Lucky American !!

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by BNR32

As of this second:

The War in Iraq Costs
$363,309,985,262

That is official, the real cost is 3x that + 3100 lSoldiers + 300,000 innocent Iraqis...
Plus, the idiot wants another $250B allowance for the wars...

[canuck335i]

Originally Posted by dr325i

My wife would be pregnant 4 times a year if we had that luxury here...

man you need to learn to put your juice elsewhere

[canuck335i]

Originally Posted by dr325i

That is official, the real cost is 3x that + 3100 lSoldiers + 300,000 innocent Iraqis...
Plus, the idiot wants another $250B allowance for the wars...

you really hate the man don't you??

I can understand that 100%...

[Kit523]

Originally Posted by BNR32

As of this second:

The War in Iraq Costs
$363,309,985,262

[Kit523]

Originally Posted by Nicholas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRI-A3vakVg

"I AM THE CANADIAN!!!!"

[FirstClass]

Originally Posted by Nicholas

And your Bush Administration is still spending billions on a war that does not concern them.

We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others. -- JFK

Originally Posted by dr325i

That is official, the real cost is 3x that + 3100 lSoldiers + 300,000 innocent Iraqis...
Plus, the idiot wants another $250B allowance for the wars...

That "idiot" was elected to two consecutive terms by the American people.

As far as Canadian healthcare, it serves as an excellent example of the problems with socialist tendencies. Everyone has healthcare, but those who can afford it still go to the US for care. Interesting. I wonder why....

[luckystrike]

Originally Posted by dr325i

My wife would be pregnant 4 times a year if we had that luxury here...

here in austria we get 3 years parental leave and youll be paid around 70 percent of your salary but you can also get request some additional income for your govt

[SoYank]

Originally Posted by shipill

but I love American Whiskey ( Jack Daniles )

Never heard of it. The folks in Lynchburg, Tennessee probably haven't either.

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by luckystrike

here in austria we get 3 years parental leave and youll be paid around 70 percent of your salary but you can also get request some additional income for your govt

Thats it...I am out of here We get a week off (wives get 6-12 weeks).

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by FirstClass

We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others. -- JFK....

JFK, God bless him, is spinning in his grave now. Anyway, not much real freedom in the Police country...

Originally Posted by FirstClass

That "idiot" was elected to two consecutive terms by the American people.
....

First one -- he stole. Gore beat him by more than 1M votes, but the Electoral Vote in FL was stolen.

Second one...shows something...after all...about us -- the Americans....

Originally Posted by FirstClass

As far as Canadian healthcare, it serves as an excellent example of the problems with socialist tendencies. Everyone has healthcare, but those who can afford it still go to the US for care. Interesting. I wonder why....

Now, where did you get that great idea that now all of them pour to the USA for care??? A few maybe, but far from any reasonable percentage.
As for the same analogy, we go to freikin Thailand for some procedures because it is cheaper and because of our great HMOs...

[picus]

I think what FirstClass was saying is that when a Canadian citizen can not get in to a Canadian health care facility quickly enough they are often sent to the U.S for care, since the U.S has a much larger base of hospitals. For example, when my mother had chemotherapy she was sent to Buffalo because Hamilton, the only Southern Ontario hospital with a chemo center at the time, was booked 27 months out (and she'd have been long gone before then). The Canadian government still pays the bill (at a much higher cost, of course).

The political discussion should probably go to the politics section.

[Jaws]

Originally Posted by dr325i

My wife would be pregnant 4 times a year if we had that luxury here...

He's got it good and it is not typical. My wife is due in a month, and she only gets 16 wks of pay from her employer (and it's a good employer). Federal law is 52 weeks of parental leave (which can be split between both parents), but the monetary benefit is only 55% of your earnings to a maximum of $423/wk.

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by Jaws

He's got it good and it is not typical. My wife is due in a month, and she only gets 16 wks of pay from her employer (and it's a good employer). Federal law is 52 weeks of parental leave (which can be split between both parents), but the monetary benefit is only 55% of your earnings to a maximum of $423/wk.

Yep, sounded too generous...although I know most of Europe has really sweet maternal and paternal laws for that case...

[FirstClass]

Originally Posted by dr325i

JFK, God bless him, is spinning in his grave now. Anyway, not much real freedom in the Police country...

What is the police country?

Originally Posted by dr325i

First one -- he stole. Gore beat him by more than 1M votes, but the Electoral Vote in FL was stolen.

Second one...shows something...after all...about us -- the Americans....

There is a record of the same happening before, it's not stealing the election, thats' how the system works.

Originally Posted by dr325i

Now, where did you get that great idea that now all of them pour to the USA for care??? A few maybe, but far from any reasonable percentage.
As for the same analogy, we go to freikin Thailand for some procedures because it is cheaper and because of our great HMOs...

See below.

Originally Posted by picus

I think what FirstClass was saying is that when a Canadian citizen can not get in to a Canadian health care facility quickly enough they are often sent to the U.S for care, since the U.S has a much larger base of hospitals. For example, when my mother had chemotherapy she was sent to Buffalo because Hamilton, the only Southern Ontario hospital with a chemo center at the time, was booked 27 months out (and she'd have been long gone before then). The Canadian government still pays the bill (at a much higher cost, of course).

That's exactly the point I was making. 27 months booked up. That's the problem with government run healthcare. In the US either you or your insurance pays for it but you get it as soon as you and your doctor want.

[picus]

There are cons to each system; we could talk about it for hours, literally. Probably best not to bother here, though.

[Bimmerista]

Originally Posted by picus

There are cons to each system; we could talk about it for hours, literally. Probably best not to bother here, though.

Quite correct.

In Canada no one waits for urgent surgery, unfortunately in some markets (especially urban), people do wait for non-emergency surgery.

In the US people still wait-not everyone with insurance has the same access-some insurance plans are better than others.

Hospitals in older US cities (NY, Boston, etc.) look exactly the same as in Mtl or Toronto. Hospitals in newer urban areas are more modern in both jurisdictions and outside urban centers in both cases access to health care can be spotty, especially access to specialists.

I am lucky enough that I would be able to afford the top insurance for my familly, but despite that I am still glad to live here over all-and no our system is not perfect, but neither is the US one.

To the poster who still believes that the ideological principles of your founding fathers are applied to the letter - please don't ever come here to free us......

I am not a US hater, far from it I often spend a lot time defending the US in social circles, I just don't like it when people whip out their stereotypical self serving arguments. And if anyone thinks we are socialist but the US is not, the budget per beneficiary for Medicaid and food stamps is greater than here. You want to know what socialism is (as opposed to communism), go to Finland (not that there is anything wrong with that).

I think people should be carefull when throwing out ideas and arguments about countrries - like religion and politics it often touches a sensitive nerve.

For the information of all of our US friends, we Canadians love our country too

[StewtheBassman]

I lived in the US for 8 wonderful years....I will say that Canadians aren't as argumentative about social or political issues.....we agree to disagree much easier!

[just4kickz]

lol but Europe has a different medical system... France has higher taxes.. 40% or something? but you don't pay any medical bills. its a trade off...

[findtom]

Originally Posted by dr325i

My wife would be pregnant 4 times a year if we had that luxury here...

In Quebec you get a year. A luxury indeed... excessive if you ask me. Employers are also required by law to keep your position available. Our sales manager just returned from maternity leave and is pregnant again. She'll be leaving in June. Basically over a 2.5 year period she will have actually worked 6 months.

Yeah.... all these luxuries are great. Free health care, maternity leave, welfare, social programs, etc etc etc... Of course it comes at a price, if you're a regular working person in Quebec you are taxed out the ass.

[Jaws]

Originally Posted by findtom

In Quebec you get a year. A luxury indeed... excessive if you ask me. Employers are also required by law to keep your position available. Our sales manager just returned from maternity leave and is pregnant again. She'll be leaving in June. Basically over a 2.5 year period she will have actually worked 6 months.

Yeah.... all these luxuries are great. Free health care, maternity leave, welfare, social programs, etc etc etc... Of course it comes at a price, if you're a regular working person in Quebec you are taxed out the ass.

I don't know how long Quebec can hold on to some of it's traditions and hope to remain competitive (I'm a Quebec ex-pat BTW). It wold kill me to pay Quebec taxes. In Alberta, on the other hand, I think the pendulum has swung too far to the right when it comes to energy deregulation. When it comes to utilities there really is no such thing as a truly competitive market. Is the competitor going to run parrell gas lines or hydro lines? The provincial gov't has opened up "competition" in these industries, but it has just served too boost my energy bills. I don't give a shit from whom I buy my energy. One electron is the same as the next.

It kills me when some Americans (or Ontarians for that matter ) start a sentence with "In Canada..." like we are a homogeneous entity.

[benoitch]

Originally Posted by Jaws

I
It kills me when some Americans (or Ontarians for that matter ) start a sentence with "In Canada..." like we are a homogeneous entity.

Got that right Nuf said !

[obLu]

and she only gets 16 wks of pay

Yeah, I never want to hear you bitch about how much your BMWs cost up there again. We get cheap goods, but pay for it in the long run in other ways.

For maternity, I think we get 6wks ... unpaid. Paternity is nothing, except there are some vague provisions under the Family Medical Leave Act. But again, it's unpaid.

Because my son was born premature, my wife took 9wks, again unpaid. And her boss was all over her pressuring her to come back to work or be fired. Which isn't legal, but the burden would be on her to get a lawyer and go after him. He was a dick though, so the minute we didn't need her healthcare to cover the medical expenses of my son, she quit.