Quick Short Topic: Canada

[Michael-5]

Suke said:

famousringo said:

Oh, we have race issues. We also have gang issues. I'd say there are three main reasons we don't seem to have as many violent crime problems:

1. Less guns. We still have about as many guns as any developed country besides the US and Switzerland, but that works out to about 1/3 the number of guns as the average American (coincidentally, we also have 1/3 the murders per capita). We also have tighter gun control laws on guns designed to kill humans (automatic weapons, semi-auto pistols) than long guns designed for hunting, so those guns are more likely to be used to shoot animals than people. 

2. More relaxed drug laws. We're a little ahead of the US in decriminalizing marijuana. Throwing people in prison for minor drug offences risks socializing them as criminals and leading to more serious offences down the road. Every lucrative black market is life blood to organized crime.

3. More equality. This is the big one. Better social safety net, universal health care, better public education, more accessible post-secondary education. Our rich are less rich, but our poor are also less poor. Poverty breeds crime. 

......You make me want to move there now, compare to AMerica, it sounds more pleasent to live there :(

I live in Toronto, and I have a lot of family in New York.

Really USA is not THAT different from Canada, what I notice as a Canadian is that you guys just have a lot of really, really fat people, especially in sourthern USA. Maybe it's just not possible to be fat up here because you burn more calories to stay warm.

Also free health care, which might not seem like a big deal to you, but if you get in a car accident, you don't have to worry about Ambulance and Hospital charges, which is nice. We limit what's free though, expensive tests (like MRI's) are not free (so people don't abuse them and get one when they don't need them), and non essential services (like chiropracty, or acupuncture) are not free.

LOL, but really.

4. Federal Criminal Code. If something is illegal, and deemed criminal, it's criminal everywhere, and punishments are the same. We don't have loopy laws where in Texas it's legal to carry a gun, but it has to be exposed, and in Nevada it has to be conceiled. If we ban semi-auto's they are banned everywhere, not just in one state (and easy to smuggle in).

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Also P.S., for 2. In Canada, if you are caught with up to 30 grams (nearly an ounce) or Marry Jane, it's non criminal on the first offence. This is because above 30 grams they think you're a dealer, and try to go after you for that. Quite a high limit eh? Even if you have more then 30 grams, it's very easy to get off on possession, which is non-criminal. Just a $180 fine I recall.