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Yup, let's all get rid of our silly *mishigas* and work together. (And, YES, I mean that with all sincerity).
What is happening now is truly counterproductive.
When I visit Canada, I'm truly SICK of hearing about how po'ed Canada is about X, Y or Z issue that has to do with the US...when, in reality, if there were any sort of REAL "working together" between the two countries, this wouldn't be in the radar...
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sit around and criticize those who can.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sit around and criticize those who can.
Ummm...I'm truly not quite sure how to respond to this one...
Where, in fact, are those who "can" in all of this?
Surely not in North America.
Not more than 6 months ago, I was hearing about how the "housing boom" in Vancouver was going to extend through the 2010 Olympics. And, just before the American Thanksgiving, I heard quite few people north of the border speaking about the Canadian dollar being back close to par with the American dollar by the end of the year. (Ten days, 21+ cents....could still happen, I suppose.)
Pardon me for being a little skeptical about what is said on either side of the border about this at this moment in time.
Maybe if I "could", I wouldn't have become a lawyer. (Trust me, I've had THAT crisis of conscience quite a few times in my life...) But, the truth still stands, who is out there that "can"?
If there was someone out there with some sort of concrete plan that didn't involve pointing fingers, I'd maybe consider it. But, as it stands now...I have yet to see it.
With that being said, I'll be back up in Canada on Christmas, ready to spend my strong American dollars...
[quote=grmike;4234792]cities in Alberta like Calgary and Edmonton have an economy that's growing very fast, salaries are high and the gdp per capita of Alberta is close to 70 thousand dollars (in the US it was 44 thousand dollars in 2006).
did you know that although incomes in Alberta are very good the price of living in a home is more then double any where else and the incomes are so good because their is not enough employed citizens to over take all the jobs available therefore leaving businesses desperate for employees, therefore raising salaries to attract more employees. I live north of Toronto and have many friends that work at mcdonalds, the amount of money they were making was about 8 $ an hour compared to Alberta working at mcdonalds you will make close to 16 $ an hour.
I somehow heard some make as high as $25 a hour at McDonald's in northern Alberta. Not sure if it is true.
I wouldn't go for that climate no matter how high the income is.
[quote=Teash;6674465]
Quote:
Originally Posted by grmike
cities in Alberta like Calgary and Edmonton have an economy that's growing very fast, salaries are high and the gdp per capita of Alberta is close to 70 thousand dollars (in the US it was 44 thousand dollars in 2006).
did you know that although incomes in Alberta are very good the price of living in a home is more then double any where else and the incomes are so good because their is not enough employed citizens to over take all the jobs available therefore leaving businesses desperate for employees, therefore raising salaries to attract more employees. I live north of Toronto and have many friends that work at mcdonalds, the amount of money they were making was about 8 $ an hour compared to Alberta working at mcdonalds you will make close to 16 $ an hour.
Ummm...I'm truly not quite sure how to respond to this one...
Where, in fact, are those who "can" in all of this?
Surely not in North America.
Not more than 6 months ago, I was hearing about how the "housing boom" in Vancouver was going to extend through the 2010 Olympics. And, just before the American Thanksgiving, I heard quite few people north of the border speaking about the Canadian dollar being back close to par with the American dollar by the end of the year. (Ten days, 21+ cents....could still happen, I suppose.)
Pardon me for being a little skeptical about what is said on either side of the border about this at this moment in time.
Maybe if I "could", I wouldn't have become a lawyer. (Trust me, I've had THAT crisis of conscience quite a few times in my life...) But, the truth still stands, who is out there that "can"?
If there was someone out there with some sort of concrete plan that didn't involve pointing fingers, I'd maybe consider it. But, as it stands now...I have yet to see it.
With that being said, I'll be back up in Canada on Christmas, ready to spend my strong American dollars...
I wasn't taking a shot at you.
I was taking a shot at the Canadians that I have encountered who criticize the U.S.
First, just letting people know you can get HNIC on The NHL Network in the USA. So you don't have to order the Center Ice package, but rather you can just get whatever tier of channels you need for The NHL Network.
Second, I would say that the politeness/civility difference noted by others is considerable (in Canada's favor). This is not to say that there are no polite people in the USA or that no Canadians are rude. However, as an American who has spent a fair bit of time in the Toronto area as well as visited a number of other places in Canada, I will say that you are considerably less likely to get cut off in traffic or jumped in line or treated rudely at a fast food restaurant in Canada. I love many things about the USA (I live in Raleigh, NC), but from my experience Canada wins in this department hands down.
Bill of Rights (especially 2nd amendment)
Less crime (aside from murder)
Better weather (in the Midwest and Great Lakes area anyway)
Better industry (not sure how long this will last)
Free speech (at least for now)
Con-
Everybody seems to hate the USA
Broken immigration system
Corrupt tinpot tyrant politicians that never accomplish anything of value
Run-down crappy slum cities like Detroit, Cleveland, and New Orleans
Having to deal with lots of people who pride themselves on refusing to learn and/or speak English
Canada:
Pro-
Better national image
Occasionally better beer (Pabst Blue Ribbon is still the ultimate king, but some Canadian beers come close)
Con-
Crime (5th highest rape rate in the world, according to the RCMP and US DOJ- higher than the USA in terms of rate of assault, robbery, burglary, theft/larceny- the USA only beats Canada in terms of number of murders and murder rate)
Broken immigration system
Bogus British Commonwealth rather than a Republic
The whole monarchy thing
Lack of individualism and personal independence
No frontier spirit
Forbidden book lists/banned book lists
Crappy slum cities like Toronto and Windsor
Having to deal with lots of people who pride themselves on refusing to learn and/or speak English
Bill of Rights (especially 2nd amendment)
Less crime (aside from murder)
Better weather (in the Midwest and Great Lakes area anyway)
Better industry (not sure how long this will last)
Free speech (at least for now)
Con-
Everybody seems to hate the USA
Broken immigration system
Corrupt tinpot tyrant politicians that never accomplish anything of value
Run-down crappy slum cities like Detroit, Cleveland, and New Orleans
Having to deal with lots of people who pride themselves on refusing to learn and/or speak English
Canada:
Pro-
Better national image
Occasionally better beer (Pabst Blue Ribbon is still the ultimate king, but some Canadian beers come close)
Con-
Crime (5th highest rape rate in the world, according to the RCMP and US DOJ- higher than the USA in terms of rate of assault, robbery, burglary, theft/larceny- the USA only beats Canada in terms of number of murders and murder rate)
Broken immigration system
Bogus British Commonwealth rather than a Republic
The whole monarchy thing
Lack of individualism and personal independence
No frontier spirit
Forbidden book lists/banned book lists
Crappy slum cities like Toronto and Windsor
Having to deal with lots of people who pride themselves on refusing to learn and/or speak English
Crime stats from government agencies are usually politically manipulated I find... If a crime is never reported or even registered, it never happened... So Canada having the 5th highest rape rate apparently to me says we are just the 5th most honest in the world about that stat...
As for "No Frontier Spirit" or "Lack of Individualism" you really should travel more in Canada... Its a big country and the provinces have more differences between them (in almost every which way) than US states... BC and the Prairie Provinces are much more "pioneer spirit" like than Ontario or Collectivist Quebec. The only constants in Canada from Coast to Coast are it snows absolutely everywhere at least once a year and in absolutely every town in Canada hockey is the big sport...
Canada currently has a lower unemployment rate (wonder how long that will last) and agree with you about the PBR! For a value beer, its damn good. I just wish we had free trade in between Canada and the US so I could bring some back with me without duty.
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a couple of notes
