August1991

We Canadians - from Newfoundland to Alberta - live in different provinces. Some of our provincial governments are Catholic. Imagine.

Disagree. Roosevelt - typical/wise US politician - did nothing in 1939. ==== In Russia and America, the war started in 1941. In Canada, it started in 1939.

Strongly disagree. I have been to Vietnam, 2022 - both north and south. Reagan won the cold war. Let me make this more plain: you Americans won the Cold War.

Yet Nixon famously went to China. He compromised. True, Nixon bombed Hanoi - but not as Churchill did Dresden. IMHO, Nixon was a player - like Clinton and Truman and Roosevelt. American politicians are mostly players. Reagan was different - he was like Trudeau. He had a principle. ==== I prefer a State with politicians such as Nixon and Clinton. Trudeau was more a federalist than a democrat. Lévesque was more a democrat than a federalist. I prefer politicians such as Lévesque - players.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaoulli_v_Quebec_(AG) Posted above in the thread.

The Netherlands are a densely populated country - yet by world standards, it has few people - some 16 million. Canada has about two times the population of Holland (two regions of the Netherlands) and yet Canada is about the size of Russia. China, India, Nigeria, Indonesia have large populations - yet many people are poor. My conclusion? Geographic size, population or population density don't matter. Government matters. ==== The US is the only large population country with a high GDP per capita Why? The US is a federal state with a constitution protecting the autonomy of state governments. In the US, a state governor can tell the US President to go to hell. In Canada, we apply the idea differently - here, education is a provincial issue.

Quebec? One could say the same of the Ontario government. The people of Ontario get special treatment. === We are a federal State.

You lost me at "Republican narrative". "... dock workers in Poland... " Rebound, you have never been to Poland. By curiosity, I have travelled to what is now Poland - because I was curious about Europe.

Interesting point. I reckon that if Andropov had lived, the Soviet Union could have lasted longer.

Could Canada become a society - political space - where some people view others as MAGA? You know - like Dems do - the Americans who hate Trump people. Or do we Canadians view others and get along: Catholics, English, whatever.

Not in Quebec. According to the federal Supreme Court, the federal Canada Health Act does not apply in Quebec.

Our federal Supreme Court has decided that Quebec has a different health care system from the rest of Canada. True, our provincial governments receive transfer payments. === In Quebec, I can go to a private doctor - like in Germsny. ========= But as I say, any discussion of health care in Canada is a discussion of death/life. We are no longer discussing practical health issues - we are discussing life itself.

That's Steele -not steel. Or did you mean steal? As a Canadian, I look forward to your 2024 US political elections.

They all disagreed with compromise. Trudeau, Churchill, Thatcher, Reagan all said - no. Trudeau famously said - after repeated questions: :"Someone will have to negotiate - but it won't be me." Thatcher? "I don't turn."

Moonbox, I am not arguing that countries with small populations are always rich. I am arguing that countries with small populations are often rich. Correlation is not causation, as they say. ==== The US is curious.

Disagree. Strongly. Remember our past: -Catholic/Protestant. English/French The FLQ. We Canadians have never lived so better together. ==== We have a bilingual federal state that has no official cultural.

In Quebec, we don't. Elsewhere in Canada, you think that you do. ====== The more that I have discussed health care on this forum, I have realised that it is an existential issue. We are not discussing health care. We are discussing life - and more pointedly, death.

Disagree strongly. There is no cultural difference. In France, they have two systems. In America, Medicaid and so on... In Canada (outside Quebec), we have a federal single-payer.

Sarcasm. The lowest method of humour. Comparing cigarettes to climate change is like comparing thalidomide or eugenics to global warming. ==== We can't measure the CO2 atmospheric levels accurately. (They are extremely small - 400 ppm, and measured in one place in Hawaii.) And we don't know if the apparent CO2 increase in the atmosphere is due to humans - oceans release/absorb CO2. And we don't know how CO2 affects the world's climate.

I was wrong. Trudeau, Churchill, Thatcher, Reagan were all correct.

In India, this is how a president shows that he is successful. (Note the music)

"If it doesn't appear in the media, it didn't happen... " ===== What information/signals matter any more? A ring on a finger? It is very hard for a politician to send a credible signal.

Singapore is another example. The ideas of Lee Kwan Yew are not possible at China-population levels - unless central China accepts federalism.

My argument is simple. Countries with lower population have higher GDP per capita. The exception is the United States. Why? The US is a truly federal state. Under the US Constitution, California (for example) is a "country" with 30 million people. Even in Canada - a place with 30 million people - we also organise ourselves this way. We have provinces.

Everyone in the world can see that your current president is a doddering crook, like Brezhnev at the end. Trump? To you leftist Americans, he's a boor - a buffoon. ===== Yet I reckon that you Americans will somehow figure a solution.