I was thinking Canada was going down the tube for years and then I left vancouver to go to a smaller city. I just don’t see the point of struggling every single day just to have some temperate weather and nice mountains in the background. Even if I liked skiing or hiking I didn’t have the time or money to reap the benefits of that city. In 2 years since I left I have bought a house, with a yard for my dog. sure the Prarie winters are hard but at least I’m saving for my future. my advice to anyone who is barely making it by those large city centre, go somewhere that will value your effort and provide the opportunity for you to be happy. It’s not as scary as you would think.
I didn’t actually read this… because I’m actually supposed to be working right now. After a bit of digging i found their methodology. someone want to look it over and see how legitimate it is? www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/…/methodology
an online survey […] total of 17,195 individuals from 36 countries. Of the respondents, 8,267 were informed elites, 4,622 were business decision-makers and 7,402 were considered general public (43%). Survey participants were given a random subset of countries and country attributes to consider: about half of the attributes for roughly a third of the countries.
Participants assessed whether they associated an attribute with a nation. The more a country was perceived to exemplify a certain characteristic in relation to the average, the higher that country’s attribute score.
Attributes were grouped into 10 thematic subrankings. Subranking scores for each country were determined by averaging the scores that country received in each of the attributes comprising that subranking.
To determine the weight each subranking score had in the overall Best Countries score, using correlation with GDP(PPP) […] a stronger relationship weighted more heavily: Entrepreneurship (14.13%), Quality of Life (14.12%), Agility (14.02%), Social Purpose (12.83%), Movers (11.54%), Cultural Influence (10.44%), Open for Business (9.43%), Adventure (5.37%), Power (5.00%), Heritage (3.13%).
The math sounds alright. My main gripe would be that it’s survey-based (so highly affected by biased perceptions) and that an attribute impact in the overall ranking is dictated by its correlation with wealth, which is kinda arbitrary - and bleak. Great things like “friendly, fun, good for tourism, pleasant climate, scenic” (Adventure) and “culturally accessible, has a rich history, has great food, many cultural attractions, many geographical attractions” (Heritage) are heavily discounted.
To be honest, the only category of attributes I care about in this methodology are in the realm of Quality of Life (Canada #3), but I still find it wildly arbitrary that “good job market” is QoL but things like “pleasant climate” and “good food” are not. Anyway, the top 20 in QoL are the usual suspects, so I don’t really care about minor changes in relative position between these - lol at US #23.
Did everyone from Hexbear and Lemmygrad move to lemm.ee? I notice that that’s where most of the anti-Canadian hate is coming from. Was there a brigade message sent out or is this just organic?
That dude is an asshole, but it is not gaslighting. people try to apply gaslighting to everytype of conflict now. Gaslighting would be them saying you formerly told them you lived in Paranoiaville and now you are denying it. it is when somebody actively tries to twist your memory, not just contradict you , or be sarcastic or condescending.
Gaslighting is the act of trying to convince someone that they are crazy. In its simplest form telling someone who is not crazy that they are crazy is gaslighting.
No, it has to be a repeated effort with manipulation to convince you are, not a rando making a sarcastic insult. If you question where you live by them saying paranoiaville is your home town then you have another issue, as you know exactly where you live, and also know they are making a sarcastic comment on you being paranoid.
As a digital nomad, I’m guessing you would have been to relatively low CoL places like Bali, Thailand, maybe Eastern Europe or LatAm. You have to remember that your experience as someone from the global north, earning in a strong currency is very different from a local person there.
Not that i disagree with you that rankings are flawed but by the same token, Canada /is/ in the top 5 for many people from low standard-of-living countries
Typically you’d be right but as a DN I actually spent most of my time in North America and western Europe—mostly in countries people would compare Canada with (UK, France, Spain, Norway, Germany, USA, Australia, etc.). I never went to Asia or South America as a DN. Actually the only time I stepped foot in LatAm was in Panama for a month this past winter.
It really changed my perspective on Canada. I don’t think it’s a bad country at all but I don’t hold it in as high regard as I once did. Every country has its strengths and weaknesses. What those are is different for everyone. Canada is squandering immense potential in my opinion. If it wasn’t for family, there are several places in the USA I would consider living long term instead.
I’m not sure I really have a favourite. Every country has good and bad. There are some parts of the USA (ex. Colorado, Washington) that I really like. But also the USA has its own issues that we all know about. France is beautiful but there can be civil unrest, taxes are high, etc. I spent some time in Singapore and it’s very safe, clean, great food, but it’s also stale and far from a lot of places. Culture comes into play a lot. I can recognize that somewhere is a great place to live but it’s not for me. I didn’t grow up there, I don’t speak the language, etc. In Europe I feel most “at home” in the Netherlands.
Different things matter to different people. So saying things like “this country is #2” are meaningless. Countries I personally would rank above Canada: USA, Netherlands, Norway, Australia, New Zealand.
I don’t know how they measured this at US News either, but the digital nomad experience is pretty different from the local experience. By digital nomad standards certain third world cities are great.
What you believe doesn’t change reality. The report is as the report is, the metrics are all there, and whether you believe it or not makes absolutely zero difference.
Ah…the classic, “No you are!” gambit. Well played! Well played indeed.
Most of these people spreading the anti-Canadian hate are making a classic mistake of ego. “Canada is bad for me therefore Canada is bad.” It’s the same mistake that incels make. Some people have more than me so they are bad and the system is bad and the country is BAD.
EDIT: Brigades on Lemmy have no power. No one gives a shit about Karma here. You can’t silence voices you don’t like. Go ahead, downvote. No one fucking cares.
I saw some right wing idiot say it and thought it was funny. A delicate snowflake blocked me so I won’t have to listen to his incessant whining about my comments anymore so I call that a win.
Pretty much. Most of the best Universities in the world. That most of it’s citizens could never afford to attend. Many of the best Hospitals and specialty clinics in the world. That again most of it’s people can’t use.
Most American’s are somewhere in the middle, and I’m sure the median household has more disposable income than most other first world countries, it’s just that the prosperity is so unevenly spread.
Granted, some would speculate that it is because of the unevenness that the US is so prosperous, but I would dispute that. I think the US could go a long long ways towards helping it’s less fortunate without compromising it’s prosperity.
How does it compare to canada? I legit have no idea. I just remember reading in a thread like 2 days ago how an american person moved to canada and one of the main complaints was how pay was less and housing was way more.
House prices are much more reasonable in the USA. Obviously it’s a huge country and it depends where you want to live, but in comparison house prices in Canada make no sense whatsoever.
Culturally, very similar. There are subtle differences. Americans are louder and more confident in general I think. Also way more business oriented. People in general seem less healthy but the disparity with Canada isn’t that big anymore. Wealth disparity is though. Way more very poor people, way more really rich people. In Canada I’m a top 1% earner. In the USA I’m not really even close.
The obvious major difference from Canada is health insurance. If it’s not covered by your employer (92% of Americans have coverage last I checked), I hope you have some disposable income to pay to pay for health insurance. That being said, taxes are usually way lower depending on which state you’re in, so you very well might come out ahead, even with copay and deductible. For reference, I had a global health insurance plan with Cigna. It had 1 mil USD coverage and max out of pocket per year for me was like 3 k USD. That was 205 USD/month. This didn’t cover general doctors visits, or anything related to that. It was basically for visits to the emergency room. So if you’re looking for coverage at the same level as Canada, you’re going to be paying more. I have heard from numerous sources that the health care in the USA is way better than in Canada–as long as you can pay for it.
These are broad generalizations. USA is a very diverse place. Of all places I’ve been in the world, USA is the most similar to Canada, and Australia probably comes second.
It might be the second best, but I feel like that’s more of a statement on the rest of the world failing in specific areas than on Canada excelling.
We’re a B- student in every class. Sure, it’s not the highest score and in every subject we’re usually surpassed by other countries, but most other countries don’t have a B- average due to major issues of some kind.
Canada has been in the top two or three for a very long time. Someone challenged that the rest of the world was falling and Canada was probably way lower in 2016. I went back and checked and we were number 2 in 2016 as well.
Pretty much. They’re complaining about housing prices and inflation just as much or more in New Zealand, Germany and the UK.
Canada probably is a B- but has the advantage of being next door to the largest economy in the world. Canada is also vast with abundant resources. We were always going to be a prosperous country as long as we can avoid too much corruption (Russia is a more vast country with more abundant resources, but…)
I still think it’s useful to look at other countries that may even be beneath us (according to this list) and borrow liberally from where they exceed us. We are doing about as well as anyone else, but we can do better.
No body said it was the best country - for a citizen - no no no. Its the best country for giant corporations!
Tired of wood, wetlands, and natives being of the way of your accident waiting to happen pipe line? Go Canada!
Don’t want to commit actual genocide on your native population? Rather isolate them in small communities then poison them with water unfit for even the most hearty of a animals? Go Canada!
Your wealthy friends want to make billions buying and selling green protected land? Go Ontario!
Are the homeless an eye sore to your wealthy friends visiting? Don’t worry, here in Canada we have 6 months of winter to clean up those unwanted eye sores.
An asteroid in the outer solar system. If we vote hard enough to have it win in our broken FPTP system. it’ll alter course and end this horrible timeline.
We need an electoral system that doesn’t take power from a large party that most people voted for and give it to a tiny fringe party that almost none voted for. Look at what’s happening in Israel. The most extreme party to get any seats is calling the shots because they hold the balance of power. Wouldn’t Canada be fun if the christofascists or tankies were calling the shots?
If we had a proportional representation system we’d have the majority of the House of Commons controlled through by an agreement agreement between the Liberals and the NDP. Exactly the situation we have now except the seats would be directly owned by the parties instead of representing communities.
Proportional representation is the preferred system for people that understand politics via spreadsheets while completely ignoring power dynamics.
Give me some STV! MMP seems to work well for NZ¹. Electoral reform won’t fix everything, but it will allow a path for more adaptability in politics at the very least.
¹ I’m also okay with AV (instant runoff). Is it perfect? No, but let not the perfect be the enemy of the good. AV at least overcomes the spoiler effect, and would allow more diversity of parties. AV does tend to encourage coalitions formed around a centrist party with broad support (probably the Liberals in Canadian federal politics) as they will tend to be the 2nd or 3rd pick, but the balance of other parties in any resulting coalition would tend to drive things. Plus, without the spoiler effect of FPTP there can always be a competitor for the centre. Basically. FPTP is the worst, and although I have my preferences, less bad is still improvement. Also, AV can always serve as a palate cleanser for full STV.
I had to click through to see the ratings in each category, and they all seemed reasonable to me aside from Canada’s low rank for “Adventure”. Eco tourism is huge in Canada. People come from all over the world to Canada for outdoor adventure.
Maybe I’m just not a traveler, but that ranking seemed odd to me.
Then again, I don’t live in the continuous urban sprawl of Southern Ontario all along the 401 and up the 400. I guess if you live in Toronto, you’re like 2+ hours from eco tourism destinations, while, in Europe, 2 hours is enough to have the option to go to several other countries.
I wonder if the ecotourism being seasonal knocks off prospective points. You can only comfortably travel the cannuck wilds for ~5 months out of the year, if that.
Maybe east of the rockies. In BC I have friends that go camping all year long. Our mountains are open all year for activities (skiing, snowboarding, etc. in the winter mountain bike, hike, etc. in the summer). Heck, you can ski, bike, surf all in one day on Vancouver Island if you’re so inclined, though it’ll be a long ass day.
Through a survey of over 17,000 people from 36 countries
Oh, so subjectively “better”? What about objective measurements, like how many people are a paycheck away from losing it all? Or the cost of living? Or worker rights?
Specifically, Canada was chosen as the:
2nd best country to start a career
4th best country for education
7th best country for studying abroad
7th best country for raising kids
2nd best country for racial equality
6th best country for women
6th best country for comfortable retirement
6th most transparent country
2nd best country to headquarter a corporation
Imagine a sports team coming in 6th place for most tournaments, and never winning first in any of them, yet they win an award for being the 2nd best team in the league… makes no sense to me.
As a Canadian expat, these sorts of surveys are an embarrassment. Canada is not that great. It has some good things going for it, but “second best in the world” is a laughable statement.
The wealth disparity is terrible
Nearly every inhabited patch of land is a suburban hellscape.
The government is routinely dedicated to accomplishing as little as possible, especially on climate
The fossil fuel lobby is embarrassingly strong
The cost of living is extreme for many, with little effort to reign it in
The country suffers from an inferiority complex in relation to the US of all places.
The electoral system is broken
I mean, I love my country, but I’ve seen a lot of places that I’d rather live. The idea that we’re 2nd best compared to even half of the countries I’ve visited in the last 10 years is just silly.
I can really relate to this. I lived outside of Canada for 25 years. I recently-ish moved back to Canada and am totally blown away by things here. Life isn’t always amazing in any place you pick on the planet, but god damn, Canadians need to stop contemplating their collective belly button lint and focus on some of the massive issues that need attention.
Meanwhile my girlfriend just got back from travelling around Europe and all of those “superior” countries, and couldn’t wait to get home.
Said everyone was rude, taxis scammed her frequently, the public transit was pretty subpar with no other choice, the food was pretty mediocre, she had to be extra careful about pick pocketers, and lastly she said everyone stunk so bad from perfume that she had a constant headache.
Canada isn’t perfect, but it does have a ton going for it.
I’ve had similar experiences in several cities in the UK, Austria, Paris, Amsterdam and even a trip out to the nurburgring To be frank, the friendliest Europe experience I’ve had was Kosovo but that was on business vs personal with the rest of them so I’m not sure that didn’t affect my experience in Kosovo.
I agree completely with what you’re saying. Living in a progressive state is a far different experience and we should avoid generalizations of countries without specific context and understanding.
Well she wasn’t in the nordic countries at least, public transport can be subpar but is almost always servicable and gets you anywhere (we have on-demand minibuses for rural areas), the only part that could apply is being seen as rude because we don’t greet every person within our field of view…
Sounds like your girlfriend did the typical North American thing of visiting “Europe” by hitting a bunch of major cities and sticking to the touristy centres.
The Netherlands is gorgeous, quiet, and safe, but if you don’t wander further than one or two kilometres from Amsterdam Centraal, you’ll never see that. Rent a bike and ride through Haarlem or Utrecht if you want a proper experience.
Brussels has some of the best food I’ve ever tasted, but you have to break away from the tourist traps first.
Athens is an exciting, “young” city with ancient treasures literally on display in the subway stations. You’ll never see that if you just wander around the Parthenon. The food everywhere is great too, though the best spots are usually well outside the touristy areas.
Paris has some really exciting stuff happening with cycling right now, and the view from Momatre is amazeballs. Yes, the locals can be rude, but fuck it, take the train and get out of the city!
Which brings me to the other important point: Europe is not just the (impressive) cities, but rather a continental patchwork of interconnected but distinct cultures. Have breakfast in a B&B in Arras before you trek out to see the Vimy memorial, then board a train and be in Nyon by dinnertime where you can sit on a clear blue lake and munch on baguette. Hop on the train again and you’re in Torino, Venice, or Florence which is just gorgeous. I had the best pizza in my life there in a dodgy little place at 1am.
Stay a few nights in Warsaw and take a stroll through the old city. Gobble some perogi in Krakow and then push yourself to visit Auschwitz. Then take the train across the now undefended border to Berlin where you can walk the path of the former wall, and the next night go for the best danishes in the world… in Denmark.
Seriously, your girlfriend is out to lunch if that’s her impression of “Europe”. You two need to take another trip and rethink your priorities.
I was on a flight three years ago where a guy was violently ill. I was in the last row beside the door to the tail head. He went past me with a very full air sickness bag. As we were descending the flight attendant was making more and more frantic announcements that everyone needed to return to their seats so we could land I finally leaned out of my seat, made hard eye contact, and made the sign language sign for vomiting.
Her shoulders fell, she hung up the microphone, inbuilt her seatbelt, stormed to the back of the plane and pounced on the door shouting, "Get back in your seat so we can land. Now! "
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