If you're ok waiting 6-18 months for basically everything that's not life threatening.

The reality is that people either suffer in our system or go abroad for medical treatment.

> I’d been living and working in the US for 6 months, and came to Canada for the first time. After 30 minutes I felt more at home and happier than I did at any time during six months in the US.

Of course, you were on vacation. Wait until you find out that the median Canadian income is ~$33k USD and s typical apartment is ~$2500 per month for 2 bedrooms.

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=111002...

I’ve had surgeries, my wife gave birth, plenty of friends have been through the ER and doctors (we mountain bike, ski, snowboard, etc)

Please, please stop making stuff up.

https://thehub.ca/2026/01/21/over-105000-patients-left-canad...

https://www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/article/4600-atlantic-canadi...

https://www.maplemedglobal.ca/destinations/mexico

https://www.benefitsandpensionsmonitor.com/news/industry-new...

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/article/i-had-started-saying-g...

Yes, it's fine if you fall into a category where care absolutely can't be delayed or it's life threatening.

And before you accuse me of lying, here's the literal fucking CMA saying wait times are too long and worse than peer countries: https://www.cma.ca/healthcare-for-real/why-do-canadians-wait...

For example, both myself and my 2 year old son had to get surgeries considered "elective" in Canada. Both quoted over a year wait time. I went to an EU country got it done in 3 days, got his surgery done in a couple weeks. He's been recovered for half a year and no one even called back yet to schedule his surgery in Canada.

But yes, I guess when he was born they made space for us in the hospital. Of course he ended up getting most of his yearly checkups and vaccines in the EU as well since over there you can get an appointment in a day here you have to book months out.

And before you call me a liar why don't you check one of the thousand sources that corroborate what I say, or at least a couple I put in this comment.

Also, the thing with medical care, it's fine until it's not. I never needed any medical care until I was 39 so of course I thought it was fine.

Edit - let's also not forget that 23,000 patients die waiting for surgery in Canada per year. That's more than the amount of people murdered in the US per year and not per capita (would be equivalent of 200,000+ Americans dying waiting for surgery).

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/article/more-than-23000-canadi...

Is it the best on the world? Clearly not.

Is there lots of room for improvement? You bet, and people like my wife are working hard at it. The Canadian system is vastly better than the us system for the vast majority of people. A system where everyone is covered and there is no concept of medical bankruptcy is obviously better out of the gate.

Also really odd you’ve gone so hard on healthcare when that was just one of the many points that differentiates Canada from the us. I mean, you wanna talk about paid leave days? Maternity leave? Crime? Inequality? Cost of healthcare v outcomes, life expectancy….?

Maybe because 34% of ALL government money in Canada goes towards healthcare. So this means I'm paying tens of thousands of dollars per year for healthcare that I haven't been able to use. Maybe it's bad luck that my family has required several "elective" (note that elective doesn't mean optional) procedures in the last few years, but it's a kick in the teeth to have to pay out of pocket for healthcare in another country when so much of our taxes go towards it here and we can't opt out.

> differentiates Canada from the us.

Not going to lie, the constant US boogeyman is what keeps Canada so fucking mediocre. There's 38 "rich" countries in the world (OECD) and a ton of them are ahead of us. Why aren't we striving to be more like Switzerland, Germany, France or Norway? Why is it some binary of USA or not USA? There's a ton of countries that are safer than CANADA (nevermind the US), get more maternity/paternity days, get more vacation days, get better healthcare, better income, less inequality and a better income/cost ratio. Even the laggards in the EU have better productivity (GDP per capita) growth than Canada and even the most dangerous EU countries are safer than Canada and even the worst EU health systems are better than ours. But we're just going to ignore that because some aspect of the US is worse (also half your points the US will still win because lots companies still provide those things even if they're not required).

If every Canadian spent a year living in central or northern Europe they'd be radicalised enough to overthrow this government. Of course the reality is that Canadians who do move abroad just stay there (more Canadians live abroad than any of our peer countries) so the people that do stay here are the ones with little ambition. For better or worse I was born in Canada AND have a residence in central Europe so it's pretty easy for me to see how Canada has fallen and is being left behind by our peers. If we didn't have resources and easy access to the largest market in the world we'd be a 3rd world country (or more likely would have just never become a country).

Yep, that’s how it works in every country with healthcare for all. Remember you’re paying less than Americans pay, and you’re getting better outcomes. [1]

I also pay for police and firemen and a ton of other stuff I’ve never used. But I’m happy my community gets that safety net, and it will be there if I ever need it.

> There are 38 "rich" countries in the world (OECD) and a ton of them are ahead of us. Why aren't we striving to be more like Switzerland, Germany, France or Norway?

I agree with you 100%

Canada is not the greatest at many things, and has a long way to improve. I’m happy people are working hard to do that.

The original point above was that Canada is essentially the same as the US, which I refuted. At no point did I say Canada is the best or has nothing to improve.

I’ve spent significant time in 65 countries, worked in a handful. I chose Canada. I wasn’t born here, I hold three passports (one EU) and could leave anytime.

That's what you think... My previous home also burned down in a wildfire that claimed 2000 other people's homes... A wildfire that was warned about for 20 years and for which zero precautions were undertaken.

This year other people's homes have burned down and more are at risk near Vernon.

Canada is a joke of a country, the only good parts are the camping, skiing and proximity to the US for business (assuming you don't need venture capital of course).

I’m happy to hear you agree with my original comments, and the point of this entire thread. Canada is not “just like” the US.

The only reason anyone at all moves to Canada is that the US has per-country immigration quotas...

This whole comment chain exists because way up someone said Canada IS the US, just with metric and people that talk funny.

I’m glad we agree that is not the case.

They also have a higher life expectancy. Better maternity leave (my wife recently took 18 months). Better paid time off. Better labor protections (wtf is “at will employment”?). Canada has lower rates of obesity, deaths from treatable conditions, lower rate of mental health disorders, rate of drug abuse, rate of prescription drug use, incarceration rate, rate of assaults, rate of homicides, income inequality, and wealth inequality.

These are all known facts from OECD data, and in my experience, these are the things that shape my quality of life day to day in any given country.

So there are a lot of reasons I continue to choose to live in Canada while holding three passports.

[1] https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2...