What Makes Canada a Great Place to Live?

[BobG]

I'm from Canada. If you value your fingertips and earlobes...stay away

Oh, dear...

Or is that a veiled warning (cuz you don't like Americans)?

Toes, too. And don't try walking home after a night drinking at the local bar. A pit stop at -45 can turn into a desperate situation.

(You'd think someone would have thought of inventing and selling something for that)

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Canada on Bush

...Martin, in Chile for an Asia-Pacific summit, was undeterred by spirited clashes between police using tear gas and angry protesters that marked Bush's arrival in the South American country.

But he urged Canadians not to resort to violence. [continued]

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2004/11/19/722165-cp.html

 

[ek]

Can anyone tell me about the area along the Canadian/Washington border - along the National route 1? There are a number of towns shown such as Abbotsford and Chilliwack; even as far East as Hope. What is this part of the country like? Is the area rugged or fairly developed? What are the highways like in the winter?

First off, it is called the Trans-Canada Highway.

Abbotsford is still pretty much a suburb of Vancouver. It's a little further away than ones like Surrey, Richmond, North Van, White Rock, but it's still considered a suburb I think. Chilliwack is more getting into the interior. It is not a suburb of Vancouver. Both places are developed, but Hope isn't. I don't know why you'd even consider living in Hope. It's 200km for Vancouver with nothing around it. And Hope isn't a border town. It's quite a bit north from the border. It's got a couple fast food joints and that's it. Pretty boring place.

The highways? Wet. Always wet.

 

[ek]

And i want to shatter another huge myth about Canada, people often say how clean Canadian cities are
I live in toronto and toronto is the dirtiest city i have ever seen.Garbage everywhere,on sidewalks,on subways,buses, etc.
When there is garbage collection day, buisnesess and restaurants put their garbage on sidewalks in black garbage bags or whatever they have at hand, and sometimes all of that stuff gets thrown on the street,it looks like third World country(and it stinks BIG time! in the summer)
On my visit to Chicago or other US places, i find their cities much more cleaner and taken care of.
PS.Picking **** after your dog in Canada is still new thing.

Please don't confuse Toronto with Canada. Though Torontonians may like to think that nothing else except Toronto matters, there are other places in Canada besides Toronto.

And just because your city is a piece of **** doesn't mean my city is. And it isn't.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I don't know why you'd even consider living in Hope. It's 200km for Vancouver with nothing around it

Sounds like home. Our internet service still uses telegraph operators.

 

[JasonRox]

You mean of course old Canadian geezers coming to live there, over the winter months right?
And i want to shatter another huge myth about Canada, people often say how clean Canadian cities are
I live in toronto and toronto is the dirtiest city i have ever seen.Garbage everywhere,on sidewalks,on subways,buses, etc.
When there is garbage collection day, buisnesess and restaurants put their garbage on sidewalks in black garbage bags or whatever they have at hand, and sometimes all of that stuff gets thrown on the street,it looks like third World country(and it stinks BIG time! in the summer)
On my visit to Chicago or other US places, i find their cities much more cleaner and taken care of.
PS.Picking **** after your dog in Canada is still new thing.

How many Americans have seen daylight? Not on TV, but the stuff OUTSIDE. Not many.

No offense, but I'd rather have a country with a dirty rep than one with a rep of being greedy and dumb.

 

[loseyourname]

How many Americans have seen daylight? Not on TV, but the stuff OUTSIDE. Not many.

No offense, but I'd rather have a country with a dirty rep than one with a rep of being greedy and dumb.

Come on, man. My girlfriend and I are out on the water three or four times a week, either on the boat or in kayaks. I regularly hike and camp up in the Angeles forest and run foothill trails three times a week. Most of my friends are pretty active that way as well, and unlike in Ontario, we can actually go outside year round and not have to worry about freezing to death. In fact, it's physically impossible for you to see as much daylight as I do, because there isn't half as much sunlight on an annual basis there as here.

Do you really need to say idiotic things like this and perpetuate the image of the world outside of the US as horribly narrow-minded stereotypers?

 

[Smurf]

JasonRex has a habit of stereotyping everyone, everywhere, so don't take it personally.

In fact, it's physically impossible for you to see as much daylight as I do, because there isn't half as much sunlight on an annual basis there as here.

This is simply not true...

 

[ek]

Do you really need to say idiotic things like this and perpetuate the image of the world outside of the US as horribly narrow-minded stereotypers?

I didn't realize Americans stereotyped non-Americans as horribly narrow minded.

Quite ironic when you think about it.

 

[BobG]

In fact, it's physically impossible for you to see as much daylight as I do, because there isn't half as much sunlight on an annual basis there as here.

Not true. Every place on Earth receives the same amount of daylight. Your Northern latitudes just get their's all in one shot. Of course, in order for the Northerners to see as much daylight as you, they have to stay awake 23+ hours a day in the summer. But then again, they have all winter to catch up on their sleep.

I spent a year up in Alaska. The winter can get pretty depressing. We used to take long lunches (2-3 hours) so we could see daylight and then just work late. As long as the temperature stayed over 20 below, I'd even take walks in the middle of night (the auroras are kind of nice). You have to get outside once in awhile, even in the middle of the winter, or you'll go stir crazy.

But the summers make up for it. Alaska's an incredible place in the summer!

 

[tumor]

How many Americans have seen daylight? Not on TV, but the stuff OUTSIDE. Not many.

No offense, but I'd rather have a country with a dirty rep than one with a rep of being greedy and dumb.

I have my igloo ready for winter, how about yours?

 

[loseyourname]

Not true. Every place on Earth receives the same amount of daylight. Your Northern latitudes just get their's all in one shot. Of course, in order for the Northerners to see as much daylight as you, they have to stay awake 23+ hours a day in the summer. But then again, they have all winter to catch up on their sleep.

I spent a year up in Alaska. The winter can get pretty depressing. We used to take long lunches (2-3 hours) so we could see daylight and then just work late. As long as the temperature stayed over 20 below, I'd even take walks in the middle of night (the auroras are kind of nice). You have to get outside once in awhile, even in the middle of the winter, or you'll go stir crazy.

But the summers make up for it. Alaska's an incredible place in the summer!

What I mean is that it's almost never cloudy in Southern California, whereas that is not true in Ontario, Canada. You can't see the daylight if its stuck behind the clouds.

 

[loseyourname]

This is simply not true...

Again, I'm referring to the fact that we have far less cloudy days here than you do, not the amount of sunlight reaching that part of the atmosphere.

 

[Smurf]

I suppose you have an excuse, living in cali, but there's still sunlight when its cloudy, the whole country doesn't just black out if a cloud drifts in the right (wrong) spot. and Ontario is not Canada.

 

[ek]

whereas that is not true in Ontario, Canada.

Thanks for clarifying that it was Ontario, Canada you were talking about, because I wasn't quite sure.



Yes I know there's an Ontario, California.

 

[check]

Thanks for clarifying that it was Ontario, Canada you were talking about, because I wasn't quite sure.



Yes I know there's an Ontario, California.

There are OTHER Ontarios, you know.

 

[BobG]

There are OTHER Ontarios, you know.

check! You cheated! You saw ek's white text!

 

[ek]

There are OTHER Ontarios, you know.

Check the white text.

And in a thread about life in Canada, I'm pretty sure there's no need to clarify which Ontario it is.

And when people refer to it as Ontario, Canada, or British Columbia, Canada, it's not because there is more than one place of that name, it's for Americans who have no clue where the places are in the first place.

 

[Tsu]

There is also an Ontario, Oregon.

 

[Smurf]

Which is also negligible.

 

[Dagenais]

If a new party comes into power as a minority then it would be obvious to them that the people like something about their party as least a little more than anyone else’s and so they’ll try to build on that in order to achieve a majority when then feel like calling an election.

Or, they simply don't want to give the Liberals that much power and control.

Perhaps a minority NDP government wouldn’t be such a bad thing though. Sort of a ‘try it before you buy it’ routine.

Did you find out about all the controversy of the 90's?

Can anyone tell me about the area along the Canadian/Washington border - along the National route 1? There are a number of towns shown such as Abbotsford and Chilliwack; even as far East as Hope. What is this part of the country like? Is the area rugged or fairly developed? What are the highways like in the winter?

The city located near the Canadian Truck Crossing is White Rock, and lately, it's developed a lot. Large stores such as Save-on-Foods, Canadian Tire, and Tim Hortons have opened up. Lots of new houses being built.

Some relatives of mine were thinking about living there.

http://www.city.whiterock.bc.ca/

 

[tumor]

Climate in N.West US and British.C. is great. However in Toronto winter is dreadful, but there is always something going on here, lots of clubs, museums,bookstores, galleries etc.

 

[ek]

A lot of White Rock is actually very nice. It's about the only Vancouver suburb I'd recommend. (Out of Surrey, Richmond, Langley, Abby, PoCo etc)

 

[check]

Or, they simply don't want to give the Liberals that much power and control.

Indeed some voters may do 'strategic' voting to try and get a minority government, but I'm not sure how many actually do.

Still, if they don't want the Liberals to have so much power, but still prefer the Liberals to another party it would send a message to the Liberals that they have to change something about the party inorder to minimize a risk of defeat next election, and thus play up to people.

Did you find out about all the controversy of the 90's?

Are you reffering to Bob Rae?
In that case, it was a surprise jump to a Majority NDP government. Since it was a majority right away the NDP was free to "gamble on some cockamamie socialist view of how to run the province." as Premier Patterson put it. (Of course he was referring to the voters, but it works here too)
Anyway, their policies just about ruined Ontario. It was too much, too quickly.

A minority government would have had some checks and balances and would have given the NDP a chance to sort of realize what they had to work with and would have made them a little more efficient if they won a majority later on. But that's just my opinion.

 

[tumor]

Are you reffering to Bob Rae?
In that case, it was a surprise jump to a Majority NDP government. Since it was a majority right away the NDP was free to "gamble on some cockamamie socialist view of how to run the province." as Premier Patterson put it. (Of course he was referring to the voters, but it works here too)
Anyway, their policies just about ruined Ontario. It was too much, too quickly.

Don't blame NDP for Ontario's troubles back in 1990-s.Back then economy world wide was in recession, especially US.And as you know healthy Ontario economy can not exist without good growth (whatever that is) in the States
But spinnmasters at Progressive Conservatives and Harris blamed of course evil/socialistic/communistic NDP.
Remember Harris and his "Common sense Revolution"? among others , cutting welfare,closing city funded housing for poor, stoping investing in public transportation,cutting 40% budget out of ministry of environment?

 

[check]

I know the NDP wasn't solely to blame, but given the economic situation at the time, they made things worse.

And yes, we all remember Harris...

 

[Dagenais]

Are you reffering to Bob Rae?

I was talking about the NDP using charity money for political purposes and the Premier helping associates to obtain a casino license.

 

[check]

I was talking about the NDP using charity money for political purposes and the Premier helping associates to obtain a casino license.

I was vaguely familiar with that, but not enough to formulate an informed opinion on the matter. I'll have to read up on it.

 

[Smurf]

Its not going to be any worse than any other corrupt government (I.E Any other government)

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Blue state blues cure in Canada?

Jokes aside, immigration officials report a surge in interest in moving north...

...She's not alone. South of the border in Bellingham, Wash., Charles Key, a 56-year-old Vietnam veteran, is planning his move to Canada.

"America no longer reflects my political and social values," said Key, whose ancestor Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner." [continued]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6694546/