Ooooh Canada! Our Neighbor to the North is the World‘s Most Progressive Nation

Sault Ste. Marie, Canada doesn‘t look like an oasis of tolerance and enlightenment. In fact, it looks a lot like America, full of burley citizens in earflap hats who spend a lot of time thinking about hockey and snowmobiling.
But it‘s here in the land of the maple leaf and the loon that a country is reinventing itself as one of the most progressive nations on earth. Canada, land of cheap prescription drugs, universal health care, a low crime rate and nudie bars, has added gay marriage and the legalization of medical marijuana to its list of progressive achievements over the past year.
In the U.S., conservative politicians are fuming over the idea of Americans streaming across the border to buy low-cost prescription drugs -- or worse -- to obtain legal marijuana highs once Canada moves ahead with plans to legalize the herb. Threats have been made by the Bush administration to damage Canada‘s trade by creating new hassles at the border.
But Canada has a feisty, underdog tradition of griping about the U.S. that borders on an inferiority complex, and seems determined to go its own liberal way at a time when America has made a hard right turn on many social issues. Last year, an aide to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien called President Bush “a moron“ over issues such as foreign policy and the invasion of Iraq. It was a remark which the Canadian press abhorred while noting that it is also a widespread opinion in Canada‘s “intellectual climate (of) smug anti-Americanism,“ according to Canwest, the country‘s largest newspaper chain.
While there seems to be little evidence that many Americans are planning to move to Canada for its progressive social perks, it is true that many of us are making day trips to buy prescription drugs such as Lipitor and Depo-Provera at savings of up to 80%. Or for same-sex marriages in Toronto or Montreal. Then there‘s the anticipated flood of tourists seeking legal highs in Canada‘s cosmopolitan cities, which offer low crime rates, lively cafè scenes, and a bargain currency exchange rate to boot.
With the Canadian border just 100 miles from the Straits of Northern Michigan, here are some things which may be worth knowing about our neighbor to the north:

• Universal Health Care
Canada‘s 32 million citizens have had a universal health insurance program for more than 50 years, based on the “single-payer“ model. A single-payer system means that all funds for health care are collected by a single public agency or trust fund to pay for the comprehensive health care of all citizens. Recently, former Vice President Al Gore came out in favor of the single-payer plan as the best option for providing care to nearly 50 million uninsured Americans.
But it‘s a good news/bad news proposition, with opinions on Canada‘s socialized medicine ranging from excellent to awful. Canada‘s bill for health care totaled $72.5 billion last year and the system is going bankrupt. A 356-page report issued by a royal commission noted that rural health care is lacking and many Canadians have to wait months for health procedures that are routine in the U.S. Some provinces have tried to solve the problem by proposing a two-tiered system whereby Canadians could pay extra for services such as MRI or CAT scans on a more timely basis, but the plan was nixed by Ottawa. As a result, many Canadians travel to the U.S. for diagnostic procedures, angioplasties, surgeries and other medical services that can‘t wait.
*(Source: United Press International)*

• Marijuana Reform
If you suffer from glaucoma, arthritis, epilepsy, chemotherapy, terminal illness and other painful disorders, then Canada provides a compassionate refuge through the legalization of medical marijuana. In August, Canada authorized 500 patients to begin purchasing high-quality pot supplied by government-approved growers.
Decriminalization of marijuana for recreational use has been smouldering for several years. In July 2000, the Ontario Court of Appeals struck down a federal law which prohibited the possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana. Ditto in January of this year when an Ontario judge ruled that a law prohibiting small amounts of pot was no longer valid.
In May 2002, a Canadian Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs issued a 600-page report which urged the legalization of marijuana country-wide. The report pooh-poohed many cherished anti-pot notions, claiming that marijuana is not a “gateway“ to hard drugs and that fewer than 10% of users become addicted. “A lot of public money is spent on law enforcement, even though public policies don‘t seem to discourage use of the drug,“ the Senate report stated.
The committee recommended that under decriminalization, “persons over the age of 16“ could “procure cannabis and its derivatives at duly licensed distribution centers.“
According to the Canadian Medical Association, about 1.5 million Canadians smoke marijuana. Some 600,000 Canadians have criminal records for pot. As such, many Canadians feel their country doesn‘t have the funds to wage a huge U.S.-style “War on Drugs“ with its attendent prison system According to a May 2000 survey published in the National Post newspaper, 65% of Canadians favored decriminalizing pot.
If Canada “legalizes it,“ the Bush administration has hinted at harsh reprisals. Border backups and in increase in bureaucratic red tape could be initiated by the U.S. to damage Canada‘s already-shaky economy. *(Source: CBC News)*

• Gay Marriage
Gay and lesbian couples from the U.S. are traveling to Quebec, Toronto and British Columbia in increasing numbers to be legally wed, according to PlanetOut.com. In addition to civil unions, some Anglican churches in Canada are now offering wedding services for gay and lesbian couples.
In June, an Ontario court issued a 61-page ruling which said that “defining marriage to include only heterosexuals violates gay couples‘ rights under the country‘s constitution.“ The ruling opened the floodgates to gay marriage in Canada, which is now the third nation in the world to sanction the unions, including Belgium and the Netherlands.
In a complete turnaround from the conservative administration of the U.S., it was Prime Minister Jean Chretien‘s Liberal Party which pushed for legal gay/lesbian unions in Canada. *(Source: PlanetOut.com)*

• Low Crime Rate
If you‘ve seen Michael Moore‘s film, “Bowling for Colombine,“ you already know that violent crime is miniscule in Canada compared to the U.S. There may be Saturday night slugfests outside hockey rinks in Alberta, but compared to the more than 11,000 Americans who died in 2001 from gunshot wounds, only 165 Canadians met the same fate.
Moore‘s film noted that Canadians are armed -- but not dangerous. Out of 10 million Canadian households, some seven million own a gun. By contrast, there are 250,000,000 guns in America and 80 people die each day either by gunshot homicide or suicide.
Reason? Canada doesn‘t have a media culture of fear that‘s found on the TV news in the U.S., Moore says. Its citizens are also focused on social justice -- seeing that human needs are met as national and local priorities -- rather than the “me first“ mindset prevalent in the U.S.
Violence is not unknown in Canada, however. The Toronto Star‘s daily police blotter regularly features a round-up of beatings and violent attacks, often directed against immigrants from countries such as Pakistan.
*(Source: “Bowling for Colombine“)*

• Immigration
Speaking of immigrants, Canada is the beacon of democracy and melting pot of foreign cultures which once distinguished the United States. The country is aggressively seeking immigrants, especially in the form of skilled workers and business persons to boost its weak labor market.
Immigration already accounts for 70% of Canada‘s labor market growth. In 2002, Canada opened its doors to up to 235,000 new immigrants. As a result, you‘ll find a blend of many cultures in cities such as Toronto, with would-be citizens from Pakistan, Guatemala, India, Indonesia and the Phillippines, among others.
On the down side, this open-door policy turned ominous following the 9/11 attacks. “The U.S. has long complained that Canada’s immigration laws make it a magnet for terrorist groups,“ noted an article in the Ottawa Citizen. “In order to get its southern neighbor to greenlight the border again, the Canadian government has decided to make more than a show of cracking down on would be bombers.“ *(Sources: www.canada-law.com, Ottawa Citizen)*



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SIDEBAR (maple leaf with a frown for illustration)

Utopia?
The not-so-good things about Canada

Canada is the best country in the world to live in, according to the United Nations Human Development Index. In fact, Canada has been selected for that honor by the UN five times in the past 10 years. But before you pack your bags and head north to the utopia of Canada, you may wish to consider the following.

• It‘s cold: More than one-third of Canada is sub-arctic territory along the same latitudes as Alaska. Even our nearest port of entry, Sault Ste. Marie, tends to be 5-10 degrees colder than northwestern Michigan due to the chill winds blowing east from Lake Superior. And did we mention snow? Perhaps that‘s why 85% of Canada‘s population lives within 180 miles of the U.S. border -- as far south as possible.
• High Taxes: Canadian taxes are infamously high to pay for programs such as universal health care. Consider that you‘ll pay 55% of your income in combined federal and provincial taxes if you live in the provinces of Quebec or Ontario and make more than $40,000 per year, according to the Wall Street Journal. Taxes on capital gains run to approximately 40% for investments held more than 18 months (ie: your home), which is double the U.S. rate. A major problem for Canada is its “brain drain“ of talent as techno & business-savvy citizens flee the country‘s crushing taxes to the U.S.
• Pollution: Drive through Thunder Bay and get a whiff of the year-‘round paper mill pollution there if you need to get your head clear of thoughts that Canada is nothing but pristine wilderness populated by rosy-cheeked environmentalists. Canadians rip into their timber, mineral, animal and coal resources with all the zeal of rain forest burners in the Amazon. The “World Fact Book“ of the CIA notes that current environmental issues for Canada are “air pollution and resulting acid rain severely affecting lakes and damaging forests; metal smelting, coal-burning utilities, and vehicle emissions impacting on agricultural and forest productivity; ocean waters becoming contaminated due to agricultural, industrial, mining, and forestry activities.“
• PC to a Fault: The state-run Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and local “human rights tribunals“ call the shots on what gets on the air or in print, and if it‘s not politically correct, forget it. “In Canada, free speech has its restrictions,“ writes Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post. “Government limits discourse that some may find offensive.“ The country‘s National Post newspaper notes that, “In Canada, free speech depends on what you say,“ making it a “pleasantly authoritarian country.“
In one noteworthy case, an anti-gay activist ran an ad in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix criticizing the “equality rights“ of gays. A human rights tribunal ruled that the man and the newspaper had to each pay $1,500 and never run a similar ad again.
• Funny Money: Canadian currency always seems to be in a nosedive, driving up the cost of consumer products and making vacations out of the country extra expensive. Currently, one Canadian dollar (nicknamed the “loonie“) is worth just .75 cents American. That doesn‘t stop Canadians from getting around, however: some 900,000 Canucks visit Mexico each year, perhaps to get away from those cold temps and because their cash goes further south of the U.S. border.
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