Zeitgeist

I feel like you’re holding back.

Yeah Canada is a great place to live and work. I'm happy up here, though it's a welcome change in the winter to get some sun and heat. There are U.S. cities I wouldn't mind living in for a while, but the experience wouldn't be much different from up here, except perhaps for New York. I've always thought that Canada is generally a cooler place to live socially and politically, though the cool factor in the U.S. varies city to city and state to state. There are great places to live down there for sure. The notion that somehow Canadians are flocking down there is fiction. Certain jobs don't exist up here because we don't have the same scales of industry. There's always some movement to centres of excellence. We have them too and draw talent internationally. It's just smaller scale up here. There are advantages and disadvantages to living in small versus large countries, and not just economic ones.

I agree that we should look more closely at countries like France for our health care, as they actually spend less of their GDP on it than we do for better outcomes. I would say though that once any real health concerns are flagged in triage (not common colds/flus or superficial boo-boo injuries), the wait times decrease. You are ranked according to need/type of problem. The waits are long for small concerns, which is why these should go to the family doctor or walk-in clinic instead of hospitals.

We are pretty cute actually...

Canada has a very strong national culture. Just visit the Vimy memorial and any doubts you might have will be quickly dashed. You’re bringing a different lens to your interpretation of Canada’s national identity. It’s interesting but not the image most Canadians have of Canada, loose as that identity might seem.

You export more to Canada than China and make more money from us than China, so stop playing the nobody cares game. If Trump is worried about reducing imports from China, he should also be worrying about losing exports to Canada because Canadians are pissed off.

I think you missed my points though. I'm saying that essentially the religious and ideological cultural basis of our society is changing, which is fine, whether Catholic, French or anything else. Nevertheless, this is Canada where such rights and protections will live, in perpetuity. That's the security of Canada. The fundamentals won't be compromised, ever.

The basis of Canadian values are parliamentary democracy, common law, French Civil Law (in Quebec), and Judeo-Christian principles (the Ten Commandments and respect/Golden Rule minus the "no other gods before me" and matters of private morality such as adultery, coveting, etc., as there is a basic separation between church and state). There's also a component of aboriginal spirituality reflected in these traditions, which varies but includes respect for land and all life (spirit is in all), equality (the circle), and freedom to live according to native traditions. There's also the notion of "the just society", which is equity and rule of law (emphasizing the spirit over the letter of the law), protected rights and freedoms (the Charter), free expression, protection of property, appreciation of multiple cultures (multiculturalism), and deference to English and French as official languages. To some extent our safety net is counted in these values, including free child education, the CPP, and universal health care (The Canada Health Act). While I don't think we need many hard and fast rules about what constitutes unreasonable accommodations of cultural practices that diverge from these values, which are open to interpretation and revised over time, I think that anyone who poses a threat to our physical safety, democratic freedoms and constitutional protections should NOT be allowed to immigrate to Canada. In addition, any foreign power that poses a threat to such rights and freedoms must be called out. We must have the capacity to defend ourselves against threats. That's why Canada needs a stronger military, more like the one of half a century ago.

Ha ha, are you pretending that the US elevates Mexico's status more than Canada does? What a snow job. I seem to remember Trump talking about all the drug pushers and rapists coming up from Mexico, though he did say that "some of them are good people." So charitable.

Canada is trying to eliminate barriers, but in a way that protects Canadian values and culture. I know those are quaint notions to some, but they matter to most Canadians, or else we would’ve joined the U.S. a long time ago. Using economic pressure to gain unfair advantage on trade certainly isn’t any way to win us over.

Bring on globalism. International rules have improved the world. Tariffs are a return to feudal mercantilism. Don’t worry, no one will take your militia weapons and put you in FEMA camps.

Well Trump didn't do anything either until he imposed the tariffs on China and multiple countries, including allies. Tariffs are a very blunt instrument. I don't really understand your argument. If Trudeau is following the leader, where is that leader taking us? It feels like off a cliff. Trudeau's hands are tied by U.S. trade volumes and policies that impact our exports. The path he's following is not of his choosing, nor should it be. It's been imposed. We're basically cutting our losses. In the bigger long-term picture, so are the Americans as they wake up to the reality that they are no longer the dominant market in the world. The centre of gravity is shifting. I don't say this mockingly. It's worrisome. I think the U.S. is salvaging what it can of industry and a way of life that probably isn't sustainable. I don't think living standards have to get worse, but they have to change. There's a ton of resistance to change. That's what Trump and Brexit are bucking, but it's a losing battle. Britain is paying a price for leaving the trading block. The U.S. is paying a price by raising protectionist trade barriers and threatening allies that supported a world order in which the U.S. held a dominant and privileged position. It's a dangerous game, because as the U.S. turns inward, China is expanding economic development, especially in Asia and Africa. Russia is taking advantage of U.S. frustrations about the costs of maintaining the post-WW2 order. Trump's policies look like they're reversing trade flows and reducing imports. That hasn't transpired. He's also made many countries, including allies, wary of trade reliance on the U.S. The tax cuts mask the problem because they pump dollars into the economy, but it's really borrowed money. A wiser move than having a trade war with low-cost jurisdictions would be to insist on international minimum labour standards and wages. Instead we're into tariffs and quotas that pit the U.S. against the world. How will that end? I know why he's doing it, but I question his method.

We don’t have a choice but to care, unless we try to delude ourselves into thinking we’re an island like Australia. That’s not our reality.

Presumably Trudeau’s new tariffs to prevent dumping are there to remove the U.S.’s excuse for imposing steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada. I hope Trump’s team recognizes the lengths we’ve gone to to prevent dumping and that these tariffs on Canada are hastily removed. The Canadian government has already collected almost 300 million dollars in counter tariffs on the US. The impacts on U.S. and Canadian exports are real.

Calculating tax at gas pumps is a simple computed algorithm. The cost is nominal.

We seem to matter enough to Americans like you that you feel this need to tell us how little you care about us. Last I checked, not caring means not even bothering to converse.

Most Canadians, the vast majority, function very well using only one of the official languages. The 99% literacy rate says it. Technical language specific to an industry will always require additional learning. Translation is necessary from one official language into the other any time you’re doing national business. That’s where learning the other official language as a second language comes in. That’s why it’s mandatory to learn FSL into early secondary.

I don’t think that’s a fair assessment. Chrétien navigated a very difficult recession, kept Canada out of Iraq, and set up important structural budget changes that reduced Canada’s debt. He had a pretty successful run. As for USMCA, I don’t think Trudeau should’ve signed it or that Parliament should ratify it, but I don’t think it was an easy call to make. It bothers me that Trump can use completing an agreement to his political advantage.

I think that’s a petty concern. We have much bigger issues to worry about.

But the nation has two official languages. That's the deal. Why fight this, so we can further balkanize the country by simply letting go of the official languages of our government institutions? I don't see who that serves apart from maybe new immigrants who don't want to learn the country's languages. Are we expected to change all of our traditions to meet the needs of one specific new group? Also, Esperanto was a failed experiment. I remember talk about that becoming a new international language. Of course it died. Where does one travel to have the Esperanto immersion experience? Idioms and slang are part of the fun of learning a new language. Language is culture. Shutting down the official language is shutting down that culture. It's not on.

Ah no. If you want to do business in Canada, it's French or English and bilingual labels. What's it like to do business in Belgium with two languages or Switzerland with four languages? You don't make a population give up their language because some people find it inconvenient. Canada has to produce export goods in whatever language the target market speaks. So what? The solution in Europe is often to provide multiple language labels: German, French, English, Spanish, and Italian, for example. How many companies won't sell into Europe just because many languages are spoken there? Print off labels in the language of the market country. Done.

Well some major trade agreements are already signed. I can see the US wanting us to have the same barriers to China that they have. Agreed, it’s a bad deal that should change.

Aug 2, 2017 - In Ottawa, bilingualism rates increased from 37.6 per cent in 2001 to 38.3 per cent in 2006. It's not necessary to know both French and English when emigrating to Canada, but it's necessary to know one of the two. Either language will do.

The official languages and packaging aren't changing, nor the cultural protections. People sometimes try to say Canada doesn't have an identity. Well these are aspects of the Canadian identity, non-negotiables.

I agree. I think Trump and Trudeau are two sides of the same coin: fear-monger tax slasher and bleeding heart spendthrift. Can't have one without the other. I do think the feds should play hardball to get this pipeline built. I think it's time to declare pipelines a matter of national security to circumvent court challenges. At a certain point the consultations must end. Harper, with all his faults, understood that Canada is and should embrace being an energy super power. If our vast territory can't handle the environmental impacts of a few pipelines, how can we expect to have any resource-based industry in Canada?