Off-Topic Oh, Canada! - A place to post about Timbits, hockey, moose, and maple syrup.

[Samson Pumpkin Jr.]

$45,000 citation needed, pulling numbers out your ass doesn't help you

Famously long wait times

Medical tourism when people can't wait for life saving procedures

Girl dies waiting for marrow transplant, despite matching donor being ready, due to surgery wait list

Woman Goes to Cayman Islands, and pays 18K to get immediate hip replacement surgery after getting fed up with years on the CA wait list

Not sure what your point was here

America has famously expensive hellcare. presenting anecdotal evidence is wrongn

 

[CwChalk]

Calm down, we don't want Canada that bad, the last thing we need is to add the people who elected Trudeau to our voter population.

Anyone sick of that shit in Canada is welcome to flee south, though.

To be honest, Trudeau is an improvement over our last prime minister. Harper sat in his office making pointless plans to make money when taxes were already doing that for him. Harper only showed his face in public whenever he absolutely needed to, not great leader qualities. I'd hate to see what Harper would have done during the covid pandemic. Probably nothing not too different than what Trump is doing while Americans die in droves before implementing any safeguards.

*Covid-19 makes it to North America*
"Trudeau immediately put measures in place, offers benefits to those down on their luck due to the crisis*
*Trump prays for a miracle, advises those afflicted to inject Lysol into their bodies*... At least he started helping situation when it couldnt be ignored anymore.

I don't blame americans for Trump, that him and Hillary Clinton were the final candidates indicates something unhealthy with the whole process. I get tired of hearing the same archaic liberal, republican, democrat, conservative bullshit. I know early Canadian politicians were against the party system, weren't America's founding fathers the same way? Governance is largely grey area, adhering to one agenda means you're alienating the others. Never understood why it hasn't been abolished so the people can nominate the best person for the job... I don't why I just wrote at all that, it's weird that we follow these old ideals when both societies have changed significantly since then

 

[CKC]

If there's anything I've ever learnt about this country, it's that Quebecois are the most rancid and ungrateful form of Canadian. Ottawa had to force all pubs to shut at 12 since Gatineau drunks would hop over to Ottawa, as the pubs shut down at 2AM instead of 12, causing all sorts of holdups for actual Ontarians.

Ontario had to move last call to 0200 because of the frogs. Piles of dickheads in the Ottawa area would go over the rover and drink to 0300. Moving last call to 0200 stopped most of the drunk driving.

 

[Bad Take Crucifier]

I doubt very much anyone would want to go to a country where you have to pay 45k for a broken arm.

presenting anecdotal evidence is wrongn

"Who would want to go to the US? Wait what do you mean THESE PEOPLE WOULD DO JUST THAT?! You can't say that, nope, doesn't count"

EDIT:

Probably nothing not too different than what Trump is doing while Americans die in droves before implementing any safeguards.

To be fair, when the Center for Disease Control and the Surgeon General announced in February that COVID-19 was serious, the media here smugly spent the next couple of months saying COVID was just like the flu, and no one needed to do anything different. Then they back pedaled super hard when people started dying and blamed Trump for literally what they did.

It's definitely a giant douche vs turd sandwich situation.

 

[discombobulate]

You have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to international trade, the Nords and even Australia have the same type of welfare state we do without having any proximity to America. And with the advent of modernity "being close" to another country really doesn't factor into anything other than marginally increased shipping costs. So no, Canada doesn't rely on America for its welfare state. And as if we import anything important from America anyways, our manufacturing has been shipped off to other countries so if there was anything important we were importing from America it has long since been passed over to the third world and China.

I'm amazed at how sure you are because you're also very wrong. The US is the top exporter to Canada - 51% of Canada's imports by value are from the US. This doesn't even count all cross-border shopping, which is very common. Canadian manufacturing also isn't in significant decline - 2011 was the peak year for output and the 2000s and 2010s have seen higher output than ever before; no year before 2000 is higher than any year after 2000. 2020 could end up being an outlier but it isn't because of a decline. The only thing in decline is manufacturing output as a share of GDP, which isn't much of a decline since it's entirely due to the entire economy being larger.

Edit: I just found this out now, but Canada has a TRADE SURPLUS with America, meaning, in the most literal sense, Canada doesn't rely as much on America as America does on Canada
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That does not mean what you think it means. For one thing, trade surplus is a retarded way to look at something when you ignore that it also means a current account deficit, i.e. Canadians are investing more in the USD than Americans are in CAD. Your implication on the volume is correct in an absolute sense but cannot be extended where you think in any nuanced sense. First, the US does not "rely" on Canada. The US has the lowest import penetration of all modern economies and the highest self-sufficiency by far of modern economies. The only other countries at all with trade as a % of GDP as low as the US (27%) are Cuba and South Sudan, both of which don't see much trade at all. The world average is 59% and Canada's is 65%. Fucking amazing, really, when you remember that 51% of all imports to Canada (one side of trade) are from the US. Exports to the US are 75% of Canada's total exports. Taking the average for the rough amount of how much trade is with the US overall (63%) means that around 41% of Canadian GDP is reliant on US trade, which doesn't even count the service sectors, tourism, or investments. By contrast, US exports to Canada are only 18% of US exports and Canadian imports are only 13%, making Canadian trade only 4.2% of US GDP.

I have no idea what you mean by that. If you're talking about the economy then you have no idea what you're talking about because you're economically illiterate. It's hard not to look down on Americans if this is the best you've got

 

[Samson Pumpkin Jr.]

I'm amazed at how sure you are because you're also very wrong. The US is the top exporter to Canada - 51% of Canada's imports by value are from the US. This doesn't even count all cross-border shopping, which is very common. Canadian manufacturing also isn't in significant decline - 2011 was the peak year for output and the 2000s and 2010s have seen higher output than ever before; no year before 2000 is higher than any year after 2000. 2020 could end up being an outlier but it isn't because of a decline. The only thing in decline is manufacturing output as a share of GDP, which isn't much of a decline since it's entirely due to the entire economy being larger.

You need to look at the bigger picture, of course manufacturing is going to be relatively stable in these years because there's nothing left to export to China. The decline in Canadian industry started in 1984 with Brian Mulroney, looking at the 2000s is meaningless because the economy has totally transitioned since then.

There is a difference between just trading with another country and being reliant on them. If the United States put an embargo on Canada then the economy would crash, however the country would recover in due time because Canada isn't inherently reliant on America.

That does not mean what you think it means. For one thing, trade surplus is a retarded way to look at something when you ignore that it also means a current account deficit, i.e. Canadians are investing more in the USD than Americans are in CAD. Your implication on the volume is correct in an absolute sense but cannot be extended where you think in any nuanced sense. First, the US does not "rely" on Canada. The US has the lowest import penetration of all modern economies and the highest self-sufficiency by far of modern economies. The only other countries at all with trade as a % of GDP as low as the US (27%) are Cuba and South Sudan, both of which don't see much trade at all. The world average is 59% and Canada's is 65%. Fucking amazing, really, when you remember that 51% of all imports to Canada (one side of trade) are from the US. Exports to the US are 75% of Canada's total exports. Taking the average for the rough amount of how much trade is with the US overall (63%) means that around 41% of Canadian GDP is reliant on US trade, which doesn't even count the service sectors, tourism, or investments. By contrast, US exports to Canada are only 18% of US exports and Canadian imports are only 13%, making Canadian trade only 4.2% of US GDP.

I don't if you know what a trade deficit is and why it's important. The US has a massive trade deficit with China but the US isn't paying China with money directly, they are paying the trade deficit with productive wealth (i.e. land, debt, stocks, and other various things). As a proportion Canada owns more productive wealth in the US than the US does Canada. I understand that this doesn't necessarily make the US reliant on Canada, however it is a bargaining chip. Smart Americans want to reduce the trade deficit with China because they know that China could come to the table one day and threaten to do serious damage to American companies.

41% of Canadian GDP being reliant on America isn't particularly relevant when you consider how much of the economy is just smoke and mirrors. How much of that is real and how much is fake? the numbers are so inflated that you may as well not even take them into consideration. And once again, this whole "reliance" thing isn't real, the US isn't reliant on any country in practical terms and neither is Canada.

 

[Homer Simpson]

Nice, this is really about how you have rampant fear of being cucked by America because your culture might be too weak.

Americas culture bends a knee to china for money. What's that say about americas cultural might?

 

[Bad Take Crucifier]

Americas culture bends a knee to china for money. What's that say about americas cultural might?

Half the world's government's are in the pocket of China right now for their cheap CCP slave labor, not sure if you noticed.

But if anything, it's a testament to how leftist ideology that incentivized closing plants in America, and outsourcing everything to China, was the wrong choice.

 

[muh_moobs]

Canadians were among the best soldiers in WW1, the majority of ANZAKs fought in Gallipoli where they weren't of much use to the wider war. It was only much later in the war when Australians made it to the western front, but by then the war was practically over. Read literally anything about Canadians in WW1 and you will see that they were the best. If the quote by the prime minister of the UK, Lloyd George, doesn't do it for you I don't know what will
View attachment 1445813

Being the first across no man's land and meat shields for more valued units doesn't make you the best. It makes you expendable. Lapping up false praise from the government that exploited you to ensure it's own citizens came home is pure cope.

While that is true, foreign troops are praised more than any others, Canadians have more merit to the claim than any other. During the 100 days offensive the CEF (Canadian expeditionary force) were put on the front lines the most, leading the way. The CEF took 45k casualties during that time which was quite a lot considering the small number of total CEF men. They wouldn't have been put on the front lines if they weren't really special compared to other divisions.
And while writing this there was another salient point that i was going to mention but I forgot, i'll come back when I remember it.

There's probably a good reason why a lot of these colonial troops were praised. Military theorists, notably Douglas Haig, at the time thought that the best soldiers were farmers because they had been taught from a young age to follow orders and are physically tough. In the colonies most people were farmers and lived rural lives compared to their more developed motherlands. This could explain why those men were praised more

also, 16 Germans were impaled by Hindu lancers at the battle of the Somme, imagine being a German looking out of your trench and seeing a bloody cavalry charge over no man's land. Stalin watched cowboy movies with Nikita Khrushchev

No, dummy. The purpose was twofold, and neither is because colonists make good fighters.

1. Send colonists to front lines. Proper citizens get held back and survive while expendable colonials die for the mother state.

2. The more colonists that die, the weaker the colony becomes, preventing uprisings or independence.

Cope harder, pussy. Canadians were sent to the front lines because the English officers viewed them an a commodity and less than people.

This is an idea from the book Lament For A Nation by George Grant, it goes as follows
"1. The modern world evolves inexorably towards the "universal and homogeneous state," which renders local cultures redundant.
2. Canada is a local culture situated right next to the very heart of modernity, the United States.
3. Canadians think of modernity as a good thing therefore,
4. Canada, even understood by its own citizens, is redundant."

If this is true then how come Canada hasn't been consumed already?

Because Canada is an effective proxy for America. When the US wouldn't negotiate with the Viet Cong, who did it for them? Canada. When the US "wouldn't negotiate with terrorists" and talk to the Taliban, who did it for them? Canada. What country has always been the intermediary in talking to Iran? Canada.

And when it comes to the UN, keeping Canada around is like having a retarded child that's old enough to vote. We basically give the US two votes on all issues.

Sure, but this doesn't make Canada dependent on America. Eastern Europe is experiencing a brain drain but those countries aren't particularly reliant on western Europe. This point just strengthens the protectionist position (I don't know if you're for or against protectionism but I believe free trade has done more harm to Canada than immigration), if Canada brought back base industries then the brain drain would stop. This whole topic was covered extensively in the book the vanishing country, but to sum it up, Canadian lawyers and engineers are leaving Canada because there's nothing for them in Canada, but if we brought back the head offices of these companies then the people working in America would come back.

No they wouldn't. Are you on drugs? People go the US because the pay is better (it always will be), cost of living is lower (it always will be) taxes are lower (they always will be) and there's better opportunity for their children (always will be). We rely on America to send people to fill the gaps created by the brain drain. The shitty refugees we bring in certainly won't, and we don't have a high enough birth rate to do it ourselves, unlike eastern Europe.

International trade is supposed to be fair, so when a country puts forward policies to further their own economic interests the United Nations throws a fit. America was mad because we weren't playing fair by "the laws of international trade" that were dictated by the UN. But I am in favour of the dairy cartels and other government subsidies if it means that Canadian industry survives, and if that means cutting off trade relations with the US then so be it

The central planning of the Canadian economy is what drives up the cost of living for Canadians. In all areas. Central planning fixes prices so Canadians have to pay more for goods, and simultaneously increases taxes in order to compensate all of the superfluous government bureaucrats that are employed by these Byzantine practices.

But at the same time I'm glad that Canadians think about America the way they do because it means that they will reject union with the states and Canada lives to see another day. Hopefully Canada becomes like Austria and we develop a totally different history and culture while still speaking the same language as our bigger neighbour.

When's that gonna begin? Because currently, Canadians drive American cars while listening to American music and driving to theaters to watch American films, or driving to American stores to buy American goods. At home, Canadians watch American programming on American channels while using American or Chinese devices to access American content on American websites and speaking American English.

Sure sounds like we've got our own culture to me!

Canada isn't a socialist country, socialism means that the workers (the state) owns the means of production, Canada is an interventionist country meaning that the government has a hand in the economy but they don't directly manipulate it like more authoritarian governments. The closest economy to Canada is France.

lol WHAT?

Socialism is anytime you have central planning.
The practice of Supply Chain Management in Dairy and Poultry is central planning.
The CRTC regulating how many cellular service providers are active in Canada and the MINIMUM charges for service is central planning.
THE CRTC mandating minimum levels of "Canadian Content" on radio and television is central planning.
The CRTC regulating how many news papers operate in Canada is central planning.
The Federal government distributing funding to the media as long as the publish enough propaganda is central planning.
The existence of the CBC is central planning.
The National Energy Board, which regulates what times of energy Canada produces and what infrastructure is built where, is central planning.
The National Wheat Board, the supply chain management of agriculture, is central planning.

That's sure a lot of socialism going on for a country that's not socialist.

 

[Homer Simpson]

Half the world's government's are in the pocket of China right now for their cheap CCP slave labor, not sure if you noticed.

But if anything, it's a testament to how leftist ideology that incentivized closing plants in America, and outsourcing everything to China, was the wrong choice.

But we're not talking about work or governments. We're talking about culture. Your guys export is your culture. Movies, music, art, internet, and things like that. All those companies do their best to not upset papa china. Companies like disney altering characters and storylines to appease china, game companies censoring unfavourable speech towards china, the tech industry like sony and apple censoring stuff about the hobg kong protests to continue working with chinas cheap labour. Your entire culture bends a knee to china. Not just your government, but everything.

 

[muh_moobs]

But we're not talking about work or governments. We're talking about culture. Your guys export is your culture. Movies, music, art, internet, and things like that. All those companies do their best to not upset papa china. Companies like disney altering characters and storylines to appease china, game companies censoring unfavourable speech towards china, the tech industry like sony and apple censoring stuff about the hobg kong protests to continue working with chinas cheap labour. Your entire culture bends a knee to china. Not just your government, but everything.

And the Canadian education system teaches children that China isn't a Communist Dictatorship but rather a Socialist Democracy. Had that argument with at least one teach each year I was in school after grade 6.

I wouldn't throw stones about bending over for China when you live in a glass house.

 

[Bad Take Crucifier]

But we're not talking about work or governments. ...Companies like disney altering characters and storylines to appease china, game companies censoring unfavourable speech towards china, the tech industry like sony and apple censoring stuff about the hobg kong protests to continue working with chinas cheap labour. Your entire culture bends a knee to china. Not just your government, but everything.

You said you're "not talking about work" and then literally proceeded to list a bunch of mega-corporations. lmao way to contradict yourself. And they have been repeatedly criticized by Americans for their actions.

The only groups who do what you're saying are the far left (who've been taught criticism=racism), and corporation who stand to make literal billions. Not real people. So your point is...?

 

[muh_moobs]

You said you're "not talking about work" and then literally proceeded to list a bunch of mega-corporations. lmao way to contradict yourself. And they have been repeatedly criticized by Americans for their actions.

The only groups who do what you're saying are the far left (who've been taught criticism=racism), and corporation who stand to make literal billions. Not real people. So your point is...?

Canadian Brain Drain in action. You'll have to excuse him.

@BadTakeCrucifier you may want to re-read my previous post. Added a bunch to it.

 

[muh_moobs]

Calm down, we don't want Canada that bad, the last thing we need is to add the people who elected Trudeau to our voter population.

Anyone sick of that shit in Canada is welcome to flee south, though.

Take Alberta though! Please?

 

[Homer Simpson]

You said you're "not talking about work" and then literally proceeded to list a bunch of mega-corporations. lmao way to contradict yourself. And they have been repeatedly criticized by Americans for their actions.

The only groups who do what you're saying are the far left (who've been taught criticism=racism), and corporation who stand to make literal billions. Not real people. So your point is...?

It's not the the work, it's the product. I can't believe I actually had to tell you that...

And it's not "leftists". It's every american corporation thst exports any products.

And the Canadian education system teaches children that China isn't a Communist Dictatorship but rather a Socialist Democracy. Had that argument with at least one teach each year I was in school after grade 6.

I wouldn't throw stones about bending over for China when you live in a glass house.

This just reminds me of the guy who told me "this is what you were taught in school" and I had never heard any of it. I was told it was a Communist rule in china. Dunno why your school taught you different.

 

[Bad Take Crucifier]

It's not the the work, it's the product. I can't believe I actually had to tell you that...

And it's not "leftists". It's every american corporation thst exports any products.

So then still not real people? Just the top mega corporations, like Disney, Apple, etc. like you said? Who are already known to be shady because they stand to make billions?

Good job, I mean really, because billionaires doing what makes them money is TOTALLY representative of the thoughts and feelings of average citizens.

@BadTakeCrucifier you may want to re-read my previous post. Added a bunch to it.

Your post that went from a burn to a nuclear bombing...

 

[muh_moobs]

It's not the the work, it's the product. I can't believe I actually had to tell you that...

And it's not "leftists". It's every american corporation thst exports any products.

"Products" and the end result of what?

This just reminds me of the guy who told me "this is what you were taught in school" and I had never heard any of it. I was told it was a Communist rule in china. Dunno why your school taught you different.

Education is centrally planned to, and the textbooks referred to China as "Socialist Democracy", so your based teacher was going off-script.

 

[Homer Simpson]

So then still not real people? Just the top mega corporations, like Disney, Apple, etc. like you said? Who are already known to be shady because they stand to make billions?

Good job, I mean really, because billionaires doing what makes them money is TOTALLY representative of the thoughts and feelings of average citizens.

You mean the people who happily buy up their products without thought or concern? The ones who heard about child slave labour making nikes, then went out and bought a pair? They are complicit. It wouldn't be so bad if the mark up wasn't so high in all honesty.

"Products" and the end result of what?

The difference being apple using chinese slave labour to make phones vs blizzard saying a character is straight in china but gay in the west, because china doesn't want a gay character. Or changing the name and origin of a character because it upsets china. Like the Ancient one in Doctor Strange. Supposed to be a tibetan monk.

Education is centrally planned to, and the textbooks referred to China as "Socialist Democracy", so your based teacher was going off-script.

Maybe it was just because that's how it was. We were learning about history and the cold war, and the teacher made sure to remind us that china was a communist country. At least they don't hide it now with the CCP.

 

[Samson Pumpkin Jr.]

Being the first across no man's land and meat shields for more valued units doesn't make you the best. It makes you expendable. Lapping up false praise from the government that exploited you to ensure it's own citizens came home is pure cope.




No, dummy. The purpose was twofold, and neither is because colonists make good fighters.

1. Send colonists to front lines. Proper citizens get held back and survive while expendable colonials die for the mother state.

2. The more colonists that die, the weaker the colony becomes, preventing uprisings or independence.

Cope harder, pussy. Canadians were sent to the front lines because the English officers viewed them an a commodity and less than people.




Because Canada is an effective proxy for America. When the US wouldn't negotiate with the Viet Cong, who did it for them? Canada. When the US "wouldn't negotiate with terrorists" and talk to the Taliban, who did it for them? Canada. What country has always been the intermediary in talking to Iran? Canada.

And when it comes to the UN, keeping Canada around is like having a retarded child that's old enough to vote. We basically give the US two votes on all issues.



No they wouldn't. Are you on drugs? People go the US because the pay is better (it always will be), cost of living is lower (it always will be) taxes are lower (they always will be) and there's better opportunity for their children (always will be). We rely on America to send people to fill the gaps created by the brain drain. The shitty refugees we bring in certainly won't, and we don't have a high enough birth rate to do it ourselves, unlike eastern Europe.



The central planning of the Canadian economy is what drives up the cost of living for Canadians. In all areas. Central planning fixes prices so Canadians have to pay more for goods, and simultaneously increases taxes in order to compensate all of the superfluous government bureaucrats that are employed by these Byzantine practices.



When's that gonna begin? Because currently, Canadians drive American cars while listening to American music and driving to theaters to watch American films, or driving to American stores to buy American goods. At home, Canadians watch American programming on American channels while using American or Chinese devices to access American content on American websites and speaking American English.

Sure sounds like we've got our own culture to me!



lol WHAT?

Socialism is anytime you have central planning.
The practice of Supply Chain Management in Dairy and Poultry is central planning.
The CRTC regulating how many cellular service providers are active in Canada and the MINIMUM charges for service is central planning.
THE CRTC mandating minimum levels of "Canadian Content" on radio and television is central planning.
The CRTC regulating how many news papers operate in Canada is central planning.
The Federal government distributing funding to the media as long as the publish enough propaganda is central planning.
The existence of the CBC is central planning.
The National Energy Board, which regulates what times of energy Canada produces and what infrastructure is built where, is central planning.
The National Wheat Board, the supply chain management of agriculture, is central planning.

That's sure a lot of socialism going on for a country that's not socialist.

dude, there's so many bad takes in here that it's hard to wrap my head around it. It would just be a lot easier for you to just admit that you blindly hate Canada and move on. Read a book or something, even watch fucking youtube "journalists" like Caspian report.
But, to address the last part about socialism, by that definition you'll have to define literally every European country including Russia as socialist, as well as California and New York. There's a difference between interventionism and socialism, and it's a pretty big difference.

 

[Bad Take Crucifier]

You mean the people who happily buy up their products without thought or concern? The ones who heard about child slave labour making nikes, then went out and bought a pair? They are complicit. It wouldn't be so bad if the mark up wasn't so high in all honesty.

This is just a dumb point because it implies the aspect isn't hidden from the public--It works because a lot of people just don't know how bad it is.

Do you think these companies are honest? LOL. Do you think the media is honest...? This is the same media that spent 5 months saying it's racist to blame the CCP for not announcing COVID-19 sooner. This is the same media that used George Floyd's death for the last 3 months, as a political brownie points/click-bait mill, but has been radio silent about police brutality in China, the Hong Kong protests, and the CCP's crimes.

Are you seriously this stupid?

It would just be a lot easier for you to just admit that you blindly hate Canada and move on.

dude just admit you blindly hate America and move on