How is Canada Perceived From Where You sit?

[bilbous]

Underpopulated?  That's a term I've never quite understood.  Why is having a larger population always a good thing?

It was meant to be a neutral descriptive term. Lets look at a comparison  chart .^w
As you can see Canada comes in at 3.2 people per kilometer squared, 219th out of 230 listed. It is also about the same size of all 11 countries with less population density combined. Many of these countries are substantially desert or have other extreme habitational challenges. Certainly a large part of Canada is above the tree line but there is also vast areas below that which are quite livable, perhaps challenging but no worse than Finland which has five times the density. Russia which is twice the size of Canada and covers much the same lattitudes has almost three times the density.  Canada has roughly the same density of Siberia^w, which is not geographically as I had envisioned it, being more or less the middle part of Russia. I had always thought it was the extreme northern part of Russia but although some of it is in the extreme north some is also among the more southerly parts of Russia.

[lordraleigh]

Two words: Welfare State

Besides that, mostly as a very liberal country(the "Holland" of this continent) where alternative lifestyles aren't restricted by excess of misjudgements and conservatism.

Well and that is all... Here Canada is rarely mentioned.

And also the only other thing I got about it is from the South Park movie with the music "Blame Canada" and Terrence & Philip(I won't say more because it will be both a spoiler and a load of coarse language. It is difficult to talk about South Park without using certain kinds of words  )

[Helm]

This is why I am grateful for our curriculum in our public schools here in Alberta. We learn about the USA, China, Japan, Middle east, and tons more.

Oops, I think i did not explain myself very well. We actually talk a little bit about the whole world in the classes. One of the greatest assets of our Geography studies, is that 10 years afterwards, we are still able to quickly find any country on a map. Ok ok, maybe if you ask something like Tazarquistan we won't find it that quickly... 

The only problem is that in detail we cover only the area I reffered. I can tell you who participated in the 100 years war, who was the liberator of Venezuela, what is Tokugawa, and which families rulled over Prussia. But countries to which we do not have an historical or geographical strong relationship, are left a little bit behind. This includes Canada, New Zeland, most of the arab countries, Corea, etc etc.

Besides, I was in an art school. When I said I did not know that much about Germany or Finland, I meant social and political history. I can telll you all the wonders of the art movements of Germany from the 15th to the 21st century... It's just... well... Canada needs to start an avant guard art movement too!!!!!!!

We do have a nice curriculum in school too. But the key question is: "has the country/ culture been important in our development"?

[Akaye]

Two words: Welfare State

Can you explain what you mean by Welfare State? Do you mean Canada is a welfare state? If so why are you left with that impression?

[lordraleigh]

Two words: Welfare State

Can you explain what you mean by Welfare State? Do you mean Canada is a welfare state? If so why are you left with that impression?

Vitalicious unemployment insurance from the government, last thing I heard about Canada... (Few guys simply live with the "insurance" and never work, but this is not a neoliberal rant, a somewhat acceptable side effect). Here information on Canada is very limited... if not old, so I can imagine by that thing Canada follows the economics of Keynes.

[bilbous]

Well there is welfare in Canada, the maximum monthly paymen for a single person is a little over $600, pretty hard to live on. Unemployment is a government taxation scam which is supposed to cover workers temporarily out of work. That payout is something like 2/3 of your last wage but you need to have worked for a minimum number of week in order to collect. There is a monthly deduction taken from all workers many of whom will never be in a position to collect and some of whom would be ineligible to collect even if they lost their jobs. It has been tweeked over the years to become a cash cow for the government taking in far more in payroll deductions than ever get payed out to the unemployed. The excess cash goes into general revenue. I think there are few if any countries in the western (read developed) world which have no system of providing for the poor.

[Holdan]

Lol, Canada...


*Pats the Canadians on the head.*

I perceive Canada as the home of funny comedians... in short I don't mind Canada, they have supported the united states, and for that they have earned some reconition(sp?)

Mainly though, it is the out spoken Canadian Scalywags who bash the states that make me sour aginst their nation of the north. But I have many Canadians friends, so they're cool with me... so long as they don't annoy me with their patriotism and nationalism...


Edit: btw, Hippies burn with the witches... Muhahahaha

[iceddragons]

What Canada is to me:

North
Easy to get into.
Easy to get lost in.
Hard to get out of.
Where Toronto is

[Akaye]

Thanks for clarifying lordraleigh. What bilbous posted is how it works. Some do manage to find loop holes in the unemployment benefits and make false claims but that only lasts a short period of time before they catch you. You don't get away with it either, they make you pay back what your borrowed. When you do your taxes, if you owe unemployment insurance then it comes off your tax return.

[zanzibar]

Can you explain what you mean by Welfare State? Do you mean Canada is a welfare state? If so why are you left with that impression?

It means that the Canadian government takes measures to ensure that all citizens are living at at least a certain basic standard of living.

@Bilbous's response, welfare is much less of a burden on society than say... corporate tax cuts or pollution.

I perceive Canada as the home of funny comedians... in short I don't mind Canada, they have supported the united states, and for that they have earned some reconition(sp?)

Canada has earned more recognition for its differences between itself and the United States.  Canada is pro gay marriage, anti the Iraq war, pro Kyoto, pro peace keeping, pro the decriminalization of marijuana, pro public education, pro public healthcare, pro gun control etc.

Mainly though, it is the out spoken Canadian Scalywags who bash the states that make me sour aginst their nation of the north. But I have many Canadians friends, so they're cool with me... so long as they don't annoy me with their patriotism and nationalism...

Don't forget how everything is bigger in Texas.

[bilbous]

It means that the Canadian government takes measures to ensure that all citizens are living at at least a certain basic standard of living.

@Bilbous's response, welfare is much less of a burden on society than say... corporate tax cuts or pollution.

Say what now? Oh wait,  you are offering that as a response to what I said and not a restatement of what I said, right? Pardon my misunderstanding. Please try to give preference to clarity over brevity. I'm a little slow sometimes. I was thrown by the comma and would have understood better with a colon. I am not certain which would have been more grammatically correct.

All I was trying to do was give a short description of what could be termed our welfare system. I touched on social services (welfare program) and the unemployment program, separate aspects for you who are from elsewhere. The welfare programs are administered municipally under the direction of the provincial governments and the unemployment programs are adminstered federally. I certainly did not try to give a complete picture of Canadian society.

As far as the relative merits of your examples I choose not to go into that right now but please continue if you wish.

[zanzibar]

I'm sorry, but weren't you trying to suggest that unemployment insurance is a government scam?

[bilbous]

Isn't it really? They keep raising the payroll deductions and making it harder it harder to qualify which generates huge surpluses which they suck into general revenues. They spend, for example, 2 billion dollars for a gun registry with a projected 2 million dollar cost, setting up private trusts worth 9 billion dollars and with no government oversight. Of course not all the misspent money comes from unemployment 'premiums' but then you have to look at the qualifying regulations that seasonal workers on either coast to work four months of the year and collect unemployment the rest of the year, while the worker in Ontario has to work for twice as long to qualify and gets cut off much sooner. It really isn't an insurance program it is just another payroll tax. It is far from what it was touted to be when it was brought in. It is all very legal but that does not mean that it isn't portayed deceptively.

It was designed to help all Canadians in need when it was started but has become little more than a way to transfer wealth from the richer provinces to the poorer ones.

After you have been lied to by the politicians for 30-odd years you will probably lose some of your idealism.
Canada is no different from anywhere else in that respect.

[zanzibar]

It was designed to help all Canadians in need when it was started but has become little more than a way to transfer wealth from the richer provinces to the poorer ones.

Dude.  Reread that a few times.

[bilbous]

Makes perfect sense to me. Perhaps you could tell me what I am supposed to see in it.

Please reread this a few times:

Please try to give preference to clarity over brevity.