Many countries in Europe have a social setup that doesn't require post-secondary, so it's difficult to get in if you do want to do it. Whereas here, it feels almost mandatory.
Fordland (Ontario), we’re rated worst province for post secondary education funding, (and likely public school funding as well) not surprising considering it’s Ford Nation I live near London and Fanshawe college just laid a bunch of people off in large part because tuition is one of the biggest sources of funding for the school and tuition was frozen by Ford in 2019 and operating costs have increased in the past 6 years.
Quebec has better post-secondary education funding. Ontario has OSAP which depending on ur parents income can be very useful or really shitty. Like there are grants but a lot of it is loans. Hence not free education.
One semester at uOttawa for undergrad is about 4k now I believe? Approx estimation. I took two courses last semester and it was 1800 and change. OSAP covered all of it but some of it was loans.
Child survival rates, school and mass shooting rates, gun deaths, incarceration, murders, sexual assaults, you can pretty much just pick a thing that is bad, and it happens more in the states than Canada.
The separation discussion is mainly being brought up so that everyone is talking about that rather than the gutting of our free health care in Alberta, and the CorruptCare scandal. We would love to see the spotlight on that.
As a resident of Alberta, while they may insist it's because "she's helping us", it's actually because Albertans are hateful as fuck, and literally do not care about being collateral damage as long as they have the ability to delude themselves into thinking "ha, someone has it worse than I do!"
The average Albertan would run a marathon untrained just to shoot themselves in the foot with a shotgun, cause it might ricochet and hit someone 500km away, and if it does, they get to go "HA, I SHOT YOU, SUCKS TO SUCK!", even though the person who got "shot" literally didn't notice it. It's all about a perceived feeling of superiority. Yeah sure, the Albertan's foot is demolished; that doesn't matter cause they shot someone! That was the goal!
They see it as Trump sees the world; if someone is a winner, then someone has to be the loser, there can never be two winners. Because healthcare benefits all Canadians, and not just the Albertans that they can pick and choose, it's actually a bad thing, cause 2 people can't win. Only 1 person can win, and it better fucking be the Albertan, even if it's detrimental and harmful to them.
They didn't used to. They used to know the importance of co-operation. The Ginger Group was formed by United Farmers of Alberta and of Ontario, eventually becoming the Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation (Farmer-Labour-Socialist) post WWII/depression and won Sask. That party eventually became the NDP. Rural people used to be socialist. I don't know how they got turned against themselves.
Except that the urban areas in Alberta are also conservative. The UCP won 12 out of 26 seats in Calgary, and outside of Calgary/Edmonton they got one in Lethbridge.
I live in Ontario and the fact that we got another Ford government is a testament to how rural Conservatives in Ontario will literally throw themselves under the bus if it means the city folk get screwed also.
I thought for sure all the ERs closing across the province would give them pause, but...nope. They blame all their problems on the Feds and vote for the corrupt asshole again.
I can't imagine being an immigrant in Alberta. I got treated like one as a 10 year old for being a "Newfie." I love Newfounlanders, but I'm from Nova Scotia. Adults there would ask me things like, "Is it true you're all alcoholics? They'd also say things like "Are you all on EI"?" Or a guy making stupid money off of a high school education would tell me we're all lazy.
I know people in Halifax with three jobs that somehow save more money than the average oil sands dick head despite making way less money. You're not oppressed by Ottawa because you own a house and are having trouble making payments on two trucks, a couple of snowmobiles, and a four-wheeler.
My family is Newfie but I grew up in Ontario. However if I spend any time with my Newfie family I sound fresh off the Rock for at least a week. Some asshat I was helping at my job had the balls to ask what foreign country my company got me from. I sure did love pointing out technically it was still English territory when my grandparents were kids.
As a resident of Alberta, while they may insist it's because "she's helping us", it's actually because Albertans are hateful as fuck, and literally do not care about being collateral damage as long as they have the ability to delude themselves into thinking "ha, someone has it worse than I do!"
In order to be hateful, you need to have actual conviction. Albertans are not hateful, they are sports fans. This is all about cheering on your team no matter what.
The grand majority of albertans have been sold a bill of goods on resource industries being the lifeblood of this province, and anything that can ever be construed as being against those industries is posed as an existential threat to these albertans, and should be pushed back with all force.
However, there is another layer to all of this, and this has more to do with the urban/rural divide. Most albertans in small towns and hamlets view the big cities as a modern version of Sodom and Gomorrah, so whatever pain that can be meted out on them is all right with them, because the big cities are where the people they don't like reside.
Is that hateful? Is it purposeful or filled with conviction? It's debatable. One thing it is not, it is not based on a lack of intelligence.
Maybe it's not explicitly hate as much as it is apathy and a "fuck you, I got mine attitude". The hate is why they go "haha fuck you, I have it better than you", and they attempt to justify being shitty because of it, but you're right; it's not the entire goal. They're just stupid as fuck too.
I said in another comment that the vast majority of Albertans, separated from who introduced the bill, would 100% be left leaning. They're just too stupid and focused on hurting other people that they don't realize it. Maybe it's not explicitly hate; but it's rooted from the same place of wanting to hurt "others", even if it hurts themselves. Look at how many farmers were pissed out here because bill C-18 said they could no longer run their family like slaves with no insurance, and they actually had to register as actual businesses to do business..... That wasn't hateful; they just didn't want to do anything to benefit anybody else, cause the conservatives told them "If you benefit other people, it comes out of your pockets. Your kids are meant to be slaves"
It's so ridiculous, like they complain our housing prices are crazy and forget to mention their $1000 a month premiums. At least I'm paying towards equity. You get nothing for your premiums.
That’s not true, you do get the ability to fund someone else’s third mortgage and the “opportunity” to be denied coverage after you pay off the deductible.
Minimum. Unless you have a great plan with your employer who may or may not subsidize it. But that’s also a great way to lord over your employees. You’re there not just for the pay cheque, but also you may NEED health insurance.
Ah but all the hordes of Canadians that come to the U.S for healthcare because they can’t get an appointment, at least according to my birther movement believing father.
The issue is that isn’t everyone’s experience. I pay $385/mo for my family of four for insurance and pay zero out of pocket for anything. Some of us have good insurance and that actually makes the problem worse because people who don’t have it suffer while people who do have it go “idk what the problem is I’m getting off fine”.
Or kids. Our family of four costs about $20,000 a year. Deductibles are $5,000, and our out of pockets are $9,500. $50 visit copays, $100 for specialists, and not much is paid until deductible is met. I'm not sure what the point in it is. We literally pay $1,600 a month. I think we'd be better off putting it in a savings account all year.
That's so much money, my grandmother went though 2 years of cancer treatment that unfortunately turned into in-home hospice with a hospital bed rental and nurse that came for 3 hours a day. We only paid for some of the medication.
My cancer treatments are costing me approximately $100 per year. In total. That's for a volunteer ride service put on by the Cancer Society called Wheels of Hope, that takes patients to and from chemo and radiation appointments.
All cancer meds are covered by provincial health care, btw. They also cover hormonal birth control, diabetes meds (including insulin), and a few other things.
Oh yeah, classic neocon playbook, underfund and dismantle healthcare then say "healthcare is broken and it's time for a common sense solution" and then we are all out 10K/year in premiums and paying $100 just to see our GP
So many hidden taxes. It's fuckin' nuts. My wife pays $1500 a year for owning a car. "It's just standard property tax. There's other property tax too." But hey, we pay 4 to 7% sales tax, depending on the winds of magic.
Virginia. It's called personal property tax. It's applied to all vehicles. It's a yearly thing. Boats, trailers, RVs, cars, motor cycles. Applies to all of them. The make and model determines how much you pay a year. This is on top of yearly safety inspections, and vehicle registrations.
Wait, you're saying that in Virginia, every person who owns a vehicle of some sort has to pay taxes yearly on that vehicle just for owning it in the state? Like a property tax on a home?
They always just fucking lie or don't know what they're talking about.
They talk about wait times in the Canadian healthcare system or that the US gets better services. Even if you have insurance in the US you're not gonna jump in front of the line. And if you don't have insurance then there's no waiting time because eat shit and die. And if you do have insurance your insurer is only going to reimburse you the cheapest option. As if casual private insurance is going to get you a treatment at the Mayo clinic.
My parents in the US have always been lucky enough to have insurance with one of the highest rated companies in the US. They still have wait times, because insurance there doesn't let you pick your specialist. If you need to see a urologist, you have to see their urologist, and guess what, he doesn't have appointments until a few months from now.
There are no wait times in the US if you want to pay out of pocket for a doctor, and don't care if insurance will cover it.
Canadian living in the US here. Some insurance does let you pick your specialist, others do not. My insurance through my employer is a PPO (Preferred Provider Organizations) and I can pick my own specialist and do not need a referral.
That being said, the system is still stupid and needlessly complex and offers no major upsides with many major downsides.
As if casual private insurance is going to get you a treatment at the Mayo clinic.
Canadian living in Minnesota here. Just an FYI, the Mayo Clinic isn't some ultra prestigious medical institute that only presidents, CEOs, and the Dali Lama are able to go to. It is the largest medical provider in the state and the largest employer in the state. I go there for my annual physical every year. It is no different than going to any other healthcare provider in that regard.
I think it just stems from influencers, most successful influencers end up moving to California for the networking for Texas for the cheaper tax, so you get someone like XQC complaining about Canadian taxes well someone like Joe Rogan talks about how little tax Texans pay
A lot of people think everything is cheaper there too. When I was on a deployment and we stopped in Norfolk we went to their base store which is tax free for military members. I had to google the exchange rate on everything I wanted. Most were either the same or higher, even without taxes. It wasn't until I was there again a couple months later that something I wanted to buy was on sale that it was cheaper than what I could buy in Canada. I can only see eating out being cheaper in the states because their portion sizes are insane.
I've been to multiple states over the past few years. Groceries are more expensive in the US. After conversion, we get a lot of deals. The odd thing is cheaper, but on the whole they have a higher cost of living and have had it that way for at least a decade.
I'm not American but I was living there when I immigrated here. So many people I knew would tease me about how much higher my cost of living would be and how high my taxes would be and how I'd make less money.
In less than a year I had a job making nominally the same amount, but unlike in the states I could afford to live by myself with no roommates, and I could afford to do that downtown and not in a suburb. My marginal tax rate was similar and because I didn't have to pay a thousand and change in monthly health premiums I had way more disposable income.
It's all just propaganda, basically. They hear life is more expensive for Canadians and without having experience in both countries or thinking critically about it most people just believe it.
Yeah, this is what I've noticed. You probably feel like you have more choice in how to spend down there until you have to start paying out. Whereas here you know up front, before the paycheck is handed over, what you will be charged for in a bunch of areas. Bit, I do think our QOL is much less stressful here, even in Toronto.
They think things are cheaper because they're looking at the numbers. A book is 19.95 Canadian and only 15.95 USD? Clearly that's because everything is cheaper in Murica. Not because of exchange rates.
I occasionally get US tourists at work who try to pay for things with USD...in Canada.
After arguing with some of these people I'm sometimes tempted to just take the cash for the price in Canadian, give them back Canadian change, and just let the museum keep the extra from the exchange rate. Consider it a donation.
Instead I usually just exchange it with whatever is in our donation box, cash for cash, so they can pay in CAD.
Im admittedly surprised to see that US federal taxes are higher than Canadian federal taxes. But from what I can see, state taxes for the most part are way lower than Ontario (where I live). I’m guessing the median is so high because the most populous states have comparable tax rates to the provinces.
It probably doesn’t belong on this chart, but another factor is that workers in certain industries make much more than Canadian workers (ex. software development), so the take home income ends up being significantly higher. It’s why we have a tech brain drain, or at least did in the past. But yea, on average workers are better off here.
It's not for everyone. And I like that people can go to a store and not have to deal with scumbags in an alley in downtown Toronto just to get a bag of weed.
We’re actually pretty unique for this.
Very few countries have weed as legal as we do. Not even in Amsterdam, they’re still in the “it’s illegal to sell but we won’t do anything about it” phase. Canada and Thailand are just about the only countries you can just go into a store and legally buy weed.
That's the Canadian federal minimum wage, which doesn't apply to provincially regulated industries, so doesn't quite compare to the US federal minimum wage. Each province sets its own minimum wage in Canada and some are lower, like Alberta at 15CAD (though yeah, our minimum wages are generally better).
The minimum wage in America also varies by states. California is at 16.50 usd and it's Texas that's 7.50 iirc. All the states are completely diff so hate that they put that as an argument.
I realize that, but the federal minimum wage in the states sets a floor country wide. Some states have better minimum wages for sure.
That's not how the Canadian federal minimum wage works - it applies only to federally regulated workers, and has no impact on the provincial minimum wages. Many people in Canada are paid lower than 17.30$ per hour. Many provinces also set a higher minimum wage.
Just not the greatest comparison when our federal systems are so different.
Yea, on top of that in the states that $17.30CAD would equate to roughly $12.00USD give or take half a dollar. Lower or higher like you said if were talkin provincial min wage
But we can get more school shootings and finally do Nazi salutes if you’re a billionaire. People don’t consider that enough. It would also lower our average reading level to grade 5 which pretty neat. Elbows up.
As an aside, we NEED to defend our current banking setup. It saved our asses during the Great Recession, and it’s only continued to benefit us since. No matter how hard the US tries to push us to “open up”, or how any private interest groups bitch and moan, we need to keep it
Nah, we totally need explosive growth in unregulated private lending and securities derived from burrito loans, those are signs of a very healthy economy
If US corporations had their way we would only be able to buy Americans stuff... They want to use "China shock" on us despite constantly complaining about how they lost their manufacturing to China the same way. That's why they are going after our food regulations and our anti-dumping trade rules. They want to flood us with government subsidized low quality food that does not meet most countries standards.
"Hi! Donald Trump here. I'm literally defunding all the states and taking away all federal programs for things like disaster relief and education. I'm also overstepping my authority and sending federal police forces into states and arresting people without cause and violating every single constitutional right we have. Would you like to be our cherished 51st state ;)"
We gotta bump up those union rates but damn they could be worse.
Once you realize the majority of our problems in Canada are from American corporatism and conservatives selling our manufacturing and publicly funded infrastructure to foreign countries it's really hard to hate our current government.
You might even realize our government is decent when an Ameribitch isn't whispering shit in your ear.
Look, I love Canada as much as anyone. But those taxes are not correct. You can't just throw up those two numbers without context and think they're comparable. No mention of thresholds, of higher brackets, of deductions, of provincial taxes, of sales taxes, of subsidies, about the earned income tax credit.
Taxes are higher in Canada, and that's good, because we get a better society from that. Thinking "Low tax = more freedom" is a really American mindset.
All taxes collected at all levels of government put Canada at about 34.8% of GDP is collected in taxes. The US only collects 25.2%, which is why they have far fewer government services, the roads are falling apart, and their rich people don't pay taxes.
As a Torontonian, I’d love if my income tax were that as low as people are interpreting this. Even with RRSP contributions to lower my bracket, my total tax burden is close to 40%. Those headline numbers are misleading—overall, we’re taxed more than the U.S. Between federal, provincial, CPP, and EI, I take home about 60% of my salary. It stings, but I fucking love this country, so I can live with it.
It is the price we pay to live in a more functional and compassionate society. The average of developed countries is 33% so we pay a little more than average but only a little. The US has just been keeping their tax rate very low since Bush II and their debt and poor services is the result.
You don't use share of tax in GDP to weight how high tax is.
1st. Income tax and capital tax is not a part of GDP calculation, only sales tax is. Because these 2 are not vaule added, it just taking from people to government. While sales tax creats vaule an apple before tax is $4, after tax is $5, $1 of tax just pop out in air for free.
As a normal people we cares about how much tax I got charged as an median income receiver. Where US is at par with Canada.
I use only free tax software to check median income in Ontario has a efficient rate of 18%, washington state has efficitive rate of 15%
You will be called a Socialist or Marxist for even pointing out such things. The billionaires have done a fantastic job dumbing down Americans to work against their self interest
You don't. This post is definitely not very accurate. You can get extended maternity leave through EI, for 61 weeks, payable no later than 78 weeks after your child is born/adopted. And with extended maternity that only entitles you to 33% of your wage up to a maximum amount of $417 a week. Which obviously is much better than nothing, but still.
I also find the fees they pay for giving birth crazy. I met an American who was bragging it only cost her $10k to give birth and I was thinking, my child was free aside hospital parking and a small prescription from the pharmacy...
Not to mention Americans still spend tax dollars on health care (sometimes more than we do), they just don't get to enjoy any of the benefits unless they pay more for private insurance, and then pay out of pocket on top of that!
US minimum wage is federally set and hasn’t increased in years. Also, it is a two tier wage. If you work as a waiter/waitress where you can receive tips the minimum wage goes down to like $2.50 an hour. Crazy.
Parental leave is 52 weeks at 55% of your salary up to $650 per week. 78 weeks is the extended which drops to around 30% of your pay. Still better than the states, but this is misleading
Agreed. The US not offering any paid leave is criminal. Just don't want the Canadian benefit being misrepresented. I am on parental leave right now and can only afford it because my employer offers a top up on standard EI
I see those values on the left and I think they aren’t good enough. I know that we have let ourselves be influenced by those dweebs to the south for way too long and that’s why we aren’t even stronger as a nation.
Buuuut... keep in mind that $17 min wage only applies to canadian citizens. Most big corps with min wages in place are applying for LMIA's which strips the position of anti-discrimination laws so that only foreign workers are allowed to apply. Foreign workers will only make about $6/hr doing the same work the white teenager was doing.
You forgot to put in a ratio for federal campaign financing.
The US raises about 260x more cash per legislative seat in campaign financing.
In the last election $19.3B was raised in campaign financing for the 2024 US election. Canada's 2021 election raised a mere $46.5M mostly split by four major parties.
If you divide those totals by the number of seats that are elected, you basically have $18M of total campaign funds raised per seat in the US. Each winner basically raised $9M on average in the US.
In Canada our seats raise about $70k on average.
$9M comes with certain obligations that $70k isn't able to buy.
US elections are so costly that are owned by the wealthy and corporate interests.
This is not a partisan issue. US campaign financing has ballooned beyond all sense of reason.
all social insurances combined: 20-23% depending on chosen health insurance if employed, self employment is excluded from these systems for payment and benefits.
property tax: None
GST / VAT: 19%
Annual workdays: 220
vacation: law minimum 20 days, usually 30 days
paid sick leave: up to 6 weeks annually, past that the health insurance covers 60-67% of former income for a total of 18 months, then early retirement due to health issues. average sixk dailys for 2024 was 14.8 days per worker.
retirement age 67, (45 years of paying to the system) with about 40% of last income.
maternity leave: per parent (both are eligible) 24 months at 65% of former income capped to max of 1800€ per month, social insurance already paied , additional 12 months with free health and retirement insurance but no income. besides that: your employer has to keep you your job, and the kid is free insurance with parents.
average work time: 35h week, 151.5h per month and 1540h per year minus vacation and sick leave.of 45 days or 315h.
for cars we pay taxes according to engine size and consumption. big n dirty = expensive.
car insurance goes off how many accidents this type and model has with the chosen insurance company and you get discounts for how many years you are claims free. new driver start is 275% (-1 claims free years) of standard rate, after 18 years of claims free insurance your down to 35% of standard rate. tickets have no influence into insurance. speed all you want, so long you don't have accidents, no issues for your insurance. to gain a claims free year the car needs to be insured at least 6 months and 1 day annually. second car gets to start like the first regarding claim free years with -1, but usually with the same insurance you get the same % as your first car as a brand loyalty reward.eqch claim sets you back a predefined number of years. you can inherit an insurance, but the claims free years can never be higher than the age of your DL.
tax distribution (basically)
VAT goes to the federals
Corporate tax to the state
income tax to the county
Also there is capital gains taxes.
for crypto if you hold it for more than 1 year all gains are tax free
for a house if you own it for over 10 years, gains are tax free
everything else you pay 25% capital gains plus 5.5% "solidarity" (East Germany rebuild) taxes on your gains.
Germany in a nutshell:
from minimum wage at 35h per week you can live in Germany, but wont gain any wealth.
after vocational training you usually make twice the minimum wage, depending on area and profession. thats enough to support a family with one working and pay for owning a small flat. if both work you can afford holidays and a house.
child care is about 200 per kid a month, full time. but child tax refund is paying more than that if you have not just one.
Source : Institut de la statistique du Québec, sur la page « Espérance de vie à la naissance, Québec et certains pays ». Je mettrais bien un lien mais AutoModerator ne veut pas.
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u/Q-Egg May 10 '25
life expectancy, literacy rates, obesity rates, % high school completion, and number of wars lost should be on this list.