from Hacker News

Why Canada Is Able to Do Things Better

by brandonhall on 7/18/17, 4:56 PM with 49 comments

by Mikeb85 on 7/18/17, 5:35 PM
Canada is far from perfect. We too have infrastructure deficits, the city I live in suffers from incompetent city planning (although recently it's gotten better), our house prices are insane, and the cost of living is very high.
That being said, the one thing I think Canada does 100x better is politics. Mainly because Canadians generally don't 'belong' to a political party or movement. Almost everyone here will vote almost any direction, depending on the issues at hand and happiness with the status quo. Identity politics is also non-existent here. This leads to a political class which is somewhat more pragmatic, less ideological, and certainly less extreme.
Also, at lower levels of government, politicians are more likely to be unaligned with any party, and at the provincial level the political parties vary by province and most aren't aligned with the federal parties.
So in general, I'd say Canada's advantage is simply that politics isn't as stratified. But again, while our country is amazing IMO, it's not perfect.
by strictnein on 7/18/17, 5:26 PM
> "Much of the surrounding road and rail infrastructure is in even worse shape (the trip from LaGuardia Airport to midtown Manhattan being particularly appalling). Washington, D.C.’s semi-functional subway system feels like a World’s Fair exhibit that someone forgot to close down. "
Yes, those low tax, anti-government strongholds of NYC and DC are great examples of how more taxes will solve everything.
by api_or_ipa on 7/18/17, 6:15 PM
Funny. As a Canadian, I look to (and moved to) America to achieve. I find our government, at many levels, to be very slow moving, averse to change and frequently lags behind the US in allowing innovation. Vancouver's down-right refusal to consider ride-sharing apps is nothing short of corruption. The archaic alcohol laws, including prohibition of transport of booze across borders (except for made-in-Canada wine, gotta protect your favoured industries!) is another example.
Looking north across the border, it's easy to see a greener field, but Canada has suffered a decades of brain-drain and poor multi-factor productivity because of slow, restrictive government policy and a refusal to embrace innovation. It's a shame it takes this long to enact change.
by j9461701 on 7/18/17, 6:12 PM
>Canadians tend not to talk about making their country great again. Canada never was particularly great—at least not in the sense that Trump uses the word. Unlike Americans, Canadians haven’t been conditioned to see history in epic, revolutionary terms.
To be fair to Americans... once upon a time, they really were were that far ahead of everyone else. In 1945, it's estimated they constituted over 50% of the global GDP. You are the global economy at that point, and that's going to distort anyone's perception of what constitutes fiscal propriety. Most politicians were born either during this golden age, or a bit after when things were still very rosy. The US still represented 40% (edit: of gdp) even when relatively young politicians, like Barack Obama, came into the world. It's difficult to convince someone he can't just cut taxes to generate more good will with the electorate when, for most of his professional life, the economy was so good he could do just that and not seriously hurt anything.
by bkohlmann on 7/18/17, 5:31 PM
This argument has always interested me:
"Because Canadian entrepreneurs can quit their day jobs without their spouse losing access to dialysis, or their children losing access to pediatricians, such a system allows business-builders more professional freedom."
Does the data show that countries with single payer, or even individual-based (not employer) health care, have greater percentages of entrepreneurs? How about overall entrepreneurial outcomes?
by mabbo on 7/18/17, 5:22 PM
If this article inspires anyone to finally move to Canada, there's lots of startups here in Toronto that are hiring. Also Amazon is hoping to fill 200 more desks this year in their Toronto office and Google is nearby in Waterloo.
Happy to help anyone interested.
by petraeus on 7/18/17, 6:16 PM
Specifically, it is imagined that even severe and abruptly implemented tax cuts will serve to actually increase government revenue, thanks to the turbo-charging effect on economy growth.
- a conservative
by jjawssd on 7/18/17, 5:22 PM
> Denmark, with a tax burden of 49.6 percent, stands atop the OECD index. It also happens to be a wonderful place to live, with a high standard of living funded by a diversified, high-tech, export-driven economy.
Denmark is NOT a wonderful place to live. It is a stable society where everyone is equally poor except the tax dodgers. Furthermore, the climate is more bleak than Seattle. This article makes Denmark seem like THE place to be. It clearly is not. Just look at where the economic migrants are flocking to. That would be Germany. Furthermore, this article is a blatant propaganda piece. "More government is good for you" is the overriding mantra here. There is no discussion of the downsides of increasing taxation on the population at all. Instead, it is a pure puff piece which is engineered to make Canada seem great because of taxation. The reality is that the Canadians are functionally isolated from the United States. They decide their own policies. They decide their own cultural norms and laws. If anything, it is the decoupling of that region from the rest of the legislative United States that fosters such a wonderful culture localized to north of the US border. It's not taxation that makes Canada great, but jurisdiction and their right to self-determination.
by economics101 on 7/18/17, 6:59 PM
The US now has a federal budget of $4 trillion. Lack of money is not the problem.
by almonj on 7/18/17, 6:26 PM
There is a lot of valuable information and,in my opinion, the author's views are well supported by his experience and his research. However, you get the sense he has been paid by the word. I think democratic systems are under threat. I think, as well, that the threats are resulting in lower economic growth and fewer opportunities for evolving generations. This article does not provide an important context as to why this is happening. Society would be better off if everyone knew this stuff. I just wish it was a little more readable.
by almonj on 7/18/17, 8:33 PM
```
     Nothing that the Canadian Government does is good. All 
  government institutions survive through theft, deception
 and immorality. All government programs are dysgenics 
```
programs. All functions of government can be surpassed by regulation free markets. All non-voluntary regulations are implicitly sexist, racist and immoral. All government programs perpetuate abusive relationships. All government workers are bad people. All functions of government should be replaced by regulation free markets.
```
   Canada is one of the worst places to live in the world 
```
right now, as it on the verge of a complete TechnoMarxist takeover and well on the way to becoming a neo-third-world country. In < 10 years we will have a complete surveillance state, forced labor camps and eugenics programs. The federal government already has apps with points based rewards systems that track all of your behavior and give you tax credits for destroying your country and people.
```
  To see people praising this obviously paid by the federal 
```
government shill is shocking, here on this website, a website for intellectuals. You utter fools! You're playing right into the hands of the authoritarians.