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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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 Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:17 am Post subject: Facts that may explain the # of Canucks in Corea |
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This list is a jaw-dropper, but not really a surprise to many of us who are from the "Great White North". "Free" trade agreements, business models based on America's way (and not Europe, which I think a majority of Canadians would prefer), low minimum wage jobs (and lots of them), union busting, a horrible shortage of doctors (try waiting in a clinic for 8 hours to see a doctor for 5 minutes). Korea is looking better and better...
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Startling facts about Canada
In his fascinating new book, The Truth About Canada, Mel Hurtig brings to light some important, some astonishing, and some truly appalling things all Canadians should know about our country - facts often taken from the work of the respected international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
At 214 doctors per 100,000 we are in 54th place in the world... A 2007 poll revealed that over 2 million Canadians have tried but failed to find a family doctor during the previous year... Canada now has about a third fewer doctors per population than other OECD countries.
Total per capita health spending in the US is almost two and a half times the OECD average. In Canada it is one and a quarter times the OECD average.
Canada has the fourth highest obesity rate out of the 30 OECD countries.
Canada has the lowest percentage of OECD adults smoking tobacco daily.
Canada's overall environmental performance is far behind other OECD countries with a rank of 28th out of 30.
In a February 2005 study comparing 141 countries, Canada ranked a horrendous 126th in reducing our pollution.
Canada, with 0.5% of the world's population emits 2% of humanity's greenhouse gas emissions... 46% of Canadian industrial greenhouse emissions in 2002 were attributed to exports.
The Canadian industrial average is 3.8% of revenues spent on research and development. For the energy industry it's 0.75%. For the oil and gas sector it's 0.36%.
In 1989, 15.1% of children in this country were living in poverty. By 2006, that percentage had grown to 17.7% or almost 1.2 million children.
In 2006, Canada's poverty rate was worse than 18 other OECD countries.
In one month in 2006, 753,458 Canadians obtained food from a food bank; 41% were children.
More than 4 in 10 First Nations children are in need of basic dental care... Diabetes is 3 to 5 times more common than the Canadian average and tuberculosis is 8 to 10 times more common... Aboriginal people are about 3% of Canada's population, but they make up about 20% of all prison inmates... 58% of Natives living on reserve aged 20 to 24 have not finished high school.
In social spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product, Canada is in 25th place out of 30.
In most western European countries low-paid jobs are between 8% and 12% of the total; in Canada they make up 21% of all jobs.
During the first half of 2007, Canada's private sector dropped some 90,000 jobs, the largest decline in over a decade and a half.
In the five years before the Free Trade Agreement came into effect in 1989, employment in Canada grew at an average annual rate of 2.9%. In the five years from 2001 to 2005, it grew at only an annual average rate of 1.84%.
The 1990s saw the highest rate of unemployment in Canada of any decade since the great depression.
The US prisoner rate per 100,000 population was 725 in 2004, compared to the OECD average of 132.4 and Canada's rate of 107.
Corporate profits: in 1992 before taxes they were 4.7% of GDP. In 2006 they were up to 13.9% of GDP, the highest in history... Since 1990, the average after inflation increase in hourly earnings until 2006 was only 10 cents.
In January 2007 the top 100 Canadian CEOs made between $2.87 million and $74.82 million. Meanwhile, the average Canadian worker earned about $38,000 a year and the average person working for a minimum wage made $15,931 a year.
By 2005 the highest 20% of Canadian families owned 69.2% of all net worth... The poorest 40% owned only 2.4%.
In 2005, over $22.3 billion of foreign controlled corporate profits left Canada, mostly for the US.
Listen to an interview with Mel Hurtig.
Find out more about The Truth About Canada by Mel Hurtig. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:30 am Post subject: Re: Facts that may explain the # of Canucks in Corea |
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| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
Find out more about The Truth About Canada by Mel Hurtig. |
I've heard quite enough, thank you. |
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Return Jones
Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Location: I will see you in far-off places
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:50 am Post subject: Re: Facts that may explain the # of Canucks in Corea |
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| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
This list is a jaw-dropper, but not really a surprise to many of us who are from the "Great White North". "Free" trade agreements, business models based on America's way (and not Europe, which I think a majority of Canadians would prefer), low minimum wage jobs (and lots of them), union busting, a horrible shortage of doctors (try waiting in a clinic for 8 hours to see a doctor for 5 minutes). Korea is looking better and better...
| Quote: |
Startling facts about Canada
In his fascinating new book, The Truth About Canada, Mel Hurtig brings to light some important, some astonishing, and some truly appalling things all Canadians should know about our country - facts often taken from the work of the respected international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
At 214 doctors per 100,000 we are in 54th place in the world... A 2007 poll revealed that over 2 million Canadians have tried but failed to find a family doctor during the previous year... Canada now has about a third fewer doctors per population than other OECD countries.
Total per capita health spending in the US is almost two and a half times the OECD average. In Canada it is one and a quarter times the OECD average.
Canada has the fourth highest obesity rate out of the 30 OECD countries.
Canada has the lowest percentage of OECD adults smoking tobacco daily.
Canada's overall environmental performance is far behind other OECD countries with a rank of 28th out of 30.
In a February 2005 study comparing 141 countries, Canada ranked a horrendous 126th in reducing our pollution.
Canada, with 0.5% of the world's population emits 2% of humanity's greenhouse gas emissions... 46% of Canadian industrial greenhouse emissions in 2002 were attributed to exports.
The Canadian industrial average is 3.8% of revenues spent on research and development. For the energy industry it's 0.75%. For the oil and gas sector it's 0.36%.
In 1989, 15.1% of children in this country were living in poverty. By 2006, that percentage had grown to 17.7% or almost 1.2 million children.
In 2006, Canada's poverty rate was worse than 18 other OECD countries.
In one month in 2006, 753,458 Canadians obtained food from a food bank; 41% were children.
More than 4 in 10 First Nations children are in need of basic dental care... Diabetes is 3 to 5 times more common than the Canadian average and tuberculosis is 8 to 10 times more common... Aboriginal people are about 3% of Canada's population, but they make up about 20% of all prison inmates... 58% of Natives living on reserve aged 20 to 24 have not finished high school.
In social spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product, Canada is in 25th place out of 30.
In most western European countries low-paid jobs are between 8% and 12% of the total; in Canada they make up 21% of all jobs.
During the first half of 2007, Canada's private sector dropped some 90,000 jobs, the largest decline in over a decade and a half.
In the five years before the Free Trade Agreement came into effect in 1989, employment in Canada grew at an average annual rate of 2.9%. In the five years from 2001 to 2005, it grew at only an annual average rate of 1.84%.
The 1990s saw the highest rate of unemployment in Canada of any decade since the great depression.
The US prisoner rate per 100,000 population was 725 in 2004, compared to the OECD average of 132.4 and Canada's rate of 107.
Corporate profits: in 1992 before taxes they were 4.7% of GDP. In 2006 they were up to 13.9% of GDP, the highest in history... Since 1990, the average after inflation increase in hourly earnings until 2006 was only 10 cents.
In January 2007 the top 100 Canadian CEOs made between $2.87 million and $74.82 million. Meanwhile, the average Canadian worker earned about $38,000 a year and the average person working for a minimum wage made $15,931 a year.
By 2005 the highest 20% of Canadian families owned 69.2% of all net worth... The poorest 40% owned only 2.4%.
In 2005, over $22.3 billion of foreign controlled corporate profits left Canada, mostly for the US.
Listen to an interview with Mel Hurtig.
Find out more about The Truth About Canada by Mel Hurtig. |
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I have no particular opinion of Mel Hurtig, but I have to say a lot of what is quoted is true. There is no doubt a shortage of decent-paying jobs in Canada. This is a huge and depressing problem. I remember finishing uni in 1996 and it was the down and out doledrums trying to find ANY work.
Some of what Blasphemer said re waiting times in hospitals and clinics are exaggerated. I needed to see a doctor during a visit to my parents in Ottawa and was able to see one within one hour despite having no provincial coverage. Regarding union busting, that also is an exaggerated concern. In BC, the big unions have the general populace by the nuts. |
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ajgeddes
Joined: 28 Apr 2004
Location: Yongsan
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:09 am Post subject: |
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| The numbers regarding poverty may not be true. I remember reading an article (I'll have to look it up, so don't take this for fact until I find it) about poverty in Canada and it isn't equal to the same way other countries decide what constitutes poverty, which gives us an inflated number because it is actually higher than what would be considered poverty. It's called the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) and even that number is around 12%. |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:11 am Post subject: |
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I'm from Alberta. We have a nightmarish doctor scenario. For example, people from Calgary drive 3 hours to small town hospitals, only to be told sorry, as the doctors there are already full from people who thought to do it before them. Clinics lock their doors because they have too many people waiting inside.
Meanwhile, I've heard there are no shortages at all in Newf. and no clinics.
And doctors are leaving Alberta.
But nice to hear things are rosy out east. why doesn't that surprise me? |
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Ukon
Joined: 29 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:05 am Post subject: |
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| The eye opening canadian documentary "Trailer Park Boys" put me off Nova scotia...seemed like such a nice place in the ads. |
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SirFink
Joined: 05 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:40 am Post subject: Re: Facts that may explain the # of Canucks in Corea |
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| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
| business models based on America's way (and not Europe, which I think a majority of Canadians would prefer) |
Because Europe has it right? Huh? Europe's top-heavy socialist system is crumbling under its own weight. Too many over-educated white folks who live too long has gotten much of Europe into pricisely the same situation as Canada and the US. The solution? More immigrants who will work and pay into the social welfare state. I could dig up a bunch of links to support my point but I'm a fat, lazy American, so I won't bother. |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 11:19 am Post subject: |
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| Ukon wrote: |
| The eye opening canadian documentary "Trailer Park Boys" put me off Nova scotia...seemed like such a nice place in the ads. |
Funny. |
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garykasparov
Joined: 27 May 2007
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 1:03 pm Post subject: |
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OP,
This is an excellent post. It's a crime what the Canadians do to the poor seals. I feel so bad for them. The seals have feelings. The government of Canada needs to stop the tom-foolery and fix the problem.
Canada's Seal Hunt: "Unacceptably Inhumane"
"The Canadian government insists that the seal hunt is an animal production industry like any other. They say that it might not be pretty, but basically it is just like any abattoir except on the ice. But we found obvious levels of suffering which would not be tolerated in any other animal industry in the world."
Ian Robinson, British Veterinarian
Last edited by garykasparov on Mon May 12, 2008 5:26 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Draz
Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 2:21 pm Post subject: |
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| ajgeddes wrote: |
| The numbers regarding poverty may not be true. I remember reading an article (I'll have to look it up, so don't take this for fact until I find it) about poverty in Canada and it isn't equal to the same way other countries decide what constitutes poverty, which gives us an inflated number because it is actually higher than what would be considered poverty. It's called the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) and even that number is around 12%. |
True. I've been below the "poverty line" since I left my parent's house, and I still somehow managed to pay all my own living expenses and most of my university tuition out of my "poverty wage". Poverty in Canada doesn't mean you're eating out of garbage cans, it just means you can't have nice things. |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 2:46 pm Post subject: |
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| The tax rates in Canada are too high to attract businesses. |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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| Actually, one thing that skews the numbers in Canada are the Indians. They are about 1% of the population, yet most live on reserves and do not contribute to economy, yet take a disproportionate share of GDP, through government funding to reserves, including welfare, free health care, free education through university, and numerous other handouts, not hand-ups. This is certainly one of the big reasons for 'Canada's' poverty index. I put that in quotes, as many Indians consider themselves 'quasi-citizens', or not citizens at all, except when it comes time to collect govt cheques at the end of the month. |
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crusher_of_heads
Joined: 23 Feb 2007
Location: kimbop and kimchi for kimberly!!!!
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 5:08 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=3ec53e69-3986-40ec-8b35-42c4231f22a4&k=57798
Five high schools were locked down Monday in another rash of hoax gun and bomb threats.
Ridgemont High School was locked down at 9:20 a.m. while Ottawa police investigated an ominous 911 call.
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Did they take Spiccoli in for questioning? Truly 'Fast Times' in Ottawa. |
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crusher_of_heads
Joined: 23 Feb 2007
Location: kimbop and kimchi for kimberly!!!!
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 5:17 pm Post subject: |
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| blaseblasphemener wrote: |
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http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=3ec53e69-3986-40ec-8b35-42c4231f22a4&k=57798
Five high schools were locked down Monday in another rash of hoax gun and bomb threats.
Ridgemont High School was locked down at 9:20 a.m. while Ottawa police investigated an ominous 911 call.
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Did they take Spiccoli in for questioning? Truly 'Fast Times' in Ottawa. |
Last year, in a rural school outside Ottawa, 2 furture rocket scientists had pizza delivered to their low level Grade 11 English class. Those guys, while not really smart, are folk heroes-most of the teachers thought it was funny.
Ridgemont is one of the worst schools in all of Ontario-a truly multicultural mix with students from around the world! |
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