Close Reading

Decades ago I remember the argument "you're not allowing the parents of immigrants to come to Canada" and the response of "that will destroy the CPP"' being discussed in the news and Parliament for quite some time. Seems we've gone from one small ditch on one side straight over the cliff's edge on the other now.

Remember all the discussions and debate about implementing tariffs on our closest trade partners and allies during the campaigning of the last election. I don’t either…. That must have been discussed on a private call with Putin. Makes no sense otherwise. This is terrible for US end the west overall.

When my daughter was 10 or 11, I took her and two of her friends to Vancouver for a day's adventure. I had an agenda the girls were not aware of but the friend's parents were. We started out in China Town and then worked our way to East Hastings where the druggies, drugged prostitutes, mentally ill, and homeless congregate. As we walked thru this mass of people on our way to Gastown I felt the kids wrapping themselves around me. All 3 of them were silent with very worried eyes. We then went to lunch and discussed what we had just seen. The girls are now 39 years old and still remember this adventure and still talk about how it impacted them.

Remember to tell. DONALD TRUMP.. That these people are citizens of Venezuela and NOT AFRICANS as he likes to say and they are not Prison Breakaways or Lunatic Assylums.Seekers or Escapees.....These same problems is in the UK....the whole main highway across the Hyde Park in middle of London has been turned to tent houses, in the Grassland that is Supposed to Depict the green areas. Now the whole of the UK last Week Converged in . Parliament to Discuss how to tackle it....And it was in a Bipartisan way....So let the USA please take note to Follow Suite. That is how a National Problem is Supposed to be tackled...Collectively....This is a worldwide invasion to the Rich Developed Western Worlds to all over Europe and America its also going on to Asia Japan Korean countrysides, Australia and New Zealand...This is a Situation that should be Resisted, Tackled, and Sort out Collectively between every one in and out of government

I remember discussing this, a few decades ago, we predicted this outcome! PURE Canadian born, and raised is getting more rare.

Perhaps I will not name the most popular destination for relocation, but I suggest coming to Russia, there are many positive reasons for this (I take Moscow as an example):\n1) Affordable housing with reasonable prices. The price for a one-room apartment in Moscow, for an apartment with a good renovation will cost you about $500 Plus utility bills with the Internet will be 50%. (The most surprising thing for foreigners is that in winter you can wear a T-shirt and shorts in apartments, and sometimes it will be hot), my cost of heating in a three-room apartment is $35 per month for 95 sq.m.\nDo you want a house? Please! House 435 sq.m. 3 floors for $100,000.\nAre you a young family? Get a preferential mortgage. Got a baby? Get money! A second one appeared. Get even more! Third child? Children's camps, travel card, free school meals, as well as a lot of benefits.\n2) Developed infrastructure, accessible public transport ($30 pass for all types of transport in Moscow and the nearest Moscow region), unlimited travel pass. 783 parks in Moscow, numerous shopping centers, countless child development centers; in winter you can ski and snowboard in these same parks. In general, you will definitely find something to keep yourself busy.\n3) Affordable medicine. Russian citizenship can be obtained after 5 years of permanent residence, BUT foreign citizens have the right to obtain a medical policy for themselves after obtaining a residence permit. The price comes out to be approximately 30-60%, depending on what risk group you are in. After obtaining citizenship, all medicine is free, seriously, a foreigner I know from Australia asked me about this: “What do you mean it’s free?” All this is included in taxes, and the cost is peanuts compared to yours. The level of medicine is high, this is a separate topic for discussion, I don’t know why, but our medical centers are compared with India, this is not so. The current clinics look like Cyberpunk 2077, seriously. In the regions, unfortunately, it is completely different. In December 2023, I was hospitalized with double pneumonia, and I didn’t pay a single ruble for treatment.\n4) Security. You can calmly walk around Moscow at night and not be afraid of anything. There are cameras everywhere in Moscow, on shops, on poles, and video recorders on cars. Everyone knows perfectly well that if you commit a crime in Moscow, you will be punished, and no one in their right mind needs this. Here I advise you to look at the channels of your fellow countrymen. Banditry is an echo of the past, in the 90s people survived as best they could, then the ruble depreciated and everyone fought for food as best they could, now the situation is different.\n5) Racism. I won’t rant, here you should also watch the video of your fellow countrymen who live in Russia, not those who accuse us of racism while living in their country and who have never visited us, but those who live. If you feel other people’s eyes on you because of your dark skin color, excuse me, it’s out of interest, well, there are few of us like that. On a personal note, no one cares what color you are, as long as you are a person who lives within the law as a peaceful citizen. If you act like an asshole, behave inappropriately, use insulting words towards other people, you will feel it quickly. In general, if you are a good person, you can forget about this word.\n6) If you receive a residence permit, education for your children is free. Our state generally cares excessively about children. And I still remembered! Summer holidays for children are 3 months, so where should they go? Summer camp, give mom and dad a break from your nasty whims))\nIf you want to send them to the Black Sea, if you want to send them to Altai to a health center, you can send them to a city camp (They brought the child in the morning and took them away in the evening). Previously, I was constantly sent to the black sea on a permit that was given to my father at work (Shipyard). Now this is only possible in special cases.\n\n7) Vacations. You are required to go on paid leave for 28 days a year. 12 public holidays.\n\n8) Sexual minorities. Having seen enough of cancel culture, where the minority opinion became higher than the majority opinion, these communities were cancelled. When people are openly threatened for their opinions on gender. Fire teachers for using the wrong pronoun. Where pedophiles try to legitimize themselves. We are not on the same path with this.\n\nNow there is an acute shortage of IT specialists, maybe this will be interesting for them.\nFarmers like to settle here; 100 hectares of land can be bought for $16,000. Compared to Europe at $5000-6000 per acre. A well-known foreign representative is Justus Walker if anyone is interested.\nIn general, Russia is open to new citizens of the country, the state gives everything to create a unit of society, on your part you just need to be a law-abiding citizen and live a quiet life. We have problems in the country, they are the same as in any other, but nowhere will there be freedom to implement your plans as in Russia.\n\nAll the best!

As a Canadian now living in Arizona who is a retiree I simply love the weather and I have some wonderful friends. I prefer to be here and enjoy the snow free areas and amazing weather. That said I had an appendicitis operation on easter weekend. Even with medicare and a supplemental insurance I will be paying about 2600.00 U.S. I still have a totally Canadian worldview for the most part and simply have to keep quiet most of the time when it comes to discussions about things going on here. ie. Red vs Blue. I recognize that I am in a foreign culture and for example the passion for guns is a odd odd concept for me. Growing up hunting and owning guns makes me even more puzzled. ie. guns are for harvesting game. period. As long as I remember that American culture has some really odd things about it. (I draw the comparison to some nation abroad that believes in female circumcision or something) then I am fine. I tend to be easy going about it all and I survive fine here.

I remember when Christians were Christians.\nNow there’s just hate.\nWe could confiscate businesses that hire ily and they wouldn’t have a job.. they would go home.. the right wing refuses even to discuss it.. I wonder why..?

I’m with my fellow Canadians, I’ll visit the US (although even then, it’s beginning to look less and less ideal) but over my dead body would I live there. \nThe fact you have become desensitized and don’t discuss school shootings is baffling. 4 or 5 years ago, there was a shooting where I live in Canada. The whole city was on lock down. I believe one elderly woman died, and 3 were injured. The person was caught, arrested, and is rotting away in jail. It hasn’t happened since. People still remember it. My little sister and I were scared, so we hid in my bedrooms closet. (It was on the second floor, and there was no way anybody could break in and get up there easily.)\n\nHealthcare is a huge issue. My family has a long line of health issues, and with that in mind, the risk is just to obscene.\n\nI am a woman. The fact that laws are being stripped away from us by old white men who have no idea what it is like to be a woman in the states is horrifying. \n\nGun culture. It’s near-on impossible or at least it’s incredibly difficult to get guns here. Owning guns isn’t respected. When people die from being shot, it’s remembered and spoken about, even years later. At least to me, it seems you care more for your Guns and the rights to own and use them, then Women who want to have bodily autonomy.\n\nYour political issues. I don’t even know what to say at this point beyond. The entire senate is rich old straight white men who like to make laws about groups they aren’t part of, and strip laws away from others. You basically have two polar opposite sides of the political spectrum and that alone, divides people so deep they can’t even be in the same room for more then 10 seconds.\n\n\nI’m Part of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. Enough said. \n\nI’m well aware that not everyone in the US is like this. But in my eyes, that’s more then enough to deter me. I’m glad you decided to take a look at this, and see our reactions to the questions. And I’m glad you didn’t take offence to the harsh or bitter answers. Sure Canada isn’t perfect, but it’s better in enough ways to keep me much preferring staying here.

Let’s remember a few historical things:\n\nSpain ended up colonizing indigenous people in “south america”\n\nThe english either went into war and burnt their villages, or forced them off their land to shitty land.\n\nThe french were also in the mix.\n\nAll of these european groups used guns and force.\n\nat this point the native americans saw guns as the new means of power.\n\nmoney also has power, but if you’re indigenous, there wasn’t a great chance of that. some resorted to guns to make a living. once america had structure, the people with guns got deported.\n\nthose deported still resorted to guns having power, because really…colonialization screwed up the native south and north american’s way of life.\n\nthey started gangs and drug cartels etc. they will kill and pillage like they were taught by their imperialist europeans and that power has been passed down for hundreds of years with much more complexity.\n\nIf anything, America should go to war with the drug cartels studying where the cocain etc is coming from. if they want to legalize it or make it a proper business or something to make it, that’s another discussion. \n\ndo you think these people want to come to america and clean a mcdonalds at 2am?\n\nno. \n\ndo they want to be mowed down with guns at home? heeeell no.\n\ndo they want to be united with their families, culture, and way of life free of guns? yeeees\n\nget to the root of the problem.\n\na blockade or wall is not a solution of any sort.

I think you ladies are way out in left field and you really don't know what you're talkin about. Unfortunately for some people it doesn't work out for whatever reason usually because they do not want to assimilate very well. I grew up in Ontario to a french-canadian father and an Italian mother in my life in Canada was so perfect said if I had to dream up a better life I could not have done so. I grew up playing all the sports and enjoyed all the different sports and the changes of seasons. My parents had a summer home on the st-lawrence river and every summer we water-ski swam fished, play golf in the morning and barbecues every night right on the water. Even though my grandfather was in the hotel business I was all about sports and enjoying everything about it. I grew up in a town of about 50 thousand about 40 miles from Montreal. When I wanted some great nightlife just drove a short drive to Montreal and it had everything did anyone could want in Nightlife. I have lived in United States for forty years and I can tell you that it really isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Heaven forbid should you get some kind of catastrophic illness you are screwed. I knew a woman who work for travelers insurance for 30 years at the best insurance a money could buy had suffered a couple of strokes and was on the verge of going broke had she not died when she died. People think that insurance continues to pay his long as you're ill and nothing could be further from the truth. This lady was going to have to sell her house to continue paying for round-the-clock care had she not died when she did. United States middle class is getting wiped out. I've seen enough poverty and hardship in this country to last a lifetime. I find greed to be running rampant in this country. When I grew up in Canada there was always the grass is greener on the other side and when I did move over to the other side the US that is I can tell you unequivocally the dead grass is not greener on the other side. There are more millions and millions of people here that are one or two paychecks away from being homeless. And we're talkin 2023. Now let's talk about violence. There is a mass murder in the United States every single day of the year. And a mass murder is defined by four or more people being killed by one person at one time. Killing these so out of control in the United States that now even six-year-olds are shooting their teacher. I find a tremendous amount of built-up Anger from people. Food is very expensive and shelter is also out of control and non affordable to most people. Again I find United States being able to paint a much Rosier picture then does really exist. And there are more con artists and thieves , Crooks, con-artists, bamboozlers, cheats and scammers then anywhere that I've ever been. And I will say this is it it ain't getting any better and I don't see it ever getting better. I find it is everybody out for themselves no matter who they cheat. I live in Southern California and I can tell you that night life where I live is non-existent. Understand that LA and Hollywood they always have to glamorize everything to sell it to tourists. Just remember that things today are not what they were 40 years ago. Middle-class people in Canada would also be just middle-class people in the US. But if your life means anything to you as far as safety and raising a family then Canada wins hands down end of discussion. People that say Canada is boring is because they are boring. That's what I found to be pretty standard across the board. Life is what you make of it. But I will say that you gals definitely need to move away if you don't like Canada. Do not let the door hit your ass on the way out. And just for your information Canada ranks annually as one of the top countries in the world to immigrate to. Canada is the second largest country in the world by land area and next to Saudi Arabia has the third largest oil Reserves in the world. Canada has huge amount of freshwater which most of the rest of the world seems to be lacking and having spent my Summers on the Saint Lawrence River one of the Great Rivers in this world. I wouldn't change my twenty years in Canada for anyplace else in this world and I will be moving back shortly.

This is the same thing they do everywhere, play the minority card. In India they are champions in this and tell how oppressed they are currently. \nNobody discusses the countless Hindus and natives killed by invaders who came from arab land. When our country got Independence they revolted and demanded a separate country Pakistan.\nAlways remember they can never be secular, it's either their way or the highway and the Muslim countries are the best example to prove that point.