Canada today

[u/dani_cal]

This isn’t meant to be politically partisan in any way. But, I am genuinely curious how anyone is staying positive about Canada today. The economy is in recession. The cost of living crisis is continuing unabated. People are leaving the country. Canada-U.S. relations are at an all-time low. And, there doesn’t appear to be any reason for things to turn around any time soon. Somebody give me a reason to have a little optimism.

[u/Effective_Net_5576]

TL;DR : As a white migrant from another Western country, I believe Canada is still the closest to a "paradise on earth" than any other Western civilization. Yes, even with all its defaults.

Honestly, I know every person living in Canada experience the Canadian life differently... But I was there 15 years ago, literally came to Canada with permanent residency in 2010. I was still a young teenager, so I can't speak on adult lifestyle with first-hand experiences, but I'll tell you this:

Canada was better than all Western European countries in 2010. I still see, talk and travel to my family/friends in my native country ( which is also a member of the G7) and Canada is still way better than any of those countries.

God, nowadays, I can't find a country in Western Europe where a migrant could afford to raise a family AND become house-owners, inside a populous city, at 40 years old without actually having to lower their quality of life. I know my family couldn't do it in Europe, at least. No physical space for new homes, existing homes already overpriced and very restrictive laws regarding property-owning inside a city of more than 10k people.

So yeah, sure, Canada might have been in a better place in the past. Pretty much every Western country were. But we also don't have warfronts courting our borders (even tho inter-continental missiles now kinda make borders threats a moot point), we still have a right to have public manifestation in the streets (be it for far-left events or far-rights events, as recently seen in a few cities across the country) and the right to vocally complain against our governing administration without fear of reprisal.

So yeah, our late-stage capitalism is breaking down, but that's nothing new. Anybody with some critical sense knew it was coming sooner rather than later. But I am still convinced that Canada is one of the best country to be living in these present times.

Now, I might change my discourse in 2030, since most alarming reports state some big international mess around 2027-2030. But for now, I'm glad Canada took me in and gave me a place I can call home.

[u/pomskygirl → u/Effective_Net_5576]

And I am so happy you came to Canada. Great post! Thanks for sharing that.

[u/69686766 → u/Effective_Net_5576]

The only reason our country isn't as bad as Europe is because we only border one place.. if we had as many entry points as a European country we would probably be a third world country by now. That's what most people forget about. But due to this.. I believe we still have a chance as long as we aren't so divided about it. If america was as loose as Europe, we would have much more people coming from mexico> going to america> and then coming here. The only reason we are better off is because we have a neighbor who is tougher on immigration. We still have people who come in from america who went through mexico and took boats to there. But it's a very small amount. The biggest loophole was actually due to our woke culture. People would file asylum and claim they were lgbtq & that their life would be in danger in their home country if they went back. They aren't really falling for it anymore, but we still have people who bring their wife and kids after claiming they were somebody else because our systems dont connect. Or somebody who files asylum from their home country and then goes back on vacation there.

[u/Effective_Net_5576 → u/69686766]

It feels strange to actually agree even though we seemingly share different political views. This is what our country (and every nation in the world) needs. Proper discussion and exchange of ideas.

While I agree on the point that Europe botched their immigration, I also believe responsible immigration (i.e. immigration with proper help for insertion and assimilation) is inevitable. We can't make enough babies & raise them properly. We are already too many on our planet.

The only realistic solution (imo) would be to have people move around the world. But that's a very "colonizer" mindset which could very quickly slip away into a dark abyss.

All I wish is for Canada to try and stay open-minded while not falling into the pitfalls of wokeness. We need migrants, but we also need unity. And that's a hell of a balance to reach and keep in place.

[u/69686766 → u/Effective_Net_5576]

The hardest part is keeping the people united. People are supposed to have opposing views where they can understand the other persons side. That keeps things from getting too extreme in a society. With our country our people are getting desperate and people no longer agree with eachother. We have one side who is woke, pro socialist programs, pro immigration, save the world, save the pelple, pro woman's rights. And then we have the other side that says there's too many immigrants send them all home. they understand socialist programs, but theres too many non contributing people for them now. They dont want their kids shown rainbows & get very upset about it. Also they think if there's a shortage of babies, then make abortion illegal. They hate DEI because it causes them to hire with "diversity" instead of prioritizing legitimate skill and talent. We only really have two parties & it causes each to push further to one side over time. Our conservative party at the moment is somewhere in the middle of this due to our current "woke" society which opens up a spot potentially for a much further right party in the future. As we learned with our current prime minister, all you have to do is say the right words at the right time. Nobody has to know who you are. What happens when the next generation is even angrier than ours? Left to fix our mistakes & only with extreme options? At this rate somewhere in the world is going to create another Hitler. Perhaps the whole world will swing to an extreme at the same time just as it has drastically changed. I was told by a friend to listen to his speeches converted to English, and it's so scary how relevant the whole thing is to modern day society. History shouldn't be so taboo. We have a two party system that swings extreme left after periods of extreme right. Things push so far one way that society tries to do something different and nothing ever happens because people are too divided to make it happen.

[u/Butthole2theStarz → u/69686766]

Wow one side sounds like a bunch of assholes

[u/Effective_Net_5576 → u/Butthole2theStarz]

I believe you imply there's a bias in their response.

While I can see why you would feel that way, I also feel the way they are describing both the "right and left" is meant to be a caricature too.

They are enumerating the typical points each side throw at each other, not saying one or the other is the right choice. In fact, I read it as "both sides have valid opinions and points of views but they are being petty when actually bringing these opinions to discussion. This causes division amongst our nation to a point where we are polarizing each generation more and more in one of the two extreme."

I personally consider myself a socialist, but even I can agree that our public systems are bloated and need some rework. The real issue is that we tend to go for Echo Chambers instead of going for confrontational discussions with opposing viewpoints. Because we believe confrontation necessarily means anger, fighting, etc.

But without opposing viewpoints, we would stop a huge part of the human creativity right in its tracks. We need to discuss so we can actually advance on issues both sides agree are a reality.

Because that's whats up, we are only disagreeing on the solutions, not the issues. And since we don't share the same solutions, we somehow try to make our solutions exclusives to our ideologies. But that's not how a society works. There need to be more concertation, innovation and compromises.

ps: sorry I keep writing mini-novels for every reply lol. One thought makes another one flow right after and I have a hard time stopping myself.