Unbroken

One more sleep. Finally.

Elections tend to be predictable. At least, the politicians are. The themes never vary. Almost always it’s about ‘change’. People seeking support also divide the country into ‘us vs them’. They invariably ask if you’re better off now than years ago, and hope you forget what things were actually like. And they use fear as a prime motivator. Vote for me or you’ll be foraging for food, lose your job, be unable to afford anything, never own a home or see your retirement savings wiped out as markets collapse. Trump was a master of that. Still is.

Repeatedly we’ve been told the nation is pooched. Canada is ‘not a viable country’ says Elon Musk. It’s an ‘artificial nation’ says the Bloc Quebecois leader. ‘You’d be better off as a state,’ says Trump, because ‘it’s not a real country’. Western Canada ‘may decide to separate’ says former Reform leader Preston Manning. And Pierre Poilievre spent the last three years saying, ‘Canada is broken.’

Is it?

“My Tory brother sent me your blog,” writes Ralph Stanton. So he decided to answer that question for himself.  “Here is a little research about how “broken” Canada is compared to neighbour to the south. What’s the difference? Here is a short look at some indicators.”

This what Ralph sent. Read it before voting tomorrow.

Life expectancy:

The mother of all statistics; how long can you expect to live. In the US it is 79.3 years, in Canada 82.6. As a Canadian you can expect to live 3 years and 3 months longer. Canada is 19th in LE after Iceland 17th and Martinique 18th, the US is 48th after Panama 46th and Albania 47th.

Happiness:

The US ranks 24th in happiness Canada ranks 18th. Key factors in the US include a decline in social dining and increased deaths of despair.

Suicide:

US is 31st in the world with 14.5 suicides per 100,000, Canada is 67th with 10.3 suicides per 100,000.

Murder:

The US has a homicide rate of 496 per 100,000 or 16,214 people. Canada’s rate is 1.76 per 100,000 or 651 people (both 2022). As a proportion of the population 2.8 times the number of Americans are murdered.

Incarceration rates:

The US has an incarceration rate of 541 per 100,00 for a total of 1,808,100 people incarcerated (5thin the world) while Canada’s is 90 per 100,000 or 35,485 (163rd in the world). Thus 5.5 Americans are in jail for every Canadian in jail. The privatised prison system in the US needs more prisoners and longer sentences to make a profit. This system consumes an extraordinary 6% of US GDP.

Death by police:

per 10 million, 33 Americans die at the hands of police officers, the figure in Canada is 19 per 10 million of population.

Heath care expenditures and costs:

Health expenditures in the United States average out at $12,914 per person, nearly double the $6,500 spent per person in Canada. The US spends 16% of its GDP on health care and Canada spends 10.4%.Yet Canadians live longer. As individuals we pay far less for health care than our US neighbours and thus we have to pay higher taxes.

Education:

Canada scores well above the OECD average in literacy, numeracy and adaptive problem solving while the US rates at or below the OECD average in the three categories. The per year cost of a Doctorate program in the US ranges from $28,000 to $55,000 while in Canada the figures are $6,000 to $16,000. Different educational levels have widely different cost figures but Canadian education is cheaper in general. Canadians have the highest educational attainment of the G7 countries.

Income inequality:

The US is the 13th most unequal country in terms of income distribution while Canada is the 44th most unequal.

Financial Stability:

In 2008 US households lost 11 trillion dollars in wealth. In both the Great Depression and the 2008 financial meltdown major US banks collapsed. This did not happen in Canada.

Debt:

According to the World Bank gross public sector debt as a share of gross domestic product in 2022 stood at 105% in the US and 46.5% in Canada. US federal government debt to GDP is 123% while Canada’s is 107.5%.

Income, wealth:

GNI is Gross National Income per capita. All dollar amounts are in US dollars. The US is 6th in the world at $80,300, Canada is 18th at $53,930. Average income per adult in the US is higher than Canada’s but because income in the US is so skewed to the very rich the median figure (the mid-point from highest to lowest) for income in Canada is higher than the US. In other words, more Canadians are better off as a proportion of the total population. In terms of wealth per adult, in Canada the median figure is $142,587 and in the US $112,587.

Language:

Canada is an officially bilingual country while the US insists on unilingualism. The traditional language rights of Francophones, which secured the unity of Canada, would be extinguished by a merger of the two countries. In part this explains the past and present resistance of Quebec to any merger with the USA.

Reproductive rights:

Canada supports a woman’s right to choose if or when to have children, allows ready, and sometimes free access to birth control as well as therapeutic abortions. 41 US states have abortion bans.

War:

The USA is the most warlike country on earth. Since its founding in 1776 it has been at war for all but 17 years of its existence. It spends about 40% of the world’s military budget to “defend” 6% of the earth’s land and 4% of the world’s population. If Canada were part of the US our youth would be used as cannon fodder in America’s wars.

Democracy:

At the federal level Canadians have a choice of five political parties, who represent Canada’s 40 million people. American have a choice between two political parties which represent 340 million Americans. Former US President Jimmy Carter called the US an “oligarchy with unlimited political bribery” after the 2010 Citizen’s United Supreme Court decision removed all limits on corporate donations to political campaigns.

About the picture: “Long ago reader, when you were business editor of a Toronto Daily Newspaper (in the mid 80’s as I recall) and long ago watcher when you were  on  most evenings of a Toronto television channel providing the daily business updates,” writes Ward.  “Then one evening you mentioned you were leaving… And I lost contact until about a year ago when one of my kids forwarded me your blog and I have read ever since. I valued your opinions then (starting about 40 years ago) as much as I do again today.  This is a picture of Winchester (adopted) and Remington (spoiled), this winter on the rolling hills of south Uxbridge/ apparently the trail capital of Canada.”

To be in touch or send a picture of your beast, email to ‘garth@garth.ca’.