Ummm...doubtful.
* We do not have less crime, we have less gun-related crime.
* Happier citizens? Kinda subjective, no?
* Healthier, not really. Our health care system is right fucked. Maybe we don't eat like pigs like many Americans, which helps, but 'healthier' implies a better system, which we don't have.
* Environmentally ... despite our membership in Kyoto, our pollution levels have risen by nearly 20% since signing, while yours have decreased by about half that in the same period.
* Better education, I think I'll have to give you that, given the assertions you made in your response.
Regarding the military, nobody needs a military as big as the US. And we're still here, not because of the US as RightSide wants to believe, but because we're surrounded in water, frickin huge in land mass, and far to spread out in terms of population to bother with.
Vancouver is a lot healthy than Toronto and Americans in general...I think a lot of it has to do with the Weather...and centralized population. A lot of us walk...when it's -40 you don't want to walk anywhere.
But then again comparing the BC to Alberta to Ontario and Quebec is like comparing 3 different countries.
vancouver is on my short list for my move in 2010 realistically upon completion of masters.
prague might be unrealistic but they have good paying positions in my field. sao paulo, buenos aires checking out this fall. cape town and vancouver are the 2 realistic choices at the moment for me now.
prague might be unrealistic but they have good paying positions in my field. sao paulo, buenos aires checking out this fall. cape town and vancouver are the 2 realistic choices at the moment for me now.
xpanda dont drop yourself to the american level. your country is great. thats why people like me are clamoring to join you guys. america is the titanic sinking into the ocean. you got guys like rightside and chocco tocco staying on the ship thinking its indestructible till there asses are 100 feet below, and you got me on the lifeboat heading to the promise land.
If you're trying to get away from the US, don't come here. If you guys really are sinking, while we stay afloat, what do you think you guys are going to do about that? You think you're going to sit back and watch while the Canadians live high on the hog and you guys go without? HA!
This is not 1812.
Of course your military can be too big.
If it's bigger than the military might of the rest of the world combined, it's too big. If it's bound to bankrupt you, it's too big. If you start wars just to justify a huge budget, it's too big. If a goodly chunk of your population get boners when Russia and Georgia go at it, it's too big. If you use your military so other countries don't have to use theirs, it's too big.
The size of your military should reflect the size of (real) threats. Yours isn't even close.
