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Re: Canada

#121

Post by Archelaos »

garbawarb wrote: post #108
I-M-S wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Australia, New Zealand, and the UK aren't on the same continent as Canada either, so I fail to understand why that type of agreement doesn't get labeled as silly as well.

The European Union is strictly meant for European countries. CANZUK is a hypothetical agreement that would only include the above. I'd also say that one challenge the EU has is the free movement of citizens of poorer EU countries to richer ones. It might work well for the EU but Canadians are very concerned about immigration and the idea of newcomers undercutting domestic wages. The CANZUK countries all have similar…

> The European Union is strictly meant for European countries.

In the (non-binding) "Briefing No 23 Legal questions of enlargement" of the European Parliamentary Research Service, this criteria is described as follows:

  The sole material condition laid down by Article O of the TEU is that the applicant must be a 'European State'. There is no unequivocal interpretation of that criterion. It can be read equally well in geographical, cultural or political terms.

  In 1987 an application to become a Member of the Communities was received from Morocco. The application was rejected by the Council on the grounds that Morocco was not a European State [...]. In the case of Turkey, Article 28 of the Association Agreement signed in 1963 incudes the option of Turkey's eventually acceding to the Communities. Turkey in fact lodged an application to accede on 14 April 1987. Historically, Turkey has formed part of the so-called 'European concert'. Although part of Turkey's territory is located geographically in Asia, Parliament, the Council and the Commission have confirmed Turkey's eligibility [...]. This example shows that the term 'European State' need not be interpreted in a strictly geographical sense. It is at all events a criterion subject to political assessment.[1]
I would personally add Cyprus to the list. Geographically it is situated in Western Asia, but is considered culturally European.

In this perspective, countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. might be electible for membership. -- And there is always the option that the EU amends or officially clarifies its accession conditions.

[1] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/enlargement/briefings/23a2_en...

Re: Canada

#122

Post by nickd2001 »

garbawarb wrote: post #44
apsec112 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The median American is, materially, much richer than the median person pretty much anywhere else. The US is a bad place, by rich-country standards, to be in the bottom 10%. But in terms of consumer wealth - how large your house is, how many cars your family has and how nice they are, if you have a dishwasher and home A/C, how often you eat at restaurants or travel long distances, can you afford a home repair or the l…

The problem is that many Americans are so bogged down in expenses that they don't feel wealthy despite their median wealth. For example, it's basically assumed that you must have a car and pay its high recurring expenses, including ancilliary expenses like having a home big enough to have a parking space.

Being completely car dependent is to me a fundamental problem in much of both countries, and the advantage USA has is that the cost of running a car (or often 2 especially for a family) takes a smaller part of a middle class salary. In UK , Europe, many countries outside of N America you're just not forced to own a car in the same way. That's not just extra costs when you've got a family, but a source of isolation for people that are old or disabled. (Not to discount the many other wonderful fantastic things about life in N America. :) )

Re: Canada

#123

Post by usui »

retired wrote: post #120
footy wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent a lot of time in Latin America growing up, including in parts that didn't have public libraries. Your comment is shocking to me, I guess I just assumed most developed countries has libraries that function in similar ways. Wikipedia says there are about 600 libraries in the Netherlands, do you not get to borrow books for free? They're integral to the fabric of society in my view.

I looked it up and it will cost you €66 per year for unlimited book lending, e-books, audio books and magazines. For low-income families and people up to 25 years old this drops to €48 per year.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing. I never knew there were libraries with a subscription model. Hopefully that means the catalogues are really good and well-taken care of.

Re: Canada

#124

Post by Gud »

usui wrote: post #85
retired wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being Dutch* it's such a strange concept that you don't have to pay to bring books to your home. I hope that we will see that over here as well in my lifetime. It would do wonders to increase literacy in the population.

Is this a strange concept due to you being European or because of your particular European country? I thought public libraries where you can borrow books is a common thing in Europe, but I could be wrong since I just assumed that.

It’s common in Europe with free libraries.

Re: Canada

#125

Post by HDMI_Cable »

jjmarr wrote: post #50
neilv wrote: post #25

> There are many things wrong with Canada. It has a go for bronze mentality, the smartest of us keep going to the US because there is not enough opportunity here, much of its public infrastructure is crumbling and the housing prices are frightful. The nation is very obviously sick. Is anyone currently moving from Canada to the US? If so, are they the "smartest", or do they simply have different priorities than a lot…

Virtually all of the top performers at my school left for the USA immediately after graduation. I think somewhere between 70-90% of Waterloo graduates in CS leave every year. Turns out doubling or tripling your take home compensation is absolutely worth it. You can buy a house instead of renting an apartment with roommates. You can afford to marry and have children. You can buy all the things the government would've…

That's definitely true, though probably only limited to CS (and maybe the top 5% of people going to investment banking). The vast majority of the most intelligent people at any Canadian university will stay in Canada, and given the current political situation, I think that's probably only going to become more true.

Also, anecdotally, I would wager that schools with significant numbers of Americans (e.g., McGill) probably have more US students staying in Canada than vice versa at this point (with perhaps the exception of CS).

Re: Canada

#126

Post by willhslade »

amrocha wrote: post #118
dh2022 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are going to play this game you also need to adjust for taxes. I lived a few years in Montreal, then a few years in Toronto and after that I moved to US. During this years my perception of income taxes went from “they are pretty high” in Montreal to “Wow, they are much lower” in Toronto to “how are public services funded? Taxes are almost 0” in the states..

I’m not playing a game, I’m comparing facts. The median person working in the US is poorer than the median person working in Canada. Fact. Average tax rates for people with the median income are basically the same in Canada or the US.

In 2023, the median Canadian income was roughly $44K CAD. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=111000...

Looks like the USA in 2024 was $51K USD. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_income_in_the_United_...

I know we need to adjust for health care, but I think the median income in the USA is higher.

Re: Canada

#127

Post by dh2022 »

amrocha wrote: post #118
dh2022 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are going to play this game you also need to adjust for taxes. I lived a few years in Montreal, then a few years in Toronto and after that I moved to US. During this years my perception of income taxes went from “they are pretty high” in Montreal to “Wow, they are much lower” in Toronto to “how are public services funded? Taxes are almost 0” in the states..

I’m not playing a game, I’m comparing facts. The median person working in the US is poorer than the median person working in Canada. Fact. Average tax rates for people with the median income are basically the same in Canada or the US.

Canadian income tax rates: [0]. Lowest tax rate for Ontario is about 19%(federal + provincial). For Quebec it is about 28% (!!!)

For WA state - we only pay federal tax so the comparable tax rate is 12% [1].

These rates mirror my perception when I lived in Montreal, Toronto, WA state.

[0] https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individ...

[1] https://www.irs.gov/filing/federal-income-tax-rates-and-brac...

Re: Canada

#128

Post by lateforwork »

gucci-on-fleek wrote: post #74
lateforwork wrote: post #47

Most importantly—and this is not mentioned in the blog—Canadians take comfort in the fact that someone like Trump will never come to power in Canada. The Prime Minister is not chosen by direct popular vote. Rather, the leader of the party that wins control of the House becomes Prime Minister. As to who becomes a party leader: Party leaders are picked internally by party members via leadership races, not by the genera…

> Party leaders are picked internally by party members via leadership races Correct. > not by the general public. This is good because the leader is selected not by "Low Information Voters" […] but by people who have gone through a qualification filter Not really. It's true that only party members can vote, but the only requirements to be a party member are to be a Canadian citizen and to not be a member of another p…

I think the difference is that in the US all it takes is one pied piper because voters can vote directly to elect him president. In Canada, the pied piper is going to need more pied pipers under him to be elected as MPs.

Re: Canada

#129

Post by greenavocado »

nozzlegear wrote: post #106
greenavocado wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You prefer a public option because you have never been to a Western country with public healthcare and tried to obtain emergency medical care. I have. I was in an overcrowded waiting room for 12 hours and watched one person die as they rushed him past me and around the corner. The whole character set and scene was extremely grim. There was ONE ER doctor on duty at night. Contrast that to the US where I received promp…

To be clear, a public option means a government-backed health insurance plan that competes with private insurance plans to keep prices down. It doesn't mean abolishing private insurance and replacing it with public or universal healthcare. I don't personally believe European or Canadian-style healthcare systems would work in the US at this point and I don't want to try them here either.

They will find a way to make it cost more and introduce more shortages

Re: Canada

#130

Post by amrocha »

dh2022 wrote: post #127
amrocha wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not playing a game, I’m comparing facts. The median person working in the US is poorer than the median person working in Canada. Fact. Average tax rates for people with the median income are basically the same in Canada or the US.

Canadian income tax rates: [0]. Lowest tax rate for Ontario is about 19%(federal + provincial). For Quebec it is about 28% (!!!) For WA state - we only pay federal tax so the comparable tax rate is 12% [1]. These rates mirror my perception when I lived in Montreal, Toronto, WA state. [0] https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individ... [1] https://www.irs.gov/filing/federal-income-tax-rates-and-brac...

Then you’re paying higher consumption taxes and property taxes, and higher prices on business costs passed on to you. Do I even have to explain this? Just because you can’t see the ball anymore doesn’t mean it stopped existing
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