Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Canada

jenn.site

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 131 posts

Re: Canada

#81

Post by I-M-S »

MegaDeKay wrote: post #45
abernard1 wrote: post #11

> When I think about the counterfactual me that grew up in a large American city, New York or L.A. instead of Toronto, And just think, those are the American areas most common to Canada. There are places in America where those counterfactuals do not exist, where the necessities aren't locked behind counters, where community is thriving, and where the normality of civic life is an expectation. I expect no honors for t…

> If Canada didn't have an air of superiority to comfort itself with, it would have nothing at all. Canada might be known for many things, but you're the first I've heard refer to an "air of superiority" that we carry around. "Nice" and "polite" maybe. Sorry you feel this way. Have a good day.

Canadians aren't crass enough to describe it as superiority, but it is true that the identity of English-speaking Canada is largely built on "not being America" and that the vast majority of the population is content as long as things are "better than in the USA".

Re: Canada

#82

Post by retired »

footy wrote: post #3

I was not born in Canada, but I chose to immigrate here and it's one of the top 5 best choices I've ever made. I have access to so much that in other places would be wildly expensive. My life is richer due to the diversity of the people I am surrounded by, if I bought every book I borrowed from the library last year it would have cost $3000 or more, and even after moving away from a large city I have access to public…

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.

Re: Canada

#83

Post by _zagj »

> When I think about the counterfactual me that grew up in a large American city, New York or L.A. instead of Toronto, I see someone who's more stunted than me, in important ways. No skating classes, libraries too far to walk to on a regular basis and more poorly stocked. Student debt. Without generous public incentives, that version of me would only have the life that her own parents can afford to provide for her.

Is this what Canadians actually believe? NYC has, off the top of my head, the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art--does Toronto, or even the entire rest of Canada, have anything remotely comparable, to even just one of those institutions? And these museums, BTW, are typically free or "pay what you want" for NY residents and children. And the NYPL has plenty of locations, though I'm not sure what the author's definition of "walking distance" is: https://www.nypl.org/locations

I never thought I'd see someone describe life in NYC or LA as "stunting," especially relative to Toronto, yet here it is.

Re: Canada

#84

Post by andsoitis »

card_zero wrote: post #69
andsoitis wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 500 dollars a month, which is more than most families on this planet earn a year. People are so ignorant, it hurts. Wildly inaccurate statistic. Bottom 10% live on less than $800 per year. [1] Bottom 30% around $2000 - $3000 per year. [2] Global median income is about $3000 per person per year. [2] [1] https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/poverty-prosperity-... [2] https://wir2022.wid.world/chapter-1/

So that means a family with two median earners makes 500 dollars a month? I don't get it, you seem to be confirming the claim.

Y̶o̶u̶ They wrote: "500 dollars a month, which is more than most families on this planet earn a year."

Than translates to "most families on this planet make less than $500 per year"

Re: Canada

#85

Post by usui »

retired wrote: post #82
footy wrote: post #3

I was not born in Canada, but I chose to immigrate here and it's one of the top 5 best choices I've ever made. I have access to so much that in other places would be wildly expensive. My life is richer due to the diversity of the people I am surrounded by, if I bought every book I borrowed from the library last year it would have cost $3000 or more, and even after moving away from a large city I have access to public…

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.

Re: Canada

#87

Post by AlexeyBrin »

retired wrote: post #82
footy wrote: post #3

I was not born in Canada, but I chose to immigrate here and it's one of the top 5 best choices I've ever made. I have access to so much that in other places would be wildly expensive. My life is richer due to the diversity of the people I am surrounded by, if I bought every book I borrowed from the library last year it would have cost $3000 or more, and even after moving away from a large city I have access to public…

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.

> Being European it's such a strange concept that you don't have to pay to bring books to your home.

Pretty sure Europe is diverse enough that there are countries where the access to public libraries is free.

Re: Canada

#88

Post by retired »

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…

> Rather, the leader of the party that wins control of the House becomes Prime Minister.

That is literally how Adolf Hitler became Chancellor (Prime Minister), as leader of the NSDAP.

Re: Canada

#89

Post by [deleted] »

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.

[deleted]

Re: Canada

#90

Post by stefantalpalaru »

raydev wrote: post #71
nozzlegear wrote: post #41

> But in the US, when I step outside the walled gardens of my community, I notice the brittleness underneath the shining streets, the way the wealth is not load-bearing. I notice the medical self-serve kiosks in grocery stores, the necessities behind locked shelves at CVS. Parents there are not given five hundred dollars a month to buy infant formula for their babies, even with a GDP per capita twice ours. To the ext…

Have you had any stays in a hospital yet? Children? I ask because a lot of Canadians can't fathom having to worry about those sorts of bills, given that many employers don't offer great insurance, and especially if you happen to be between employers. Like how do you handle a sudden $20k bill that insurance won't cover?

[dead]
Post reply on HN