SBD on Mar 28 2025 08:17am

Once again you fail to understand why Canadians don’t want to be american.

American culture does not allow it. It fosters worshipping the greenback and their lives could be individually miserable but as long as BNN reports GDP growth its all good.

There's an anger in the USA, and there's hints here in Canada but not even close to the same magnitude as our neighbour. Even with our election a month away, the majority of Canadians don't see their political opponents (Conservative Vs. Liberal) as enemies. Its a negligible amount. America on the other hand, certainly more polarized and I think that anger can not just extend out to anything as long as its spurred on by the right catalyst. And that probably ties back to being unhappy, it's easy to get an unhappy person upset and marching for you, look at history and the great depression its exactly, unhappiness and anger makes for easy manipulation.

It probably explains why they’re so violent, unhealty and unhappy. Besides trying to convince Canadians that money > everything, there’s never any mention of what happens to all other aspects of our lives. Do we get stuck with their healthcare system or do they adhere to ours and we get the burden of paying for their poor health? Same with the prison system, environmental protection, firearms regulations, freedom of movement, police state, food regulations, cannabis, etc.

This post was edited by Chainsaw47 on Mar 28 2025 09:17am

i disagree with that sentiment, libs hate dissenters and opposition. they seek to destroy opposing thoughts or opinions. i have never seen people so angry before and intent on destroying others for simply believing in something different.

That’s online though, right? I’ve never met anyone in person getting angry about politics to the point of getting violent. Obviously with social media being what it is, the loonies will showcase themselves being stupid because people watch that content.

If we return the question, do you have ill will against people who vote differently than you?

I don't think that's representative of the majority, that's the negligible portion. There's always going to be the fridge that represents the hostile. Maxime Bernier in our case is that candidate and he couldn't even win his own riding last time. He's the candidate for lost upset young men, but that's evidently a very small minority given his track record. I wont say that's all his support, its not but he attracts those individuals more than others.

Canadians for the most part are fairly unified, liberal or conservative and largely in agreement of what government is and should do. Conservative or liberal most are in agreement gov't should deliver universal health care, equalization among our providences and territories, administration of transfer payments, old age, welfare, etc. And while we might not agree on exactly how they are administered or the guardrails in place, most are unified in that those are government roles to fulfil.

This post was edited by SBD on Mar 28 2025 09:30am

i think hate is a bit of an exaggeration, but i can see that sentiment growing if say half the population doesnt get their way with the election results at a time when the trajectory we are on looks rather bleak.
hoping Canada wakes up before we continue to make the hole we gotta get out of, deeper and deeper.




I agree, and to me that sounds like one of the biggest distinctions between Canadians and Americans.

This post was edited by C4NTWO on Mar 28 2025 10:02am

what kind of fridges do you interact with? lol jk,

bernier and ppc policies are not fringe, they are actual conservative policies - but - the medium and method they announce them is akin to chicken little. screaming the loudest about something, while being right, doesn't necessarily help with the overall message. he could present the same facts with information, data, in a coherent manner and win a lot more that way.

i miss teh days of boring politics but trump has turned it into a spectacle.