Canada vs. America

Albeit it's been over a year since I began this writing project, (and admittedly this blog slipped my mind for a bit), I decided to throw the gears back in this direction. I suppose my goals in this endeavor are of what I hope will be fine-tweaking my writing style, along with creating more interaction and relationships between any readers I hope to gather (and those of whom own works on which I read).

So, with fine irony, my first return post happens to be someone else's work. The following was a post from an old friend of mine, who relocated from the state of Michigan up to the Windsor area a few years ago.

His extremely persuasive reasons for his love of Canada really remind me of how I want to leave this tool-infested country of shame. (If this country's current antics had not instilled this desire already...)

By Kevin Tolen
Things I love about Canada:

- Strong environmental protections and legislation

- The most modern Constitution in the world, with the best Charter of Rights and Freedoms, enacted in 1982

- Official bilingualism and multiculturalism - respect for the mosaic of people that are here, rather than putting them all into a melting pot and expecting everyone to completely assimilate

- Respect for aboriginal peoples as distinct nations

- Reliable mass transit, including bus services in towns big and small, dependable national rail service, and multiple mass transit options in large cities including subways, trolleys, and light rail

- Ethical treatment of the poor - accessible and affordable housing for all, proper social assistance, and of course nobody goes without health care

- One of the best health care systems on the planet - each province runs their own socialized health care system, and in turn, the provinces learn from the other's successes and failures - the system focuses on prevention rather than denying care and maximizing profit - the system is more efficient due to a lack of duplication of administration - unlike many European countries, the lack of a private system means that the rich and the politicians have a real need to keep the system running equally well for everyone, regardless of stature, which ensures equal opportunity

- The strongly unique cultures present in each province, and the clear delineation of responsibility for government services (whereas the US are becoming homogenized and the Federal government holds nearly all the power)

- Multiple political parties, and a system where small and new parties can rise to greatness and government in as little as a decade

- A system where a no-confidence vote can instantly depose an irresponsible government, and a swift election will ensure someone responsible is put in place to clean up the mess

- A system where there is a check on democratic problems via the Crown and the Senate - something like the 2000 fiasco with Bush v. Gore would be impossible here, and a military coup would be doubly impossible

- The metric system - it just makes more sense, and it's what 99% of the countries on earth use anyway

- Some of the best damned food anywhere, weather it's chains like Harvey's and Pizza Pizza, or if it's cuisine such as delicious seafood from the Maritimes, Poutine and French-Canadian delicacies from Quebec, amazing wine from Ontario, veggies and wheat from the prairies, chili and other "down home cookin'" from Alberta, Hong Kong fusion food from BC, native cuisine from the far North, or even the ever pervasive Tim Horton's, food here is always incredible

- The best independent music scene in the world, and some of the world's best musicians - and definitely the best bar music scene anywhere

- Being able to download music off the Internet or smoke marijuana without worrying about criminal charges

- CBC - Rick Mercer, George Stroumboulopoulos, Peter Mansbridge, The Fifth Estate, I can go on and on and on

- Speaking of which, I'm not a big TV person, but thank God that Much Music is around to show MTV how much they suck

- People that speak and spell properly, but I suppose that's in the eye of the beholder

Southern Storms

Taken from my brother's back porch in Mebane, North Carolina. I just found something enchanting about this photo.