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The problem with Toronto is that the city planners never forecasted the city growing over a million: Hence why we have one highway that goes horizontally across the city and one that goes vertical lol
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Jul 20, 2015 03:51
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Der Luftwaffle posted:The only real trouble with Toronto is traffic and public transit. Besides that it's just the same big city problems you get everywhere with a global recession. Except you end up with the same complete lack of culture exhibited in most of Canada. Disagree? Name one item of "Canadian cuisine" that didn't originate in Quebec, the only province that, for all its problem, does have a distinct culture.
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Jul 20, 2015 04:29
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Peameal bacon my dude.
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Jul 20, 2015 04:48
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butter tart.
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Jul 20, 2015 04:52
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MassaShowtime posted:Peameal bacon my dude. At most, that's an ingredient. It's not even that good.
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Jul 20, 2015 04:52
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I did an audit in Toronto and I enjoyed the area. I was surprised how much of a Branson feel Niagara Falls had on the Canadian side (this is unrelated to why I liked Toronto, just sayin). While there I found Toronto to be a somewhat smaller city than I was expecting (not very vertical). However, they were building quite a few buildings along the water it seemed (high rises). Do you see Toronto turning into more of a metropolis a la NYC/Chicago/London? Based on the insane amount of HGTV shows in Toronto it appears the area is overpriced as hell, do you think that will change, if so why? e; looking at the thread it cracks me up that everyone hates the traffic because I hated that too and I am from Chicago, dongsweep fucked around with this message at 05:28 on Jul 20, 2015 |
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Jul 20, 2015 05:23
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PT6A posted:At most, that's an ingredient. It's not even that good. Peameal bacon sandwiches are pretty awesome sorry you have bad taste in everything. Also, I forgot, but Crispy Ginger Beef!
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Jul 20, 2015 05:36
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MassaShowtime posted:Peameal bacon sandwiches are pretty awesome sorry you have bad taste in everything. Not so much. quote:Also, I forgot, but Crispy Ginger Beef! I forgot about that one! It's delicious. It's kind of hosed up that it's specifically Chinese-Canadian (Calgarian, even, I think) but I'll still give Canada credit for that one.
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Jul 20, 2015 05:44
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PT6A posted:Except you end up with the same complete lack of culture exhibited in most of Canada. It's not a lack of culture dude, it's a lack of a lame old-world mentality that national pride comes from having all your poo poo being in-house. I like that there's no real "Canadian food" because we have all these immigrant communities bringing their awesome cuisine and cross pollinating from each other. Likewise for art, music, literature, etc. Maybe people would be more proud of their national identity if their native people weren't still living in hovels, their military and veteran services were being properly funded and their politicians weren't doing sleazy poo poo with privacy and election laws. But I guess I'll go complain about how different ethnicities like to hang in certain areas or how there's no maple syrup ration or whatever the hell this thread is about.
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Jul 20, 2015 05:44
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PT6A posted:
Nah its pretty cool that we just make fusions of things and cultures cross pollinate instead of dissapearing.
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Jul 20, 2015 05:58
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PT6A posted:Except you end up with the same complete lack of culture exhibited in most of Canada. Nanaimo Bars Timbits A whole bunch of chip flavours. Have a wiki. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_cuisine
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Jul 20, 2015 06:01
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Nessa posted:Nanaimo Bars You're not really blowing my skirt up here. Chip flavours (you forgot Zesty Mordant  ), and the centres out of donuts.gently caress me...
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Jul 20, 2015 06:05
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PT6A posted:OP could try moving temporarily to Montreal and then Toronto will seem like a blessed relief in comparison. Why do people hate the french speakers so much, is it just the natural tribalism of people? EDIT; It's just not this post, I've seen it a lot WRT Quebec. A lot of the time it seems to boil down to "Them fuckers speak a different language and aren't sorry about it", which is a phenomenon I've noted repeated from a lot of places in the world when it comes to a majority populaces view on any lingual minority that doesn't make itself invisible and more importantly, unheard. His Divine Shadow fucked around with this message at 08:02 on Jul 20, 2015 |
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Jul 20, 2015 07:54
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Quebeckers are assholes about a language they speak wrong.
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Jul 20, 2015 08:05
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His Divine Shadow posted:Why do people hate the french speakers so much, is it just the natural tribalism of people? Because people are selfish.
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Jul 20, 2015 08:23
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Canada is pretty screwed up but honestly I'd say it's one of the better countries to live in. A lot of our modern problems can be sourced to the Harper goverment. Not that the liberals were amazing but Harper's done such nice things as cutting funding for women and aboriginal advocacy groups, pillaged the enviroment and literally cheated in elections. Insanite posted:As an American who works almost exclusively with Canadians, I can say that they're all mean as gently caress. They're just really nice about it. I live in the murder capital of the country and people are pretty polite, so I can attest to that. SexyPatTO posted:EXCEPT that you won't be doing a lot of chatting because if the person you are talking to is a white Canadian (i.e. not a Filipino nanny, not a Ukranian or South Asian immigrant, and not a fellow American) because the instant you reveal that you are an American they will get weirdly haughty/defensive/self-righteous, and then they will extricate themselves from the conversation and you will never talk to them again. To be fair the two kinds of people in Canada hate the most are natives and Americans which is not dissimilar what Americans think.  PT6A posted:Except you end up with the same complete lack of culture exhibited in most of Canada. Well, I can think of food that comes from elsewhere, for what it's worth. Nanaimo bars, Ketchup chips, Pemmican, Muktuk, Saskatoon pie, and Screech (I think). But yeah, Canda is less than 150 years old. It's not South Sudan but it's still on the end of the youngest countries in the world. Cuntellectual fucked around with this message at 08:57 on Jul 20, 2015 |
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Jul 20, 2015 08:38
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His Divine Shadow posted:Why do people hate the french speakers so much, is it just the natural tribalism of people? Same reason we "dislike" Americans: We really don't, but their government does dickish things sometimes, their officials say stupid things sometimes, and our media outlets live to blow these little foibles way out of proportion to incite rabid frothing idiocy among xenophobes on both sides. Said idiots then take out their frustrations on each other personally because they're stupid. Most Quebeckers are pretty chill, just like most Americans are also decent folks. The moral of this thread is don't move to Toronto expecting it to be a cheap, harmonious socialist utopia. flakeloaf fucked around with this message at 13:53 on Jul 20, 2015 |
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Jul 20, 2015 13:50
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His Divine Shadow posted:Why do people hate the french speakers so much, is it just the natural tribalism of people? You should have seen the bile during our 2012 student strike. People are also extremely angry about our language laws and like to think we're spending billions of our equalization payments on it to screw over little ethic restaurant owners. I won't deny some businesses have been fined for unlawful signs, but it's not even remotely what those laws are about. Anyway, that rupture is older than Canada itself, and it ain't going anywhere soon. PT6A also hated his 2-year stay in Quebec and will take any chance he has to denigrate it now. OP, there is no love lost between Montreal and Toronto, but you're exaggerating. I found the transit system a bit dated when I visited, but there were great restaurants (especially outside the downtown core) and the people we're perfectly cordial. It's fine that you don't like it for whatever arbitrary reason, but trying to dissuade other people on that basis just makes you look histrionic.
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Jul 20, 2015 14:57
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God, what a load of bullshit.
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Jul 20, 2015 15:02
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His Divine Shadow posted:Why do people hate the french speakers so much, is it just the natural tribalism of people? I don't hate French speakers, I hated most Montrealers who spoke either language and I liked most of the Quebecers I met outside of downtown Montreal. The language laws are a different matter. I think they go quite far overboard in a lot of cases, but I certainly don't have an objection to Quebec using French as its primary language and trying to reinforce its position as such. Maybe, just maybe, we could tweak them so that French remains the primary language, yet an Irish pub doesn't get in trouble for having historical beer posters on the wall that haven't been translated into French.
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Jul 20, 2015 16:44
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PT6A posted:Except you end up with the same complete lack of culture exhibited in most of Canada. Newfoundland exists and jigs dinner, fish & brewis, bottled moose, etc. are things man. I agree otherwise though.
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Jul 20, 2015 23:24
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PT6A posted:I don't hate French speakers, I hated most Montrealers who spoke either language and I liked most of the Quebecers I met outside of downtown Montreal. I've never had problems with people in Montreal and I go three times a year. Though I'm generally not right downtown, but in the Plateau/Mile End, cause well its better there.
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Jul 20, 2015 23:26
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MassaShowtime posted:Though I'm generally not right downtown, but in the Plateau/Mile End, cause well its better there. Totally agree with you. All the places in Mile End were great (particularly Dieu du Ciel!) but it was an unfortunate amount of work to get up there, so for day to day stuff I was stuck near the McGill campus.
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Jul 20, 2015 23:42
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OP here! Took a look at all the recent comments. As I suppose I should have expected, the discussion took a quick turn to "Does Canada have anything to offer?" or "Canada has lots to offer." Obviously Canada has things to offer, and especially to Canadians! I would venture to say that Canada is a virtual paradise to most Canadians. Also, if you visit one of Canada's large cities, you will find stuff to keep you occupied and interested for up to two full days (3 in Montreal), and then you will leave and you will think "Yes, I visited Canada, and it was pretty OK." Poutine is interesting, and can be delicious, when you encounter it for the first and only time. I did say in my original post that this is not a Canada bashing thread. I understand why Canadians like Canada. Every morning my children must sing "O Canada" in school and hear that poo poo piped in at like 500 decibels over the intercom. I think this is completely nuts and I would think it was nuts if they lived in Washington DC and the song in question was the "Star Spangled Banner. " Most people I know in the US either have a very ironic attitude toward patriotism, or are psychotics. But in Canada, if you dare say to a Canadian that you find "O Canada" sort of an offensive way to start each and every day, you get the stink-eye, and often a lecture about how much good Canadians have done in the world. It's like people think Canadian patriotism is inherently good. I think that is weird, and every single ex-pat I have met here in a dozen years thinks this is weird. That brings me back to the point of this (maybe badly conceived) thread: not "don't live in Canada," but "don't be an immigrant in Canada" - especially if you are an American who could as easily do in America whatever job you're going to Canada to do. However much a citizen of the world you consider yourself, however much you think you're "not really American," however much you think you will just find your niche because you're easy-going like that ... you are in for a huge surprise, and within a couple of months you will find yourself wanting to argue with people who say snotty things about George W. Bush. It sucks to be an immigrant in Canada because: 1. Even most well-educated, liberal-minded people don't like immigrants and they especially don't like Americans, and they make this abundantly clear. 2. Your partner, if not recruited for a job, will have a very hard time getting a job commensurate to his/her experience. This is because of #1. 3. Immigrants (as I said in another post) self-ghettoize and dream of home. This is partly because Canada has no real culture or history (it is a young country as someone pointed out) and little apparent interest in developing one that doesn't amount to Canada-boosting, and partly because of #1 and the fact that #1 is disguised as extreme tolerance for (as another poster said) the "mosaic" of multiculturalism. 4. The prices for things - all things, from food to booze to clothes to books to cars to apartments to houses - are exorbitant and the selection is poor. Compared to wherever you come from, you will be disappointed and frustrated with trying to get even very simple things. (Once I was in a supermarket and I asked where I could find "the sparkling apple cider," and the person I asked said, incredulously, "*sparkling* apple cider??") As is clear from all the back-filling I've had to do in this (again, badly conceived) thread, and all the comments that have come up on it, Canada really does sell itself as a kind of immigrants' paradise - a benevolent version of the US. It is not. Immigrants are not happy here. It is a hard place to live if you have lived anywhere else.
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Jul 21, 2015 01:01
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I think people like immigrants and Americans fine, they just don't like you cause you poo poo on Canada and its culture. How is listening to the national anthem offensive? You have your kids swear allegiance to a flag every day. Ours is put to music.
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Jul 21, 2015 01:12
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I know a lot of immigrants from a lot of places and they all seem pretty happy to have moved to Canada. kissekatt posted:OP, have you considered that it might be you who is the problem?
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Jul 21, 2015 01:13
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SexyPatTO posted:I did say in my original post that this is not a Canada bashing thread. I understand why Canadians like Canada. Every morning my children must sing "O Canada" in school and hear that poo poo piped in at like 500 decibels over the intercom. I think this is completely nuts and I would think it was nuts if they lived in Washington DC and the song in question was the "Star Spangled Banner. " Most people I know in the US either have a very ironic attitude toward patriotism, or are psychotics. But in Canada, if you dare say to a Canadian that you find "O Canada" sort of an offensive way to start each and every day, you get the stink-eye, and often a lecture about how much good Canadians have done in the world. It's like people think Canadian patriotism is inherently good. I think that is weird, and every single ex-pat I have met here in a dozen years thinks this is weird. lol Toronto sounds retarded. We didn't sing the anthem unless it was an official assembly. There's a weird Canadian nationalism that takes most of its talking points from American depictions of Canada. Like, when people joke about being super polite, or igloos, or being America's nice neighbor or whatever. I don't mind getting grilled by foreign people about dumb stuff, but I always think it's weird when another Canadian says that kinda stuff. I feel like that's grasping at a fake identity. Regarding the dearth of "culture", we've had the same PM for about a decade now, and he cut funding for a lot of cultural and scientific institutions. He also let a ridiculous housing bubble develop while putting all his eggs into the oilsands basket. A lot of young Canadians are completely priced out of their cities, so they move out of the country, waste away in a Burger king, or fly out to shitheaps like Fort Mac for half the year. I live in a city where the biggest industry is housing speculation, followed by financial advisors for housing speculators. The most Canadian things I can remember are all from the '90s, otherwise it's all been the same poo poo as everywhere else.
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Jul 21, 2015 02:06
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Asiina posted:I think people like immigrants and Americans fine, they just don't like you cause you poo poo on Canada and its culture. We do have a bit of an odd relationship with patriotism. Waving flags out of season is seen as a bit weird, but if you rip on the anthem in schools people might get unpleasant. SexyPatTO posted:1. Even most well-educated, liberal-minded people don't like immigrants and they especially don't like Americans, and they make this abundantly clear. I'm not sure where you're meeting these people. The only racism I'm used to seeing here is against the other linguistic group and Natives. Then again, I've never been to Winnipeg. quote:3. Immigrants (as I said in another post) self-ghettoize and dream of home. In Toronto, where you'll find a lot of immigrants who moved there because they have relatives who moved there because they... etc. Ghettoization's going to happen under those circumstances. There are VERY large sections of town inhabited primarily by ethnic monocultures (Indian and Chinese, most prominently), along with a fair number of expats from places like the Philippines or Central America who work here to send money home and may actively dislike living here because it's so different from home, so maybe finding a few people to speak Tagalog with is the extent of their civic involvement. quote:4. The prices for things - all things, from food to booze to clothes to books to cars to apartments to houses - are exorbitant and the selection is poor. Compared to wherever you come from, you will be disappointed and frustrated with trying to get even very simple things. (Once I was in a supermarket and I asked where I could find "the sparkling apple cider," and the person I asked said, incredulously, "*sparkling* apple cider??") In Toronto, which is one of the largest and most densely populated cities in the country with one of the highest average annual wages. Sorry your experience in Toronto sucked and you met some horrible people, dude. It's kind of a crazy town, and if you're not from there you're probably not going to "get it" right away. Up next week: [Ask] me why moving to the USA is awful because I didn't have a very good time in Austin.
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Jul 21, 2015 02:14
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I gotta ask , is sparkling cider just alcoholic cider aka cider?
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Jul 21, 2015 02:23
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Asiina posted:How is listening to the national anthem offensive? You have your kids swear allegiance to a flag every day. Ours is put to music. See, this is what I'm talking about. First of all, my kids, who currently live in Canada, currently listen to "O Canada" every day. Second, if they lived in the US it is just possible (not inevitable) that they might have to swear allegiance to the flag every day, and if they did, yes, I would find that offensive, and most Americans I know would as well! I would be interested to hear experiences from other immigrants *to* Canada, rather than Canadians who live there, confirming or denying my view of how hospitable it is.
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Jul 21, 2015 02:39
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flakeloaf posted:In Toronto, which is one of the largest and most densely populated cities in the country with one of the highest average annual wages. Vancouver is insanely expensive as well, and Toronto's prices are no different from any other city in Ontario. Real estate maybe, but certainly not food. I expect that most people who contemplate immigrating to Canada, or are recruited to do so, are moving to cities like Toronto or Vancouver. I've lived in Toronto for 12 years, so the analogy to your Austin trip doesn't quite work. And when I came here I thought it was going to be great. I expected to have to learn how to "get it," and then, eventually, to just get it. All the expats I know, and I know a lot of them, felt the same way. None of us gets it, and I doubt any of us ever will. I wish someone had told me, before I came to Canada, that "immigrant" is a real identity you have to assume. Maybe I'm naive for not realizing that in advance, but if I am, then so are tons of other Americans who say, casually, "It must be great to live in Canada, since things are so crazy in the US" or who are holding a job offer in Canada and think it will be just sort of a regular lateral move, like moving from Arizona to Illinois. Maybe some of those people will read this thread.
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Jul 21, 2015 02:56
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Canadians get offended when I say that their country is poo poo and they have no culture. Why are Canadians so hostile toward me? It must be because they hate immigrants.
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Jul 21, 2015 03:00
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PT6A posted:Totally agree with you. All the places in Mile End were great (particularly Dieu du Ciel!) but it was an unfortunate amount of work to get up there, so for day to day stuff I was stuck near the McGill campus. The McGill ghetto blows, that was your problem.
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Jul 21, 2015 03:16
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I don't know how you envisioned this thread in your mind dude but you're blowing it. History classes focusing on Canadian achievements = jingoism? Really?? It's been said before but I'll repeat: You're the one with the problem here. You've made no solid case at all except that being an immigrant is hard wow just like in EVERY country. Also news flash- things like food cost shitloads more in countries with higher minimum wage and higher standards of living than you're used to. Don't ever go to Norway or Switzerland because their food prices will blow your mind further. Asiina posted:Canadians get offended when I say that their country is poo poo and they have no culture. Why are Canadians so hostile toward me? It must be because they hate immigrants.
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Jul 21, 2015 04:09
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Asiina posted:I think people like immigrants and Americans fine, they just don't like you cause you poo poo on Canada and its culture. Maybe he thinks it's still "in our son's command"  flakeloaf posted:Then again, I've never been to Winnipeg. Yeah here we're arguably the worst place in the country wrt racism. Which is why it's absolutely amazing that we're building a museum of human rights.   SexyPatTO posted:See, this is what I'm talking about. First of all, my kids, who currently live in Canada, currently listen to "O Canada" every day. Second, if they lived in the US it is just possible (not inevitable) that they might have to swear allegiance to the flag every day, and if they did, yes, I would find that offensive, and most Americans I know would as well! Please do elaborate. Cuntellectual fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Jul 21, 2015 |
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Jul 21, 2015 04:18
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Asiina posted:Canadians get offended when I say that their country is poo poo and they have no culture. Why are Canadians so hostile toward me? It must be because they hate immigrants. Speaking as a Canadian, we really are pathologically defensive in general. I like living here, and I love many aspects of this country, but when people say certain aspects are poo poo and need to get fixed, our response should be "yes, these problems exist and should be fixed," instead of waving our hands and ignoring the issue. I don't think, at this particular point in my life, I'd move anywhere else without a really solid reason, but that doesn't mean I don't see issues every day that ought to be improved. To fail to recognize and work to fix these problems is anti-patriotic, if you ask me.
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Jul 21, 2015 05:18
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What is this anthem in schools poo poo? I have never sung the anthem anywhere but a professional hockey game.
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Jul 21, 2015 05:48
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It was just a thing we did every day before class until high school. Everyone stood up, shut up, pretended to care for a minute and then life went on. They even had us saying the our father until grade four or so, which went over like a poo poo balloon in a public school that was easily half first-generation immigrants/refugees.
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Jul 21, 2015 05:55
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I went to the doctor today and it was free. I was referred for xrays and those will also be free. Thanks Canada. 
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Jul 21, 2015 06:40
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Scudworth posted:
There are places in Europe that are plenty developed where bread, processed meat, dairy and fruit cost less than half of what they do in Canada. We uhh, don't have a high minimum wage at all, btw. Healthcare gives people a big safety net but that daily groceries are pretty expensive, how limited the Canadian economy is.
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Jul 21, 2015 07:25
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