[quote=chadknowslaw]Their healthcare is not "free". Canadians just pay for their healthcare through their taxes indirectly instead of directly though their checkbooks. Saying Canada has free healthcare is like saying the US has free roads but then not noticing how much gasoline tax you pay at the pump to pay for the roads.
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Your right its not free, its attached to taxes which means based on income. Rich pay more then poor if you think of it that way. The system used to be much better whereby in time of need you do not think about who is going to pay. All people have the right to the same level of health care and no one is ever afraid at that moment that they would have to stay home vs getting the help they need. The system is over taxed at the moment as we have a bizzilian baby boomers going thru it. It might just max out, our biggest concern is not enough doctors and in some places nurses. We are increasing our medical schools and cutting deals whereby they must stay in a rural canadian city for a number of years in order to get a reduction in their tuition etc. Access to service is no longer a given and those of us who are mid to upper income often travel to the US to pay-as-you-die facilities.
Call us "white bread" if you wish Jim but Canadians are, on average, a much more advanced society. We are not bohunkles and beer drinkers. We have an amazingly tollerant society were people do not go around shooting each other. We are not self destructing and we still feel good about our political leaders.
Being proud of your country should not include the need to put down another, especially if you have no fucking clue what your talking about.
Example....I love and hate parts of the US and for all the superficial reasons you can guess...hate detroit because I have always heard that if you get caught in the wrong neighbourhood.....love florida because there is endless sun. Of course both of those places have upsides and downsides. It would be laughable if I went on and on about how Florida was the ONLY place to live and everywhere else was "white bread".
Canada has cold winters but its over 95F here these days. Cold winters but amazingly warm hearts....
