I have a few questions about Canada.

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No, I am not moving there, just always been curious how things work there.

Health care:

  1. Is it free for everyone? Citizens, residents, foreign students, illegal immigrants, tourists? They must draw a line somewhere?

  2. Often times there are multiple ways to treat and illness. Some ways are really expensive and work, some are cheap, and may work 50% of the time. Which way is often picked? Who decides this? Obviously, for the greater good the second option sounds better since it is cheap.

  3. Since it is free, doesn’t everyone demand a helicopter ambulance when they get into an accident? Helicopter ambulance cost $$$$$$$$

Race and immigration:

  1. Who is the “lower” class over there? Which group is most looked down upon?

  2. Did they ever have a civil rights movement similar to the US?

  3. Is illegal immigration a big issue? If so, which group is the most problematic?

  4. I am standing outside a shopping center, a mid 90’s American car passes by, it has big wheels, gold colored spinners, dice in the mirror, and dark tinted windows with loud rap music playing. What race/ethnicity is the driver of the car?

Education:

  1. How much does a 4 year education at a public university cost? How much more is it for foreign students?

Misc:

  1. how do desis (new arrivals) cope in Quebec? Learning french must be hard.

  2. Is it common for a lot of Canadian desis to wish to move to US? From here, it seems like it. People are eager to get their son/daughter married in the US.

  3. Does TV suck over there also? Endless reality TV shows, dumb news, stupid home decoration shows and what not?

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

Thought from a British desi who’s slumming in Canada these days:

Medical Care

  1. Medical care is free for everyone who is legally entitled to be resident in the country, either temporarily or permanently. People who are legally just visiting, or illegally present, are not entitled to free treatment. Free medical care kicks in after you’ve been in the country for 3 months. (By contrast, the UK offers free medical care to all temporary and permanent residents from the day of arrival onwards. Things are just better in the UK :stuck_out_tongue: )

  2. The government picks which treatments are covered by free care, the patient only gets to choose from a limited list of treatments.

  3. When it’s free, you take what you get, you don’t get to choose your care.

Misc

  1. Quebec seems to mainly get French-speaking immigrants (ie lebanese, north africans, other africans, and french)

  2. Haven’t seen that many itching to move to the US, though I know a lot who are.

  3. The TV sucks, because they only get US television and some Canadian. There’s only one channel which shows the best television in the world, British television, and even that is only for half the day. The quality of TV available would skyrocket if only thet could get more British channels :frowning:

Education
A 4 year degree costs a total of $24,000 in total I believe. I think it is $6000 per year for tuition.

My thoughts
Though the taxes are so much higher in Canada, between not having to save for college education and not having to pay for medical insurance, one’s total annual expenditures are significantly lower than the mere difference in taxes may suggest. Thus things aren’t that much more different.

On the other hand, property prices and car insurance prices are higher enough that there’s no sense denying that in material terms, the quality of life is slightly higher in the US.

But balancing that is social security - being a welfare state, the poorer segments of society are better looked after and there’s less crime in general than in the US, meaning that your body, possessions, and life are more secure.

PS: All the good things about Canada are there in the UK too, only they are better in the UK :snooty: . Except land prices and petrol prices are 50% lower in Canada.

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

Good questions waisy mery pass koi jwab nahi:chai:

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

I love your questions. sorry i cant answer any of them though :halo:

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

In America, politicians hate the Canadian health care system. According to them, the system is broken and the waiting line is so long that patients rarely get the service they are looking for.

Why?
Why?
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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

since it is Free to you- it is not free to the gov't they have strict rules that the doctors/hospitals/etc follow on what to prescribe who is an emergency case and who gets seen earlier or later or tests/surgeries etc.

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

But don’t you think that leads to lazy people who have no motivation to work because the govt will provide for them no matter what? Much like that group of 6-7 countries in the mideast?

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

It's not the best system by far. Indeed, one of the problems is that Canada does not permit a private health care system to exist alongside the state-funded system as occurs in Europe.

So that even if you have the money to pay for better, faster treatment, you can't get it.

On the other hand, while the system does have faults such as waiting lines and limited choices of treatments, the majority of people do get medical treatment withing a suitable timeframe for their condition. Exceptions do happen, but they are the exceptions and not the norm.

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

Chalo Government khud bhi tu kha rahi hy kuch awam ko khila dy gi tu kia anarth ho jaay ga":snooty::snooty:

Sing a Song according 2 Ur Mood !!!!!
Sing a Song according 2 Ur Mood !!!!!
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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

What about people who want boob jobs and a new nose? Have to pay for those?

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

Cosmetic surgery isn't covered (with the exception of fixing disfigurements such as from accidents)

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

Statistics show that doesn't really happen. Canada's unemployment rate isaround 5.9 % versus 5.0% in the USA - a difference of only 0.9% .

In fact, in the UK, which is the model for Canada's welfare state, the unemployment rate is at just 5.3%. Meaning that despite the government paying people who are out of work, only 0.3% more of the population works in the UK than in the USA.

Essentially, people generally want to work.

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

Health care:

  1. Is it free for everyone? Citizens, residents, foreign students, illegal immigrants, tourists? They must draw a line somewhere?

since i’m in ontario, i’ll talk in terms of ontario law. to get free health care, you have to stay in the province X number of days, and then get free healthcare. visitors can get insurance, but aren’t covered by OHIP. once you are, you just reimburse your reciept of a doc’s visit

  1. Often times there are multiple ways to treat and illness. Some ways are really expensive and work, some are cheap, and may work 50% of the time. Which way is often picked? Who decides this? Obviously, for the greater good the second option sounds better since it is cheap.

whichever is available. the wait lines are horrible, and if you can jump them, you are one lucky person. Quebec’s starting a 2-tiered system, which means that if yo uhave the money to pay for your check up, go for it. otherwise you wait just like the rest of the people.

  1. Since it is free, doesn’t everyone demand a helicopter ambulance when they get into an accident? Helicopter ambulance cost $$$$$$$$

cuz not every hospital’s got it.

Race and immigration:

  1. Who is the “lower” class over there? Which group is most looked down upon?

depends who you’re speaking to. everyone’s a child of an immigrant, and they bring their biases.

  1. Did they ever have a civil rights movement similar to the US?

my canadian history sucks

  1. Is illegal immigration a big issue? If so, which group is the most problematic?

problematic in one way?

  1. I am standing outside a shopping center, a mid 90’s American car passes by, it has big wheels, gold colored spinners, dice in the mirror, and dark tinted windows with loud rap music playing. What race/ethnicity is the driver of the car?

depends on which area of Toronto you are in. I’ve seen Latinos, blacks, Sri Lankans, Indian Punjabis. I’ve also seen a brown gino.

Education:

  1. How much does a 4 year education at a public university cost? How much more is it for foreign students?

a lot. for my university it’s like an average of $5000 a year. one thta’s a little more high end costs a bit more. International studenst pay twice that. but we get help from the government in the form of student loans, with low interest rate which we have to pay back with interest 6 months after graduating.

Misc:

  1. how do desis (new arrivals) cope in Quebec? Learning french must be hard.

Quebec offers free French classes.

  1. Is it common for a lot of Canadian desis to wish to move to US? From here, it seems like it. People are eager to get their son/daughter married in the US.

a lot of canadians are total anti-US from what i see. but a lot of times its the uncles working there with their families settled here.

  1. Does TV suck over there also? Endless reality TV shows, dumb news, stupid home decoration shows and what not?
    [/quote]

SUCKS!! we have like a total of 11 channels. 3 of them are any good. 2 of them, owned by the same company are multicultural channels, one’s like PBS which shows Brit shows and movies half the time (maddy it just sucks. it’s no BBC) and one’s a boring old canadian gov’t and brits loving channel. it is showing The Tudors though lately. all cuz it’s about the brits. :rolleyes:

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

In addition to what everyone has mentioned here Re: Health Care issues, it should be noted that not everything is free…

For example… dentist appointments are always paid for, no matter what type of treatment you need. Optometrists are only covered for basic eye checkups every 2 years. If you need to go sooner, you pay… if you need a more sophisticated eye exam, you pay.
Of course, if we’re talking about more serious medical conditions that affect the eyes, then those might be covered.

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

hunh - which Canada are you living in.

I'm sure there are more than 40 national channels in English and prolly another 20 or so in French... programming on these channels is another issue though. There's very little regional and national programming - most of it is syndicated from across the border.

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

cable free TV :stuck_out_tongue: with the bunny ears you can get like 11 channels on a good day. with cable ofcourse it’s like 50 or so channels maybe =/

oh i’m forgetting the french channel too :phati:

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

to move or not to move :hmmm:

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

^^ lagta hai aap tow khirki ke baahir steel rod laga ke TV dekhti heiN :slight_smile:

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Re: I have a few questions about Canada.

nahin alhamdulilah us ki nobat kabhi nahin pohnchi :stuck_out_tongue: hum wohi 4, 5 channels say khush thay before cable and then dish :phati: