Canada

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The best nation on earth or Cold, dank and kind of boring

― anthony, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

To paraphrase Voltaire, "a few acres of snow." He might have been wrong, though.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Every time I think of my homeland, I want to go back and kick everybody's ass, or start a civil war. I think it would be good for the country, and maybe it would fucking GROW UP as a nation. The bovine passivity and endless trivial whining of the national discourse disgusts me. Canadians in general have no vision, culture or mental horizons that stretch beyond having as EASY and COMFORTABLE a life as possible. (Beats me why they all settled in an inhospitable wasteland that's frozen over 10 months of the year, but I guess some people are just clueless.) And yet, constantly forgetting that it is impossible to please everybody, they are forever mired in depression and pointlessness, bitterly attacking everybody else, constantly imagining worst-case scenarios and projecting their siege-mentality fantasies.
What a waste of potential! Instead of using the 'no- culture' stereotype as an opportunity for each individual to be their own tabula rasa and develop the first truly existentialist republic (i.e. getting rid of the monarchy connection would be a start - their very existence is an example of what disgusts me), our poor, simple, confused people try to simulate everybody else's (with the 'unpleasant' bits taken out, missing the point of not only 'culture' but LIFE), and blame everybody from the Feds to American TV when it doesn't work.

And did I mention I'm a distant relative of Calixte Savoie?

― dave q, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

I love Canada . It has its problems but it seems to belive in discourse. It is anation that talks and screams and yells at each other. We try for justice as much as possible. ( Land Claims or Chinese Reprations.) We haev a culture that does kick against the pricks. We are not passive, we just do not feel a need to kill . ten thousnad protestors showed up in Edmonton to save medicare. We try to make sure all provinces are eqaul. We do not let the poor die on the streets.

― anthony, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

'We do not let the poor die on the streets'

But what if you're the Premier of Ontario? Oh right, in Ontario they just poison them.

― dave q, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

That is Toronto . Toronto is not Canada.
Seriously tell me more about the charge.

― anthony, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Every now and then ... and those "every now and thens" have been coming with increased frequency since Chimpboy was installed by the 5 Supreme Injustices ... I've considered moving up North. I can even speak French! Do Canadian lawyers wear those cool British barrister wigs?

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

No but do not move to Toronto !!

― anthony, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

I would tell ya Canadians to ditch the Windsors, but then any American's opinion is worthless on that subject because too large a percent of our population pulled the lever for the Drooling Idiot Crown Prince of our own self-styled Royal Family (didn't we fight the fucking Revolution to get rid of worthless dynastic morons like George the Turd?)

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Actually, I haven't been there in about 8 years now, so hopefully it's getting more like Anthony describes it...

― dave q, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

All the Canadians i've met ( a selection of anglophone and quebecois) have been thouroughly decent nice people. I'd love to explore the wild bits, but I have no conception of the cities. (I like the idea of the old bits of Montreal and Quebec city but I can't even place what they look like)

― Ed, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

> No but do not move to Toronto !!
I've always wanted to live or visit Newfoundland, fer some strange reason. Not just Saint John's, even Labrador.

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Saint Johns is the nicest city. It is hip enough but people are fun and kind. They drink, they dance, they laugh and the make some of the most kick ass music known to man .

― anthony, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

It's probably in the top 30 interesting places to visit...Canada has a cool flag, and I hear Vancouver has the best standard of living anywhere on the planet...And I like the comics of Seth, Joe Matt and Chester Brown, they all live in Canada...and Canada plays cricket (not very well)...but my friend says the border guards aren't very nice. Alot of wrestlers are Canadian. I reckon it'd be a nice place to visit for 3 weeks.

― james e l, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

someone told me halifax was nice once

― gareth, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Matthew Collings made Churchill look as cool as fuck on Sunday night.

― cabbage, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Ah, Churchill. Without doubt th eremotest place that I have ever been to but lovely nonetheless. From the little experience I have of Canada (Toronto, driving around the Great Lakes and up through Manitoba)I think it's a wonderful place. Although could somebody explain why burgers are called Mr Big Nips?

― Jonnie, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

See Inuvik if you want remote. Try spending a summer there at 15 .

― anthony, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

'Seriously tell me more about the charge'

If you mean my reference to 'poisoning', it's that contaminated-water scandal I was referring to - what was the name of that town again?

― dave q, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Walkerton was not Harrises Fault. Walkerton was bored and compalcent small town beourcreats. Now Harris is evil for alot of other reasons, don't go blaming him for everything wrong in Ontario.

― anthony, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

'Small-town bureaucrats' - EXACTLY. Where I'm from, it's noted for miles of prime beachfront, so the geniuses in charge decided to build a massive white elephant hotel/recreation complex on it (which I think has gone broke already) in the mistaken belief that any tourist goes to Canada for any reason other than seeing 'unspoiled' wilderness.

― dave q, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

I grew up in a nepotocracy . But that is most places that are small.

― anthony, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Plus I hate the way we hype the crap out of everything in sight. Why does every pathetic town have to have some superlative attached to it? You know, "World's Biggest Frisbee Collection", "Site of World's Deepest Outdoor Latrine" etc. It makes us look like even bigger hicks than we already are.

― dave q, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

It looked nice in Hard Core Logo

― Geoff, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Canada has at least two kick-ass cities: Vancouver and Montreal. I'd move to either of them in a heartbeat (although Montreal might require learning at least some rudimentary French). Unfortunately, my wife would freeze to death.

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Newfieland is nice to visit, dont stay. Nothing but rocks, Moose and friendly people. (And Screech is made in the Caribbean despite what the map of Newfieland on the cover.) Halifax is a great little city, freaking isolated in the winter at times though now that the Pop Explosion is long gone and people dont drop by and play shows with the same frequency. \n Still its cold, dont know about dank and defently boring in large streches. Like Dryden to Sudbury or Moncton to Montreal or Winnipeg to Alberta.

― zacko, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Anthony, what's so bad about Toronto? Is it too much like an American city? I've never been to Toronto, just curious. I've been to Ottowa and Vancouver and Nova Scotia as a kid. Loved 'em. Not boring at all. And Lake Louise is the most beautiful place I've ever been, outside of maybe Southern Utah. The plains areas are no more tedious than the American plains. I can't believe I've never been to Montreal. Also, how would you describe Edmonton?

And Canadian comedians are the best.

― Arthur, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

I rather like Toronto -- pretty, clean, some interesting architechture. Actually, I like all of the major Canadian cities I've been to, especially Montreal. Windsor is kind of tacky due to all of the casinos and tourists, but it still receives classic status from me because the drinking age is 19 and thus allowed me some enjoyable hours in the bar when I was young and stupid.

― Nicole, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

*deep breath*

It is fairly diffucult to explain Canadain Geopolitics but i will try. I am a prarie boy born and breed . We are taught to find Toronto unplseant. It is because tehy view themself as the center of the iniverese, because they have the center of the media and alot of polticalans and because they seem a little charmless (ie American)

― anthony, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

So you're a progressive ruralist?

― Nicole, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

I live in a city of about a million people. I like it because it is not a farm. I grew up on a beet farm.

― anthony, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

So you just hate Toronto, then? I think I see.

― Nicole, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Its just a nation wide ase of penis envy over our large phallic city identifier. It takes a special city to have a prick as big as Mel Lastman.

― zacko, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

all canadains hate Toronto except those who live in Toronto.

― anthony, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

You must be Albertain aren't you? There is a special hatred for Toronto from that province (and Cape Breton). I dont understand it. I just tell people Im Acadian when Im travelling and they never are the wiser.

― zacko, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

I think of canada as a family. I really belive that we canucks view Toronto as the sqaure brother in the suburbs.

― anthony, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

I don't know, I liked Toronto when I was there, and I don't really know anyone who disses it, besides the obvious not-a-party-town putdowns. I think it's anglos that are more into the whole silly Montreal-vs-Toronto competitive thing.

Nicole : Come to Montreal ! Drinking age here = 18 :)

― Patrick, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Oh, I don't worry about the drinking age anymore but I would like to come to Montreal again -- it really is lovely.

― Nicole, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

I am an expert on Canada, having visited Vancouver for a week earlier this year. I like it. I found it's politics interesting, much more like those over here than those in the US.

However, for all that Canada is great, my impression is that it will split into at least four countries in the next twenty years.

― The Dirty Vicar, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

But Toronto *is* the centre of the universe! It is, it is, It IS!!!!

;)

― Kim, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Lets face it, its no USA. One day it will just be a state of teh US, like California or something

― Mike Hanley, Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

As a Newfoundland-born, Toronto-bred expat currently going to school in New Jersey, allow me to offer another perspective. Newfoundland is cold, the people are nice, and it suffers from the same benefits and drawbacks of any other small place with a ruralistic culture. It's fairly anti-intellectual in a lot of ways, but the arts flourish for lack of anything better to do. There's a lot of bullshit gossip about who's related to who, and whose son is gay and moving to Amsterdam, but I don't think anybody who visits would experience this too much. Come visit if you like Celtic music, a decent pub scene and cultcha. Most people shouldn't move there.

Toronto is a really fun city, esp. for Americans with their strong dollar. There's a pretty large club and bar scene, good shopping, repertory movie theatres, good concerts, musicals, public transit, the whole shebang. It's a good place to live, certainly has its share of pretentious motherfuckers but so does any other large city you'd care to name. And the reason everybody else in the country hates it is the same reason everyone in the South hate New York, and why everyone in New York hate people in California, etc.

― Dave M., Tuesday, 24 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Y'all live in igloos, don'tcha?

Just kidding...love it whenever I can get the opportunity to skip out over here and hop up to Vancouver. Toronto and Montreal are both nice places. Never been disappointed by Canada.

― Joe, Wednesday, 25 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

Hi Anthony, I live in Canada Quebec to be exact and It truely God's country! We have the four seasons here which is ideal. There is no food that would equal the fantastic chefs of our province. I do go out of province and am treated well everywhere. It is not like home though. You would never regret visiting here , and your wife can shop 'til she drops :) Gale.

― Gale Deslongchamps, Friday, 3 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

I can't believe no-one mentioned Victoria, best climate in canada, not too big and ugly and once you look past the Olde English schtick it has a great personality. It's funny how everybody hates Toronto but stereotypes often occur for a reason ;)

― Scott, Tuesday, 14 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

BTW the day Canada becomes part of Amerikkka is the day i move to frickin Uruguay.

― Scott, Tuesday, 14 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

I love victoria .

― anthony, Tuesday, 14 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-five years ago)

two years pass...

A revive: as I needed to add a little something. It is almost fall and I have been feeling all full of Canadian pride. I love where I come from. And hold no grudge against thoughs who do not. I hope you feel the same way about your home. Maybe it has something to do with reassuring international students that they will not freeze to death in a Canadian prairie winter. And explaining the beauty that winter has on the city, and it's people. It's a time to relax, to slow down, and reconnect. When the summer's are short it seems as though every weekend there are plans, activities, and travels. 12 weekends of crammed full stuff, you can barely remember what it was that you did. Then fall comes, sweaters, toques and mitts spill in to the hall. Leaves in the yard crunch under foot as you walk in the now dark morning to work or school. You hope that it doesn't snow for Halloween. Then snow drifts, shorter days and spending whole weekends hunkered in the house with "the god father" trilogy and loads of hot chocolate with marshmallows.
Braving the windchill, driving in whiteouts, and relishing the joy of putting your frozen hands up the backs of loved ones shirts. And counting down the days to spring.
Damn it's great!! But it may not be your cup of tea. But I'll take the whole pot please.

Cold weather, I am ready for ya'

― danielle g. (danielle g.), Friday, 19 September 2003 04:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I love it too! I'd like to avoid slipping into a Molson Canadian-esque nationalistic type rant but it's hard sometimes. I haven't lived at home for a while and it's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. I'm from Toronto (the 'burbs actually) but I love all of it. The relaxed vibe on the West coast coupled with those mountains, the dramatic beauty of the East coast, the old world appeal of Montreal and Quebec. I love driving through the praries and experiencing that sense of space that threatens to overwhelm you. I love that the biggest television audience in our nation's history tuned in for a hockey game. Not a royal wedding or a moon landing, a hockey game! In the States people remember where they were when Kennedy was shot. Canadians remember where they were when Henderson scored against the Russians or when they heard that Gretzky had been traded. I love the first day of spring in Canada when people who have been cooped up inside for months explode into the parks and streets in a raucous celebration of life. I love barbequeing in -20C. I love the trees and the lakes and our surprisingly progressive social policies. I'm going back in a few months and I can't wait!

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Friday, 19 September 2003 07:39 (twenty-two years ago)

just got this email:-

'Rx drugs from Canada.
We have some of the l0west prices for drugs in the world.'

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Friday, 19 September 2003 08:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 106 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

We come for the donuts, we stay for the hard-headed socialism.

― clemenza, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 18:23 (fourteen years ago)

ten months pass...

We're number three!

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/canada-among-top-three-best-places-live-quality-195522175.html

(And I don't even think Easy Availability of Crack was one of the metrics.)

― clemenza, Tuesday, 28 May 2013 21:38 (thirteen years ago)

We've been plummeting on the UN's Human Development Index: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index#2013_report

We had a lock on the #1 spot at one time (10 years I believe?).

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Tuesday, 28 May 2013 22:48 (thirteen years ago)

And afaict that "#3 overall ranking" is something journalists came up with by giving an equal weighting to every indicator and adding them up. The OECD does not give an overall ranking; I would really question whether 'life satisfaction' or 'trust in government' or even 'self-reported health' should be given the same weighting as e.g. life expectancy, employment, income, or safety from crime.

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Tuesday, 28 May 2013 22:59 (thirteen years ago)

two years pass...

I heard some interview on some Canadian interview show about some web series called "The Plateaus,"about rival Canadian indie bands and maybe notable for reuniting the cast of some other Canadian show, called "Popular Mechanics for Kids." So I watched a couple of episodes, and ... man, it was terrible. But I bet if I were Canadian it would be funnier, just because I would recognize the cast of "Popular Mechanics for Kids" not as their current famous Hollywood selves (Jay Baruchel, Elisha Cuthbert) and more as the cast of "Popular Mechanics for Kids," which, if I were Canadian and of a certain age, I probably would have grown up watching.

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 11 September 2015 17:58 (eleven years ago)

one year passes...

just discovered this

http://i.imgur.com/uvcmZPm.jpg

how would donald say eh

― i n f i n i t y (∞), Thursday, 25 May 2017 17:26 (nine years ago)

I hold s epcial place in my heart for donalds irascible chacrter - he is the spiritual essence of truth from Disney's micky mouselie based germ

― Violet Jax (Violet Jynx), Thursday, 25 May 2017 18:57 (nine years ago)

Ilx Via Trans-Continental Bollocks Trip '21

― calstars, Thursday, 25 May 2017 18:58 (nine years ago)

the only educational moment I ever had from waxcting donald duck was that chip and dale are assholes

― Violet Jax (Violet Jynx), Thursday, 25 May 2017 19:08 (nine years ago)

three months pass...

can i get a ruling on this

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIFHalQUMAAhSa3.jpg:small

― mookieproof, Friday, 25 August 2017 15:38 (nine years ago)

I'm from Ontario and we called it soccer baseball.

― jmm, Friday, 25 August 2017 15:43 (nine years ago)

the fact that western canadians call a decal a "deckle" had me shook (i've never heard anyone say it irl, probably because people don't have any reason to say decal very often)

― -_- (jim in vancouver), Friday, 25 August 2017 16:20 (nine years ago)

Stay calm and back slowly away from Saskatchewan

http://www.the10and3.com/wp-content/uploads/Canada-Map-Q13.jpg

― jmm, Friday, 25 August 2017 17:24 (nine years ago)

anglophone elementary school in Montreal called it soccer baseball

― flopson, Friday, 25 August 2017 17:26 (nine years ago)

I've never heard a sofa called a chesterfield except in some "what Canadians say" context.

― jmm, Friday, 25 August 2017 17:28 (nine years ago)

re: decals
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cockamamie#Etymology

― sean gramophone, Friday, 25 August 2017 17:29 (nine years ago)

Soccer baseball, 100%--we play it all the time in school.

― clemenza, Friday, 25 August 2017 17:31 (nine years ago)

Grandparents always call it a chesterfield, so I use that when talking to them. Never in my life heard "soccer baseball" in Ontario, vaguely aware kickball exists, but not a particularly athletic child..

― she started dancing to that (Finefinemusic), Saturday, 2 September 2017 14:35 (nine years ago)

Yep, it was always "soccer baseball" ime (in Ottawa, so ON). I had thought that maybe "kickball" was an Americanism for pick-up soccer or something.

― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Saturday, 2 September 2017 14:38 (nine years ago)

I learned recently that American 'kickball' does not actually involve a soccer ball, which might explain the confusion.

― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Saturday, 2 September 2017 14:40 (nine years ago)

I've never heard a sofa called a chesterfield except in some "what Canadians say" context.

the fact that western canadians call a decal a "deckle" had me shook (i've never heard anyone say it irl, probably because people don't have any reason to say decal very often)

Both OTM

― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Saturday, 2 September 2017 14:41 (nine years ago)

Always "deckle" for me growing up making plastic model kits in Ontario. Hearing "dee-kal" from other people had me questioning my existence.

― Millsner, Sunday, 3 September 2017 06:09 (nine years ago)

I think I tend to hesitate whenever I have to pronounce it and end up landing on 'deck-kal'.

― jmm, Sunday, 3 September 2017 13:37 (nine years ago)

six years pass...

So, we have a friend that moved to Canada about ... five years ago? Six? It was for work, but they also want to get their citizenship before moving back to the US, just in case. Anyway, my wife just got lunch with them to catch up, and it was kind of amazing the number of complaints they had about Canada that I'd never heard. Some examples:

-There is apparently a cabal of just maybe four grocery stores that set the prices, which are really high. Like, $9 a peanut butter, $20+ dollars for chicken breasts, that sort of thing.

-Lending practices are bad and so tied in to the housing market that the flipping industry dominates and drives up prices (sounds familiar).

-Fabled one-year maternity leave is super stingy, so much so that in this person's case it's just not worth it.

-There are only two government-approved cell phone companies, and neither of them offer unlimited internet, so people tend to just get American plans with Canadian coverage.

I have no dog in this fight, I was just surprised to hear the complaints. Canadians of ILX, does any of this sound familiar?

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 10 October 2023 23:14 (two years ago)

Signing up for a Rogers cell phone plan was one of the first things I had to do when I moved here. I hate them. I felt like they wanted a blood sample in addition to utility bills and proof of residency.

― beamish13, Tuesday, 10 October 2023 23:41 (two years ago)

-There is apparently a cabal of just maybe four grocery stores that set the prices, which are really high. Like, $9 a peanut butter, $20+ dollars for chicken breasts, that sort of thing.

True. Although those prices are slightly overstated, the primary grocery store company (Loblaws, CEO Galen “I’m A Fuckin Piece Of Shit” Weston) publicly tried to justify a generalized 15% hike on all food goods, and now his days are decisively numbered up here

-Lending practices are bad and so tied in to the housing market that the flipping industry dominates and drives up prices (sounds familiar).

True; the housing market was less-hit by the 2008 crash and it is the Wild West of flipping and Air BnB’ing and all major and minor city centres are essentially rent-uninhabitable, purchase-impossible. Toronto and Vancouver recently overtook HK in terms of rent-to-income quotient.

-Fabled one-year maternity leave is super stingy, so much so that in this person's case it's just not worth it.

Depends on your employer. My apologies to your friend :(

-There are only two government-approved cell phone companies, and neither of them offer unlimited internet, so people tend to just get American plans with Canadian coverage.

True, Rogers and Bell. Both companies are garbage grifter get-the-guillotine bullshit. I myself had an American plan for years, a 646 NYC number that went undetected as being illegitimate by AT&T for years (because I was regularly travelling to USA), but once I relocated from LA back to TO they wised up and cancelled it on me.

I think I’ve screamed “I literally don’t give a fuck about collection agencies, you can sodomize my credit rating all you want, I am a permatenant and I secure my dodgy residencies with wads of cash up front” in the face of over a dozen overcharges from Rogers, you literally have to scan your bill every month because they’ll slip in the most fucked up shit. “Oh, did you take the train down the St Laurence and drift too close to the American border? Yeah we auto charged you for a day’s roaming fee for the 30 seconds you were accidentally on a foreign network.”

There are no unlimited data fees here. It is literally cheaper to carry a cell phone in Norway

― (the poster formerly known as Twitter) (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 11 October 2023 00:59 (two years ago)

Yeah my sister when she lived thee thought eating out was cheaper than groceries. She’d go across the border and load up on Trader Joe’s.

― deep wubs and tribral rhythms (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 11 October 2023 01:02 (two years ago)

you literally have to scan your bill every month because they’ll slip in the most fucked up shit. “Oh, did you take the train down the St Laurence and drift too close to the American border? Yeah we auto charged you for a day’s roaming fee for the 30 seconds you were accidentally on a foreign network.”

preach

― flopson, Wednesday, 11 October 2023 06:28 (two years ago)

it's possible to shop at cheap and quite wonderful grocery stores if you live in a central neighborhood of montreal, toronto or vancouver. but some suburbs you're stuck with the big chains and they're pretty expensive. driving across the border to trader joe's doesn't really make sense due to the exchange rate (unless you're getting paid in usd, but then canadian groceries are cheap in purchasing power parity terms...)

― flopson, Wednesday, 11 October 2023 06:33 (two years ago)

Josh, what city & province did this person live in?

per usual Quebec is an exception to some of this, afaict. e.g., I have QC-based Videotron phone + internet service; the internet plan is unlimited, though the phone isn't (which I wouldn't remotely need anyway). It is expensive, but I've never met a single person here with an American plan.

I've never heard a complaint about parental leave (also day care is v cheap aiui), but I mostly know academics so it could vary by employer here too, not sure.

Generally speaking though—again afaict, flopson could clarify here I'm sure—Canada does have a pretty bad monopoly problem in various industries (news media being the one I'm familiar with) and apparently little regulatory appetite for doing anything about it.

I've heard about people going to the US for groceries, but unless they're lying to the border guards, you'd have to pay customs on everything you bought (assuming <24 hours trip), so I don't really get it

― rob, Wednesday, 11 October 2023 16:13 (two years ago)

Tbf, I do know several (five?) people with American phone plans who predominantly reside in Canada, but they also work regularly in USA and/or are partnered with an American, and divide their time between the two countries

― (the poster formerly known as Twitter) (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 11 October 2023 16:18 (two years ago)

Quebec is the exception when it comes to grocery monopolies, but god protect you if you ever need an emergency room

― (the poster formerly known as Twitter) (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 11 October 2023 16:19 (two years ago)

yeah funnily enough we went with Videotron when we moved here because they had a now-discontinued plan where your phone worked the same in the US as it did QC (but using it in ROC meant roaming lmao)

the QC health care system is indeed a disaster

― rob, Wednesday, 11 October 2023 16:41 (two years ago)

Josh, what city & province did this person live in?

Toronto, I believe.

The specifics of the paid maternity leave scheme, iirc, was something like $35k for the year, which the person we know said wouldn't cover their rent.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 11 October 2023 19:04 (two years ago)

Yeah as a single income that would be below the poverty line in Montreal, hence unimaginable in TO

― rob, Wednesday, 11 October 2023 19:09 (two years ago)

yeah in Quebec, the provincial govt gives you paid maternity leave also, which combined with the federal contribution comes to (iirc) 70% of your yearly salary or 80k, whichever is lower. Which I think is pretty good as far as North America goes.

― silverfish, Wednesday, 11 October 2023 20:20 (two years ago)

one year passes...

1560s (implied in Canadian), said to be a Latinized form of a word for "village" in an Iroquoian language of the St. Lawrence valley that had gone extinct by 1600. Most still-spoken Iroquoian languages have a similar word (such as Mohawk kana:ta "town").

― | (Latham Green), Tuesday, 3 December 2024 14:59 (one year ago)

As dramatized in this Heritage Minute vignette from the 90s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfKr-D5VDBU

― jmm, Tuesday, 3 December 2024 15:09 (one year ago)

why is it SO SMOKY!?!??!

― | (Latham Green), Tuesday, 3 December 2024 15:41 (one year ago)

Montreal is still like that tbh

― rob, Tuesday, 3 December 2024 15:47 (one year ago)

If you really want to make them mad you speak English and if they say to speak French you say "You call that French? I guess you have never been to FEANCE!" and laugh evil

― | (Latham Green), Wednesday, 4 December 2024 16:32 (one year ago)

Montreal is still like that tbh

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Schwartzs_Montreal_Hebrew_Deli_2010.jpg

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 4 December 2024 16:36 (one year ago)

that place looks like it demands you enjoy their charcutiery

― | (Latham Green), Wednesday, 4 December 2024 16:42 (one year ago)

one year passes...

Learning about the Canadian Strait or Homuz equivalent

Just a reminder that every ocean ship entering the Great Lakes goes through the Welland Canal. Eight locks, twenty-seven miles, all of it in Ontario.
That is the route. $26.3 billion of American trade depends on it.

Trump didn’t think this through. pic.twitter.com/mMbbeTt56F
— LoriC 🇨🇦 (@LLoriCC) August 27, 2026

― xyzzzz__, Friday, 28 August 2026 16:43 (two weeks ago)

hey that's where my girlfriend is from! uh, you guys haven't met her

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 28 August 2026 16:45 (two weeks ago)

canada has nukes too!

― Oaf To Joy (Boring, Maryland), Friday, 28 August 2026 17:33 (two weeks ago)

Canadians love their children too

― cryptosicko, Friday, 28 August 2026 17:39 (two weeks ago)

Canadian Bacon now looking eerily prescient

― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 28 August 2026 17:57 (two weeks ago)

canada has nukes too!

― Oaf To Joy (Boring, Maryland), Friday, August 28, 2026 1:33 PM (one hour ago)

is this a reference or joke I don't get?

― rob, Friday, 28 August 2026 18:45 (two weeks ago)

The Welland Canal is pretty cool. Worth stopping to see ships pass through the locks if you happen to be visiting Niagara Falls.

― jmm, Friday, 28 August 2026 19:04 (two weeks ago)

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