In some aspects sure. Try being at the beginning of your adult life right now. Housing, the cost of food/goods, a lethargic/apathetic government. Those things should be enough evidence to say that we aren't the second best country in the world.
Those things should be enough evidence to say that we aren’t the second best country in the world.
And yet…they aren’t. Canada ranks very high in quality of life, personal and religious freedom, and many other measures. There are problems, yes, but they are problems effecting the second best country in the world to live in. People living other places are dying to come here.
Canada is the 12th safest country in the world. The US is 129th.
Can we just stop comparing ourselves to the States for once? Our Literally Fascist Neighbours don't warrant any consideration when discussing the quality of life here.
We have it very good here.
Which segments of the population are you choosing to speak for here, exactly?
The people who complain about Canada often hold the US up as an example of what Canada should be because they can have guns, have hate speech, and are free to discriminate against people they hate
The cities are completely unaffordable.
All of the parties are in favour of using TFW programs to suppress workers rights and not doing anything about blatantly illegal anti-worker activities.
The Trudeau government is welcoming immigrants at a rate of at least 3% of the population per year(not the problem), but not spending a penny on infrastructure to support that kind of increase(a big problem)
Carbon offset credits are a complete joke.
The ISPs are in charge of the body that is supposed to regulate and rein them in.
BC is being devastated by climate change and Ottawa isn't lifting a damn finger on it.
Its not fair to dismiss the problems of the people who lead very difficult lives in this country because someone on the other side of the planet has it worse there.
Where is your perspective on that?
"Sorry, I know you have an unhappy and difficult life but you should just learn to be greatful because I saw people over yonder who have a different kind of difficult life."
You keep saying people need perspective, I think you do. You look at this country through rose coloured glasses.
I don’t dismiss the legitimate complaints of people who live in Canada. There are problems. I’ve said that repeatedly throughout these comments. What I’m saying is that Canada isn’t any of the things the neo-Nazis and the tankies say it is. It isn’t a dictatorship. It isn’t turning into a third world shithole. Our Prime Minister isn’t a Marxist and neither was his father. Canada is a great country and a great place to live. Wealth inequality is a big fucking problem. Corruption is a big fucking problem. The erosion of workers rights is a big fucking problem. Capitalism has run its course and it’s time for a change. That doesn’t mean that Canada is a bad place to live and the people who say it is is are entitled, whiney idiots.
I agree wholeheartedly with all of that. If you've stated those things throughout these comments, for some reason I cannot see them, so I apologize for harping on you.
I just disagree that it is the 2nd best country in the world to live in. Where it accurately lands I cannot say, but #2 is not it. And that's okay. I still love this country.
I just disagree that it is the 2nd best country in the world to live in. Where it accurately lands I cannot say, but #2 is not it. And that’s okay. I still love this country.
I do as well. I think it’s the best country in the world to live in. I’ve been lots of places, many high on that list and many very low on that list, and I would not choose to live in any of them instead of Canada.
Our Prime Minister isn’t a Marxist and neither was his father.
Well… the Canadian media did spent an inordinate amount of time trying to prove the Trudeau was not the love child of a self-proclaimed Marxist, which was quite strange as it makes absolutely no difference who his farther is.
I’m not sure that it was the media that did that. I suspect that it was the alt-right media (“alt” being their preferred pronoun instead of the more accurate “extreme”).
And…who is father is only matters to the right. No one else gives a shit about what other people are doing in the privacy of their own bedrooms.
I wouldn’t exactly call those outlets left leaning, but alt-right?
And…who is father is only matters to the right.
And that earlier commenter who was overly concerned about who his father was, making sure we knew he was the one that wasn’t a Marxist, as if that matters. Crazies to be found everywhere, I suppose.
Back when the Glorious Orange Leader was taking about building a northern border fence my American coworkers asked me how Canadians felt about it. I said that we were all for it since the US was Canada’s Mexico.
I’m from south Texas and it took me forever to realize that people don’t like Mexico. It really confused me to hear Mexicans supporting building the wall…
I don't think you have to be extreme right wing to have legitimate concerns for the future of Canada. The country is literally on fire. Houses are over $1 million and health care is barely functioning.
Groceries are fucked, gasoline is fucked, interest rates are fucked, can’t buy a house, can’t buy a car (or probably shouldn’t right now), dollar is fucked, schools probably going on strike again, a Canadian team hasn’t won the Stanley cup in 30 years ……
And what’s really fun is that despite the housing crisis, many home builders outside the big-3 city areas are running slow right now because regular people can’t qualify for housing. I’ve only been working 5-12 days a month for the last year, between a shortage of framers (many moved to Ontario in 2021 due to work slowing), shortage of materials, and now interest rates killing purchases.
We’re so fucked, and anyone in a position to fix things just refuses to. If you build public housing, prices drop and you get voted out by angry house owners. Don’t build houses, and both homelessness and living standards get so much worse, and you get voted out by angry poor folks.
This just tells me that you don't know what fucked is.
Interest rates topped 21% , while mortgage rates topped 18% in 1981. Inflation was over 11% at the time. We'd just gone through two massive oil shocks, where the price of gasoline was almost double what we have now when adjusted for inflation, while cars struggled to get under 20L/100km and were rotted through by their third year.
Strikes were rampant, but so was high unemployment, at times topping 10%. A lot of industries just closed up shop, only accelerated as the Canada-US FTA came into effect.
By 1990, a lot of that had settled down due to the high interest rate treatment, but the accumulated debt of the Trudeau and Mulroney years had us facing a debt crisis just as we fell into a deep recession in 1991-92.
Dunno where she found a house for $45k ($160k in today's money) in 1980. Dad bought a new, three bedroom, split-level in Moncton in 1979 for $79k ($310k in today's money). Moncton at the time was really struggling with the recession. Prices in the GTA were much higher.
Housing prices were rapidly increasing in the GTA, and did so through the 1980s, finally flatlining at the end of the decade, before taking off again around 2000.
Also, prime mortgage rates at the time hit 16% in 1980 and peaked at 21.75% in 1981.
I just sold a 2500 sq ft, 4 bedroom house in Regina for a bit under $390k a few years ago. My current place in Winnipeg is a 1000 sq ft, two bedroom, two bathroom unit. and it was $260ish.
I purposely avoided transfers to the GTA or Greater Vancouver. There is no way I'd give up my free time and disposable income to be that miserable.
The average house price in the 80s was 3x the typical family’s annual income. Yes, 21% was high but had much smaller principals comapred to the 5%+ we have now when homes are at least 7x the typical family income.
Even worse in CCOL (Crazy Cost of Living) areas like Toronto or Vancouver. Vancouver needs a family income of over 225k to qualify for a mortgage on the average house price. This average house is not a dream home, you’re lucky if it’s 1200 SQ feet and in a safe neighborhood. Or within a 75 minute drive to work. Don’t even get me started on trying to buy a car today either.
I think what we need to do is not compare how fucked it was then, I don’t disagree that it was.
However it’s clearly fucked now and nobody’s doing anything to unfuck it.
So don't move to Vancouver or the GTA? Simple solution. I'm from the Maritimes. We'd always been told by Upper Canada and the West to "move to where the work is." Fair enough. How about moving to where you can afford to live?
Dad bought a house in 1979 that was $79k, in Moncton. In Toronto it would have been much more at the time. That's about $310k in today's money. Median income in 1979 was the equivalent of roughly $60k today. Dad made good money, had done well on previous houses, and Mum was an ER nurse, they could swing it. But a lot of people were really struggling. Especially those people who saw their fixed rate mortgage jump from 14% to almost 22%.
I’d generally agree, but unfortunately, we work in very specialized fields. The options in Canada for this work are Toronto or Vancouver. Otherwise its the USA and visas are a pain. We did that for a few years and while cheaper, that’s a big fucking nope now.
No, but the extreme right call Canada a dictatorship, a third world country, a shithole, etc. Hell, the leader of the official opposition called our freely and fairly elected right of center milquetoast Prime Minister and his father, “Marxists.” It’s ridiculous. Literally worthy of ridicule.
Most of the people who are complaining have no frame of reference other than being brought up in the safe, warm busom of one of the best countries in the world.
Absolutely true. There are problems but they are first world problems and we really are very lucky to live here. I just bristle at hearing things like, “Canada is a dictatorship”, no it isn’t, “Canada is a third world country”, no it isn’t, “Justin Trudeau is a Marxist and so was his father”, ridiculous. Some people need a dose of perspective.
See, that’s the thing. The 10 factors in the ranking include 1) Entrepreneurship, 2) “Open for Business”, 3) “Movers”, 4) Power, and 5) “Agility”, or a place that is ‘efficient in its actions, adopt and accept modern solutions’
So, like, half the factors are “how badly do you screw the environment and average non-capital-class citizen”
And in case you think I might be wrong about what they mean by “Movers”, the top 5 are the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Saudia Arabia, and India.
Of COURSE our country, which is composed a bunch of oil, gas, and mining corps in a trenchcoat shaking hands with a couple of oligipolistic banks and telecoms will score well.
How the hell did we rank well then? Our productivity is very poor, and our economy is trading houses. The amount of capital flooding the housing market over the last few years is crazy.
Yes. This is correct however making it more on fire which is what the extreme right want to do is not the way. The majority of provinces have had Conservative governments over the last 8 years, until we resolve that issue Canada isn’t going to get better anytime soon. People don’t realize that the provinces have way more involvement in their day to day lives than the federal government. Many of our issues can be fixed by the provinces but they literally choose to make things worse instead, pass the blame to the federal government and morons eat it up
"Quality of Life" was a category on the survey, although it was only one of ten. Additionally, they were mostly asking the people who were benefitting the most from their society:
a survey of over 17,000 people from 36 countries – including business leaders, middle-class or higher college-educated individuals and “nationally representative” citizens of each country
So I imagine there were a lot of folks who disagreed with the final rankings, but their opinions were mostly considered irrelevant.
I wonder of you took some of the people complaining about Canada and dropped them somewhere like Sudan, Myanmar, Eritrea, or DR Congo for a couple of years they wouldn’t come back with a new appreciation for Canada? Well, the survivors if there were any, anyway.
Is ready to pass and Joan when you love in one of the best countries in the world. I just think some people need some perspective.
You are ignoring the voices of those with legitimate concerns in this country because you live a comfortable life. Get a grip.
Yes Canada is wonderful. I love this country and wouldn't want to live anywhere else - that being said, you cannot ignore that there is are plenty of glaring issues with this country that are affected a shit ton of people.
Yes, there are problems. Yes, people have legitimate concerns. I just can’t tolerate the, “Canada is a dictatorship” nonsense, or, “Canada is turning into a third world country,” or our white bread, milquetoast right of center Prime Minister and his father are Marxists. People need some perspective.
I mean, just yesterday there was an article from a French media company about how the US economy and GDP is now 80% larger than Europe’s. Link
The US is really high on this list though specifically due to economic reasons. Not social ones. Although strangely enough there is a bit of an odd section about the US being more adaptable to change than Canada or any other country, which I find kind of strange. Also, the US always ranks high because of the advanced medicine, technology and education. Whether it’s accessible to all or not is really mostly irrelevant to these surveys.
Historically what made a country great was its gold reserves and its military might… so like… 90% there? That said I agree that corporations are not what we want and that economic growth should be made to grow at a maintained level rather than unrealistic growth.
Historically, what made countries great was their ability to provide rising standards of living to its citizens. That often results in large gold reserves and military might, but plenty of places with gold and bullets were bad places to live.
But the rich wasn’t us to believe those metrics, so we can ignore how living standards are dropping, indicating that Capitalism has failed to provide a better lifestyle.
Oh man, that was a good laugh! I’d consider Ukraine more with us on the military might considering the ass they’re kicking. Switzerland can match us on the gold/economic, but I’m not sure how confident I’d be it isn’t stolen, nazi, or Russian (but I can’t say the same about the US’ either). China will probably come close to matching our military might if only because of their population advantage. India is going to be a massive player here shortly (militarily speaking), if not already.
The problem, and I know it’s what people don’t like to hear, is that the US quite literally cannot be beaten economically or militarily. Seriously, read that article I linked, it’s incredible the economic output the US generates. France has the same economy size as Idaho, a state famous for its potatoes and nothing else.
The best military logistics in the world and logistics is what wins wars. The biggest and most powerful economy in the world, even China and Germany have a stuttering economy (and pre-covid I would have pegged them as being on par). The biggest influence regarding culture, the next closest would maybe be Britain, but when it’s English media the US will still dominate. China has some cultural sway, but only within their own borders and even they consume American media like crazy.
It’s hard to say who out there could play a role in being as powerful as the US, and an empire decline is bound to happen. It’s not immune.
I would however put the early Soviet Union for sure up there with the US. They had some amazing technological innovations. The only problem was that a communist government got into an economic war with a capitalist government and that was never going to work well. Slow and steady growth like the Cubans is more the way to do it.
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