What's the difference between Canadians and Americans?

I've never heard a Canadian say "aboot". Ever.

The only time I've heard that word is from American's mocking us. Kind of funny.
 
haha yeah i know. we don't say "aboot"... people who think we do need to talk to one of us for a while and realize that we don't pronounce words the way you think we do.
 
1. In the past 6 years the Canadian dollar has gained tremendously on the American dollar. It used to be about 1.42 cdn per 1.00 USD. Now it's 1.11.

2. It doesn't cost anything in Canada if, say, you broke your leg. How much would it cost you? Meds are inexpensive, which is why there was all that news about Americans going across the border to pay less for them.

3. The Canadian educational system is ranked 3rd in the world, and has dropped only as low as 5th in recent years. The US's is constantly mired in the mid teens.

4. Between 80% and 90% of the US' population attend some form of upper secondary education. In Canada, the number is betwen 95% and 100%.

I'd say you're the dumb one around here, and I'm sure the Canadians you met in Europe thought so too. Way to make yourself look like a complete jackass...

P.S. WHO should spend more on education again?

350px-WorldMilitarySpending.jpg


Education budget: $50 billion. Almost 9 times as much on the military as on schools... yeah, those are priorities for you.
 
uhhh yeah check out that graph dude. if the money was spent on your health care and schools, maybe you would know a bit more. oh and by the way, our new PM (thats prime minister) is your presidents lapdog. i wish we were socialist.

and yes, i can go ot the hospital for free...get treated for free...and have inexpensive meds. as much as your jealousy tells you that it doesnt work, trust me, im doing fine.
 
The drugs that Canada is selling at lower prices are all drugs invented by US drug companies that have either run out their patent lease or have been reverse engenered. The latter case in more blatent terms means they were stolen.

Im not here to trumpet the moral fortitude of drug companies but undercutting them like Canada continues to do is a recipe for disaster.

The big cost in producing a drug has little to do with its physical production. The true cost in drugs is tied up in their creation.

It has been decades since a Canadian firm decided that it was worth their time and money to develop a new counter agent to cancer or parkinsons. Why? Because it is simply easier to borrow concepts from Amiercian firms spending billions on reserach each year.

If this behavior continues and companies are not rewarded for inovating the inevitable result will be no cure for your dear Aunt Sally.

Oh, and lets not forget that the Japanese, although on a lower scale, they also create drugs. Believe me, if the US firms haulted research, Japanese firms would be all to willing to sell them to us (North Americans) at a PREMIUM price.

Additionally socialized healthcare is a nice idea...but one that doesnt really work. If you want to socialize healthcare then it requires that you socialize schooling, so that those doctors who had to learn a hell of alot more than the rest of us dont become burdened with the extra tuitions. Then to complete the trifecta, it would in turn be neccicary to socialize law practices, as it would be unethical to tag doctors with huge 'Pain and Suffering' bills when they have nothing but a glorified govenrmental handout on which to subsist.

Socializing healthcare is fine for a broken arm, or a bad laceration, but when it comes to curing cancer, defeating aids, or reversing alzheimer's, it takes a certian entrepreneurial 'go-gettem' attitude that is absent in any socialized system. With friends who have cancer, friends who have nerve damage, and friends who have had life threatening injuries, i thank god that they had access to some of the best doctors in the world. Doctors that THEY CHOSE, and doctors who push every day to get better because their businesses reputation rests on it. Sure they want to save lives, they wouldnt be doctors if they didnt, but without any reputational mobility even the inspiration of death can lose its edge.

You can go google me a graph and point to how well the Canadian care system stacks up but talk to any aspiring med student and they'll tell you the best doctors and hospitals are in the US and India.

Usually I agree with you J.D. but on this one I cannot meet your eye.
 
who cares how much money we put into the military with regards to our education system if we have the best education system in the world? a few years ago, some unfortunate events happened and we ended up using our military. makes sense to me.
 
^But you don't have the best education system in the world. In fact it's not even top 10. So what are you talking about?

As for the above post, that is a valid argument in a HUGE debate that spans several different perspectives. For example, from the standpoint of invention and progress of medicine you certainly have a strong leg to stand on there, but if the purpose of a national medical program is to provide the most widely available functional medical service possible, to keep the citizens in the best health possible (without ruining them in the process, if at all possible)... well, you could just as well argue that private health care doesn't work as well. A point of interest... under Fidel, Cuba did almost NOTHING well on a national level. However, their health care system has been first-world level, as in, on a par with the USA and Europe, for years now. There are some pretty strong testimonials out there from experts and health associations to that effect. Pretty good for a bunch of commies! So maybe there's something to be said for socialized medicine yet? I don't know... I see both sides of the argument.
 
I see what you're saying too. I dont have any beef with Canada wanting to have socialized medical care, i just have beef with the enitre Canadian system relying on others for progression in the field. If you dont pay to develop new drugs and treatment, then you should pay the premium price said companies and doctors charge, they did all the work after all.

As i said Canada's heathcare system is fine for little things, but when it comes to serious stuff you hear all the time about Canadians crossing our boarder to pay for our doctors.

An anectdote to further my position. My friend developed cancer when he was only in 8th grade. He was a really active kid who fell on his bike breaking his leg. When they ran the x-ray on his knee the doctors about fell out of their chairs. The reason his leg had broken was because a tumor in his bone marrow had destabilized his enitre leg. In retrospect, the injury was the best thing that could have happened to him, it probably saved his life. So fast-forward 3 years. After an interal prosthesis, 3 resurgances of the cancer, 20 odd surgeries, the second most intense chemo regimine availible, survivial percentages as low as 12%, and the eventual amputation of his leg this kid is very lucky to be alive. If it werent for the doctors down at CHOP (Childrens Hospital of Philidelphia) who are considered to be the finest in the world with childhood cancer, i sure he would be dead.

Socialized systems are okay i guess, and I'm not here to bash Canada, but i can gaurentee you that if he were left to the devices of the Canadian medical system he would have surely died.
 
Our colleges are however the best in the world. If you want to do research, there is not finer place than Harvard. Im not gonna say our public grade schools are stellar...mine was, but thats a different story. We have tons of great private schools to go to, which dont get taken into account in the rankings.

The long and the short of anything in the US is if you want the best you gotta pay.
 
Okay to address your first statment. The U.S. has lost value on the world market on purpose. If you've taken any college level economy class you would know the by decreasing the value of you dollar on the world market increases exporting. This was done but a bunch of smarties in Washington to ry to keep production in the U.S. and discourage moving production to countries like Mexico and China. It was done on purpose, it doesn't have anything to do with the strength of our economy.

Don't even get me styarted on socialized medicine. I've been to a few hospitals in Canada and I'd be affraid to get treated in them. I live in a small town in ID but our hospitals are years ahead of the ones that I've been in Canada that were in similar sized or even larger cities. I don't mind the healthcare system here. I'm glad I don't have to pay a shit ton in taxes just so someone else can benefit from my contribution. In America I think people think more along the lines of people getting what they earn not having to pay for a bunch of dumbass social programs so some one else can take advantage of my hard work.

As far as the military goes I like living in the only super power in the world. I like knowing that tomorrow if the U.S. decided to it could take over Canada and it wouldn't have much problem doing so. All the socialized coutries (ie canada and western europe) in the world have lost their backbone and when shit starts to hit the fan in the next few years, just like in WW2 the U.S. will be all alone trying to keep things in order.

Oh yeah and I didn't just get my ideas of Canadians for my trip to Europe, I go to Canada three or four time a year and I've met tons of Canadians in my lifetime. The four Americans I was traveling with, along with many of the Americans we met on our travels, made comments about the Canadians all seeming like bunch of dumbasses over there. I even had some New Zealanders say the same thing. You can use your little statistics to try to prove your points but in real life situations Canadians just don't seem too bright.
 
that is wrong, the best schools are in the United Kingdom ( Britain). Oxford is the highest ranked university in the world. the idea that the united states has the best universitys in the world comes from different forms of propaganda from the colleges them selves. There is no real accurate way to know which one is better, all schools have their own specialities. Some have better law programs, medical programs, etc. It all depends on what field you want to go in, you just need to do some search and find what school is best.
 
hahaha i love how you say...you and your stupid statistics, who need proof when i have my assumptions. Dude your a moron. In which way are canadians not too bright, in the way we created the idea of Peacekeeping, in the way we created New School skiing, the Avro Aero 9 (a jet fighter more advanced then the F-18 created in the 1950s), the Pratt and Whitney Canada company ( the largest supplyer for private jet aircraft, our large advances in cancer/aids/Multiple Sclocosis research, ETC.

The list could keep going on and on. You have no idea of our advances in every part of your life.I think your the idiot who did not do any research on the subject. You know when you come to canada you think your soo smart, but maybe your the ignorant moron. How about we keep canada rocking and keep people like you from entering our country. Normaly i don't a agree with JD, but man props for you rocking it this time.
 
Man, you really have no idea what you are talking about. One of my friends had the same deal. got cancer, it spread everywhere, soo many surgeries to remove it, he thought he was going to die, doctors didnt like his chances either, the doctors did what they had to do and now he has a clean bill of health. That was in the Canadian system. Just a heads up, i know its Micheal Moore n all but his next movie is about how screwed up the american health care system is. Ever think about how many Americans get screwed over because they cant afford health care?
 
Ohh im also reminded how this past winter there was a flu shot shortage in the US and people were coming to Canada to get them because they were short in the states. We were also supplying the United States with some by sending the shot down to the US. Yeahh that crisis was big enough that it was on all the major tv news stations in the US.
 
That was just a big media feeding frenzy. No one reallt fucking cared here. The U.S. doesn't need shit from Canada.
 
Okay Canadians if your country is soo badass as you all claim then just answer this one simple question: why isn't Canada anywhere near the economic or military power that the U.S. is when you have virtually the same rescources that we do.
 
I think on a political level, that is to say, one focussed on equal treatment for all citizens, it's a fair point to say that while your friend may have died in a Canadian hospital (who can say, he may have died in another American hospital too, or he might have lived no matter where he was), but Lazyguy's friend would have received the same treatment regardless of how wealthy he was. I think Telestar's comments illustrate the underlying "Bunch of selfish assholes" mentality underlying private health care... "I don't want other people getting well off my hard work." It's their lives, jerk off, if you're actually pissed off that 12% of your annual income goes to saving people from DEATH, well, there isn't much to redeem you. If someone told me, "Hey we're taking ten grand from your earnings this year, but as a result this kid gets to live", I'd be more than happy with that explanation... and in reality, those tax dollars do a lot more than saving one kid. So I'm happy with the system even if the facilities could stand an overhaul... they're not "years behind" by any means, whatever certain people believe, but they're not cutting edge either. It's a government priority, and I think it's something that can actually be worked out with consistent effort. As a bonus, I don't have to pay ridiculous sums every time I get a minor injury or an illness of some sort, I can just walk down to the clinic and get it dealt with, which is great, considering I'm almost definitely going to hurt myself somehow / get sick once in a while, whereas I'm extremely unlikely to develop brain cancer. A few grand a year is a small price to pay for that kind of peace of mind.

As for the secondary education comment. No, taking ALL education barring post-secondary into account, the US is not top 10 in the world. This holds true until you graduate high school.

As for universities, yes, Harvard is #1 in the world every year. In fact, most of the top 10 schools are American (Oxford and Cambridge are in there too). However, how many people get to attend Harvard? UBC, the biggest university on the west coast of Canada, and U of T, the biggest out east, are ranked favourably to a lot of good schools around the world, well ahead of Brown, Zurich, Maryland, and Manchester. U of T gets a higher billing than NYU! In fact, the only countries with better universities are the US, the UK, and Japan. So Canada isn't falling too far behind in that regard... meanwhile, while U of T is ranked 23rd and UBC 36th, the highest ranked State U, Ohio State, is 64th, followed by Michigan State, which is in the 80s. I'm going to the 36th best school on earth and paying under $5000 per year Canadian for the privilege... that doesn't seem too bad to me. So, unless you have tons of cash, there's not much to choose between Canadian and American universities, and if you DO have tons of cash, well, it doesn't matter much whether you're Canadian or American; you can go wherever you want. Meanwhile, the government up here is doing a better job of getting kids in a position to ATTEND these secondary institutions, so that entry therein depends more on having half a brain than on Daddy's checkbook.
 
1. Younger country. You guys got started first, and when building up economic empires, it helps to keep the other guys from catching up.

2. We don't WANT to be a military power; that is, apparently, how one gets planes flown into one's buildings. That's a bigger argument, of course, diplomacy and peacekeeping and militaristic world views... save it for poli 220, I don't even want to start on that.

3. The entire population of Canada is roughly 10% of the US's. Spread that many people over that large an area, and see how hard it is to develop resources. This country is the second largest land mass in the world, and our population is about 30% larger than the state of New York. Do the math.

Here's a question for you in response: Why isn't the US's quality of living standard as high as Canada's (or Switzerland's, for that matter,) given that it's such a great economic and military power with the strength and influence it has?

Follow up question: on the same note, which is more important, economic and military strength, or quality of life?
 
Problem is, socialized healthcare has made it so the Canadian waiting lists for medical care are among the longest in the world (http://www.namyth.com/SocialismWORKS!/index.php?sw=Canada#efficient_home ,http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/qual/acces/wait-attente/index_e.html). The US, on the other hand, has the shortest waiting lines. If I have cancer, I'd rather take out some loans, max out some credit cards, and fork over a bunch of money for fast treatment than die waiting in line for cheap cancer treatment.

I'll admit, the American healthcare system has some serious problems. Like American social security, it needs drastic reworking. But being a fair person, I like a system in which you get out of society what you put into society. If you're going to get the same out of society no matter how much you put in, what's the point of working at all? Maybe I'm just being cynical, but it seems illogical to me.
 
The problem is that it has nothing to do with fairness. Sure, if you get the same regardless of what you put in, no one would work. That's why communism fails. However, we're not talking about that here, Canada is a capitalist democratic nation (more democratic than the US, if you want to get picky). The perspective here is that certain things, like education and health care, should be provided to everyone regardless of standing in society.

How is it fair that a person whose parents' parents were rich has a better chance of living through a grievous injury or a debilitating illness than a lower-middle-class child whose dad works at the DMV? Why should Paris Hilton have access to better health care than you do? Do you really think that it's fair, that she deserves a better chance at living?

Yeah, our waiting lines are terrible. It's something that needs to be worked on, and it's a big priority up here for reform.

Strange that, as I noted earlier, Canadians' life expectancy is significantly better than Americans'.
 
I beg to differ. You honestly expect that colonists who were hard pressed for money already to pay the taxes the crown placed on them? Those taxes were a way for the British to fix their problems at the expense of the colonists. We basically told them to stop and then we stopped listening and they essentially came after us. We never brought the war to them, we fought the soldiers who tried to occupy and screw over the colonies. Thats just what I remember from American History, if I got something wrong oh fuckin well, the bottom line remains they brought the troops to us first and we never occupied their homeland. We just got sick of their bullshit.

Now on Canada. Like I said, I've been there, they think the same way we do. Their people have the same varied opinions on the war that we do. The actions of the nation absolutly do not reflect the views of the country as a whole. Rather they only reflect those of a small percentage of decision makers who are under the influence of outside factors not known to those who elected them. Flame away.
 
I think that is a respectable coment. Canada was not formed my any peacefull means. It was colonised by the french, then taken over by the british. When this happened the french were either slaughtered, or sent to the British territories in the united states ( New Orleans, Louisiana....etc). Those who did stay were treated like shit for hundreds of years.

Now when the french did colonise the country ( i know it is a little of topic) they did kill, and take advantage of the Natives of the land. To be fair, we did not go to war with them, and almost bring them to edge dissapearing like the united states did.

Now after the british did take over canada, we went to war with the american colonists. Not to mention the Civil war witht the french Metis Louis Riel. And no matter what anybody in canada says, our first prime minister was a Royalist, racest, piece of shit......even if he did found our country.
 
I honestly just like getting on here and stirring up trouble. Half the things I say I don't honestly believe I just like to get people pissed off. I'm so tired of the Canada vs U.S. threads. They are two very different countries that are difficult to compare. They both have their strengths and thei weaknesses. Personally I'd never live in Canada. I couldn't stand to have to the goverment take 20% or whatever you guys pay in taxes every year to fund social welfare programs. That's just the way I was brought up. I believe you get what you earn and you shouldn't need any help from the goevernment. I've always felt very strongly about free will and I think you make you own choices as to how you live your life and my neighbor shouldn't have to jump in and help me out when things don't go my way. But I'm sure most of you Canadians think that sounds really selfish because that is how you were brought up. You values focus more on society as a whole, though you're still a western culture, and believe that social welfare programs are important and beneficial to everyone. We all have different view and values that we have been brought up under.
 
americans wear their uniforms to go to things like Price is Right and Good Morning America.... Full on camo sometimes. Wtf is up with that? I know you're proud, but buffing up your medals to watch Plinko is a bit much, no?
 
^We respect our men in uniform so when they aren't out there fighting they still wear their unis so people will show respect.
 
but still, I'm sure you would still get respect without wearing a sailor cap and gloves on contestants row. I guess they're really, really proud.
 
Socialism is a fucking joke. Socialists are among the most undemocratic people in the world. Don't believe me? Check out how Hugo Chavez is putting in motion a permanent Socialist yoke over the Venezuelan people and how he is trying to bring the rest of Latin American down into the socialist cesspool with him. You may say your canadian socialist health care works but I wonder how many canadians really want to put all that work into becoming doctors when they do not earn shit. The long lines for service in the Canadian health care system are caused because no one want to put in the work to become a doctor anymore and many of the current doctors are leaving to try to find better, more fair, opportunities elsewhere. Sweden has a fucked system as well since a good percentage of people immigrating out of Sweden are the valuable medical professionals of their society. On the whole America cannot be compared to Canada at all. You can put up all your misleading statistics but in the end canadians have far less challenges to face both in the military policy as well as the education and health care systems because of the population difference and also because Canada does not have to deal with minority populations and massive influxes of immigrants the way the United States does (before you get off on how I am racist know first that I am hispanic). So before you get off on percentages remember the numbers. Also do you really think you fools could even have the luxury of deeming yourselves a pacifist nation if it weren't for countries like the United States that actually take action?
 
I'm sorry, what?

That might have been the most ignorant comment in this whole thread.

We don't have to deal with large minority populations?

You're... you're serious.
 
The US is one fo the richest countries... IF, you dont cound how much in debt to other countries they are... canada's healthcare is alot better, and we have better wood than americans.. haha
 
that is bullshit to the highest level....it is something that the boys in the armed forces call The LGF ( look good factor). If you wear your uniform more people will notice you, and alot of chicks dig girls in uniform. Has nothing to do with the respect thing dude.
 
No freaking way dood. Oregon makes the best beer in North America period, maybe the world. There are so many good micro brews coming out of that sate right now it's uncanny. My personal favorite right now is the Bridgeport Supris. IT's so damn good, tastes a lot like Some German beers. Canada's beer ain't that great, though Nelson Brewing makes some good stuff.
 
You know, the beer thing is a real toss-up. I think if you took the best beers from both countries and compared them there wouldn't be much to choose between them, and Europe would kick the crap out of both countries. Generally speaking, beer is better here, and cheaper down there, but if you want really good beer you can find it produced almost anywhere.
 
yeah, ok. but how many drug abusers, people living beneath the poverty level and sick people are there compared to how much money is in the country?
 
Actually us Canadians have HUGE accents. The only people that don't have an accent are the english. We cut corners on our words. We often dont pronounce a T in the middle of a word. ex. We say Tor-on-o Instead of Tor-on-To. Trust
 
dude...fuck you, from your own talk you don't even know your own traditions. Your such a fucktard...... everything you say stinks of bullshit. You said it your self, your just saying shit on here to piss off people on here, so go fuck your mom.
 
^ Fuck off. You don't know shit about our military. I know it's hard for you to believe but we actually respect our military. Go hump a mounty.
 
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