Problems with Canada

We consume more water, more power, and more big macs per capita yet no one blinks an eye....

Difference is that we are self-sufficient in all those categories the US is not…we don’t go begging Saudi Arabia for oil we have 178 billion barrels of our own. We export power to the US, we export oil and natural gas to the US. Canada is much different compared to the US in terms of where we get our energy, food etc.

 

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Perhaps where you live(d) in coastal BC, aka hippy land. In the rest of the country, its simple not like that. We have a climate that demands we use more energy, and Canadians on the whole are an apathetic bunch when it comes to the environment. This is because the footprint we leave behind is comparitively small, and most powermarkets haven't undergone deregulation, so its not something you notice. But look at some studies and see for yourself.

You made the original claim that Canadians are wasteful, so howabout some links to back up those assertations??

 

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Your premise Xerxes is incorrect I live in Toronto where we have the most congested highway in North America the vaunted and hated 401. I see Canadian waste all the time, and it is true we waste more per capita them Americans in some things but again its because we can, we have the resources the US doesn’t and because she doesn’t she has to interfere in other nations affairs, that’s why people notice.

 

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Exactly my point(except for the whole interering shit). Canadians are more wasteful, but it really doesn't make a whole lotta difference since we can afford to be.

 

Exactly my point. Canadians are more wasteful, but it really doesn't make a whole lotta difference since we can afford to be.

I wouldn’t say afford, I would say because we can. We are living well within our own means Americans don’t…

 

Anti Americanism?

Well there's a lot of that about at the moment more than usual in fact. Such things tend not to occur without reason. Oh I forgot it's all supposed to have something to do with envy although what America has that we are all supposed to be envious of eludes me for the moment. Teenage pregnancy and postal shooting sprees perhaps?
Either way these are hard days for any PR company trying to big up the USA.
Why are things so bad right now?

My 10 cents?
Well I could be specific and point to aspects of American cultural life (The Saturday evening prime time TV listing alone is probably reason enough to condemn all America to hell) or I could point to some interesting studies about America's education and welfare systems. But no, I'll keep this simple and generalise instead.

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The American dream is only America's dream when they try to export it the rest of the world gets resentful. We don't all live on planet America you know. It's almost as if they want us foreigners to abandon our histories and simply adopt the myths that Disney and Fox have written for them.
If America wants to be part of the global community it should show a little more humility and a lot less posturing.

That will do for now.
Dee Cee

Edit.. Hey where the thread go????

 

Undecided

Me

 

Moi:

Japan cant afford to. They're *so* dependant on the intricate framework for their economy that it really doesn't help.

Whatever that means…I can use big words too in nonsensical sentences. What does the “framework” of their economy have to do with anything? How about China she imports more oil then Japan, yet we again do not see Chinese forces invading Iraq. Japan’s hankering for a war, they need to use up that $700 billion saved up and to stop deflation, nothing better then a big fat war.

But then I can't say that about the Americans. They interfere only to counteract the forces that try to coerce America into changing its international policies.

Maybe in Gnome land, America’s intervention in the Middle East goes back way further then the last 4 years. America interferes because she has too, she has no choice, America is living beyond her means both resource wise, and financially. America’s standard of living is unsustainable and I fear only a depression would solve this scenario.

 

The fact that their economy functions best when everybody else sticks with the status quo and demands more exports from Japan at a much higher price than resource imports. America is taking a much more sever hit in that area.

Of course it has, and vice versa. Opec countries have far more control over America now than at any other time. One snap decision and the economy could come tumbling down.

 

The fact that their economy functions best when everybody else sticks with the status quo and demands more exports from Japan at a much higher price than resource imports. America is taking a much more sever hit in that area.

China is within the next two years will be Japan’s #1 destination for exports, usurping the US. US demand for Japanese goods is not growing fast enough to maintain its position for much longer. Its not the price of goods that matters (vis-à-vis imports) it’s the demand of goods that matters, and China already has replaced the US as #1 in three major Asian markets, Japan (going to happen), Taiwan, and South Korea. The status quo is changing…

Of course it has, and vice versa. Opec countries have far more control over America now than at any other time.

Well…that’s a lie, the US is much better apt to deal with OPEC now more then ever. The influence of OPEC has depreciated greatly over the past 30 years after the 1974 embargo. So no, you are completely incorrect.

One snap decision and the economy could come tumbling down.

OPEC wants to pump more! She can’t…it’s demand side economics, alas Stagflation? Maybe…

 

and so how will canada be effected by all of this? :bugeye:

 

Well Alberta will get more money because of higher oil prices...I guess that's the only thing that really matters.

 

I believe truthseeker made an earlier refrence to the previous U.S. elections and a flaw in the way we elect. When was the last vote Canada had to break into two countries? 1992? Later? I think that we can no longer discuss U.S. problems when ones country cannot stay in one piece.....
Secondly your elections are similar to ours.... our state elections. The difficulty of getting 1,000 people to vote can't be to hard. Canada is sort of the big, desolate 51rst state to the North where I like to fish.

You country remains precariously attached in one piece, there are no comebacks to this... hide your big floppy heads in shame

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Sorry but you Canadians with your beedy little eyes and flaping heads crack me up!

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towards,

I think you jsut cause problems for your self, Canadia a 51 state? really?

 

I'm brasilian....

 

I don't think that's a really fair assessment as America's population is 10 times bigger than Canada. America is the most populated industrialized country in the world. Scrimp and save, but with 300 million people, you're going to run out of resources.

America and Canada are responsible for 26% of the world's CO2 emissions and are the greatest energy hogs in the world. Per capita, Canada is the evil twin. America uses and pollutes more, but only because they're so much frigging bigger.

I'm not sure if Canada is exactly respected and looked up to in the world, or rather kindly looked upon as agreeable and innocuous. I mean, other than by Bono and Michael Moore.

Undecided, you made a great point in that America has something Canada can never have: that prestige. America is immortalized by Hollywood and their self-glorified history, and Canadians are bored to death by the CPR, Sir John A. MacDonald, Louis Riel, and all those guys that nobody really cares about. At compared to George Washington, Paul Revere, Thomas Jefferson, etc. The Canadian political system lacks a star system which puts their national leaders on a pedestal of glory. They just sort of come and go. America has all those fancy conventions with balloon monsoons, carefully rehearsed speeches of genius (see Clinton and Obama, not to mention Kerry, in DNC '04). In Canada, all you have are a couple of snarky debates (one in French and one in English), then the election, then poof, it's over. You don't feel that hype, drama, and glory of American politics.

The Canadian political system needs reform. It's pretty shabby when a crappy regional party like the Bloc Quebecois earn less of the national vote than the NDP yet have 30 more seats than them in parliament, simply because their support is so concentrated in Quebec.

Canadian universities are awesome though. World class schools like the University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto, and McGill are all just as good as the top American schools yet cost nearly 8 times less. Plus, you don't have to go through that damned diversionary obstacle course known as the SAT, SAT II, ACT, etc. (a necessary evil IMHO). American schools usually have a false aura of prestige (other than Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT, who deserve their auras), like if a Canadian goes to a good American school, people expect them to be smarter or better than Canadian students because of the American prestige.

 

Thank you, nbachris2788 - now we're talking problems!!

I wouldn't say that U of T is world class, though . . . Ryerson maybe.

 

I don't think that's a really fair assessment as America's population is 10 times bigger than Canada. America is the most populated industrialized country in the world.

America is larger then Canada that’s true, and per capita Canadians are even worse pigs then the US of course. The reason is simple, look at our climate I mean I live in Toronto and most Torontonians will say that if your central heating is off then your central air condition is on. Canadians have more of a reason then Americans generally when we waste electricity. Americans are just lazy…the joke is that only an American would waste $1.56 worth of gas to get a $1.00 water bottle.

I'm not sure if Canada is exactly respected and looked up to in the world, or rather kindly looked upon as agreeable and innocuous. I mean, other than by Bono and Michael Moore.

I disagree, I have gone to other places in the world and the difference when you show a Canadian passport and an American is stark. Sure most people think of Canada as a country of woods, natural beauty, and when I went to Florida people actually thought we lived in igloos! But everyone knows about the US, and many don’t like what they see.

The Canadian political system lacks a star system which puts their national leaders on a pedestal of glory.

I think that’s a bit too far, we did have Trudeau he was the coolest leader in the world during a time when politics was as stiff as Nixon.

 

I'm not quite understanding you. Why is it that Canadians are allowed to be wasteful? Because we can? That's not a very good rationale... Imagine THAT slippery slope...

Well, one, but that's all. Americans had FDR, Kennedy, Reagan, and Clinton. You know, "superstar" leaders. Canada had Trudeau, but that's it. Canada's had some world renowned leaders like Lester B. Pearson who won a Nobel Peace Prize, but we do so little to immortalize them.

I think it stems from a general Canadian attitude of not caring about our politicians' personalities. Americans are much more concerned about their presidential nominees being likeable, relatable, etc. Canadians seem to want a guy who will do a decent job and not screw up. They don't care about charisma or charm.

I'm sure that's true, but I'm just wondering if that's because Canada is seen as a revered figure, or seen as the nice harmless guy.

 

I'm not quite understanding you. Why is it that Canadians are allowed to be wasteful? Because we can? That's not a very good rationale... Imagine THAT slippery slope...

Its not a slippery slope, Canadians can be wasteful because the only harm we are doing is to ourselves. We have most of the resources we need, we are self-sufficient in most raw materials and we even export them to the US even with our piggish ways. Now does that absolve Canadians from their polluting ways? No, of course not, and unlike in the US Canada has signed on and ratified Kyoto, and we are quickly moving to a green economy, half of the population in Ontario can be traced back in the industrial valley in Ohio. Canada has a large land mass and it take a lot of fuel, and time to get from Newfoundland to Vancouver. It’s more expensive then going to Europe! Such a situation does not exist in the US…

I think it stems from a general Canadian attitude of not caring about our politicians' personalities. Americans are much more concerned about their presidential nominees being likeable, relatable, etc. Canadians seem to want a guy who will do a decent job and not screw up. They don't care about charisma or charm.

That’s a bad thing? I consider that a very good thing about Canadian politics we care more about policy then hair.

I'm sure that's true, but I'm just wondering if that's because Canada is seen as a revered figure, or seen as the nice harmless guy.

A little from column A, a little from column B.