September 29, 2011
As this is a blog about my experiences in Canada as an American, I'm not duty-bound to write only about the positive. There are things about this country and our time here that are less than satisfying and satisfactory. If you don't have an interest in hearing me talk about the/in the negative, then feel free to pass this post up. But if I am being an honest blogger and ex-pat, then it is my job to let you know about some of the glitches living here in the Great White North.
For one, shopping and the availability of goods here is disappointing, to say the least. Either an item from the States cannot be shipped to Canada, or the item is not available on the Canadian version of the website (if there is a Canadian version at all). If an item IS available to be shipped from the US, the cost of shipping alone would be enough to second guess the purchase, but then on top of that, you have to pay an import duty fee, jacking the price up another 20% or so. Just forget rush shipping altogether. Should the item even be available in Canada, the taxes alone will kill you (this goes the same for in-store shopping). But if you want to pay for it with a debit card, many sites within Canada will not accept that form of payment. You can use your US debit card, and then pay a currency exchange fee. Overall, the selection, anyway, of goods on the Canadian sites makes shopping on them a total waste of time. Even Amazon.ca has an almost laughably tiny selection of goods (btw, Amazon, you need to make it so that you can share wish lists between the US and Canadian sites - I have not been able to transfer my ongoing/building wish list on the .ca site to the .com site at all), making it a waste to even look for things on their site. Same for places like Old Navy, Gap, Overstock, Ikea, Best Buy. Target.com isn't even available in Canada yet, even though they are now entering the Canadian market.
Canada is for all intents and purposes (you're welcome, Megan) "Diet America" - it steals it's television, radio, fashion, language (for the most part, eh?), automobiles, sports (for the most part, eh?), and pop culture (for the most part, eh?) from the US, and yet, it lags behind in access to those things. Canadian shelves are packed with American goods (some renamed for these 'foreign' shelves - for example, DeGiorno frozen pizzas in America are labelled as DeLiscio in Canada - but have the same exact box design.), and yet, we here in Canada pay nearly twice as much for them. Even today, with the announcement of the new Kindle Fire tablet from Amazon, a small caveat at the bottom of the article stated that Canada would have to wait a while to get them. We share a continent and the longest undefended border in the world, We share a common language and culture, but Canada is treated (or acts?) like the proverbial red-headed step-child - always a step behind, always getting the scraps and hand-me-downs, and always overpaying.
When Canada does try to step up to the plate, say with it's media, it still falls comically short. In regards to TV, Canadian broadcast channels are operated with the technical acumen of blind epileptic kindergarteners. Promotions for upcoming shows (cancelled American programs picked up by CBC, usually) are hap-haphazardly slapped between commercial breaks, always cut off mid-promo when the show re-starts. The promos themselves are sub-You Tube quality, with no voice overs and with 1980s Casio keyboard accompaniment. Even those quick 10 second shots of the stars themselves of shows being aired (like a cut to Stephen Colbert "holding" the CTV logo in-between commercial spots of "The Colbert Report") feature a much younger, less current Stephen Colbert than what you see on the show. They can't even update their show promos to be current. Watching Canadian television is like watching a college town's public access channel in terms of technical ability and skill.
In all, it seems like Canada just isn't ready for the technological age. It's television and it's internet capabilities are stuck in the '90s. Hell, some Canadians still sport "hockey hair" without any sense of hipster irony. Canada is a country that tries to pass itself off as less crass and culturally lacking than the US, but unabashedly steals it's culture from it's neighbor to the South and then mucks it up into something laughable and akin to Eastern European stereotypes of stolen Western-isms.
Their newspapers are a joke. The large urban papers of Vancouver and Calgary won't home deliver (even through the mail) to our town - but somehow I can get the New York Times? We now get the Sunday NY Times delivered here to the house (thanks to the Disney Corp), and it even arrives on our doorstep! Sure, it arrives on Monday, as all rural, foreign deliveries should. But they actually find a way to get it to my door. But Vancouver, only 5 hours to the west, in the same country, in the same province, can't even send it to my mailbox? Sure, I get the local paper delivered daily, and I will happily give props to them for it being literally on my doorstep every single day (and I have an very large, long driveway), but the paper itself is Mayberry quality. There is no concept of a Sunday edition, with extra sections, expanded comics, and boatloads of coupons. For me to get a Sunday paper, I have to drive a half an hour into town, wade through a major store like Wal Mart or Safeway, pay more than it's worth, and get maybe one extra section, no coupons, and shitty comics. The Daily Courier (the Kelowna paper) even REDUCES the comics page on Sundays! My American friends understand - even as a kid, you looked forward to the larger, full colour comics page on Sunday. As an adult, you looked forward to an expanded sports, business, opinion, arts, entertainment, special interest section on the weekends. Here, there is no lazy dallying over the Sunday edition with a hot cup of coffee with the missus. Instead, it's two of us at our separate laptops getting the news from the Huffington Post - American Edition (the Canadian edition is as equally laughable as Canadian newspapers). Even the Canadian version of AOL (yes, I still use them for my email, so their front page is a common pop-up on my computer) has the most laughable, inane, Perez Hilton-esque front page news I have ever seen. 6 pages of marriage advice, followed by one section of page 11 stories cribbed from the US version of Huff Post. And they keep the same stories up for weeks. Literally weeks. It's as if Canada were the Ostrich of the world news scene - what it doesn't know can't hurt it. Even Kelowna, a town of 130,000 people has no local television station. Peoria, Illinois has half that many people and has it's own TV station. Hell, Hannibal - Quincy on the Mississippi River between Illinois and Missouri, with a quarter of the population of Kelowna has it's own television station with it's own news division. The people of Nome, Alaska are more connected to the world than those of us here, less than 5 hours from the metropolis of Vancouver.
I won't even get into the issues I have with the hell-th care system here in Canada. I'm still waiting to go to my initial, first appointment with the clinical dermatologist. That appointment is for November 25th. It was made on June 30th. An op-ed in the Daily Courier yesterday told of a woman who took her elderly husband to the Kelowna ER for chest pains. He waited in a gurney in a hallway for 16 hours before being seen by a doctor and was there for 26 hours before being released without treatment (his pains subsided so they sent him home). The ER in Vernon, an hour north and a town with 1/2 the population of Kelowna (that's still about 70,000 people, mind you), had to CLOSE it's ER for 2 DAYS because it couldn't find a doctor to cover for the resident ER physician who needed to go out of town. The immunologist I saw a few weeks ago told me my diagnosis of CVID was wrong, took me off my skin meds, and told me I had to get rid of my cats because they were the reason I was sick. Sure, it may be free (if you count 35% tax on everything as being free), but what good does it do you when you can't get in to see anyone, and when you do, they are a douche? I'll gladly pay an insurance premium if it means I can choose who I see and when I can see them.
In the meantime, if anyone wants to send a care package, we cannot get Skippy peanut butter (crunchy, please), Hershey's chocolate syrup, 3 Musketeer bars, Nabisco Saltine crackers, or Nestle chocolate chips up here. How can you make Tollhouse cookies without Nestle chocolate chips!?
As time goes by, our view of Canada and life here is ever changing. Though The Okanagan is a beautiful place, with epic scenery, the day to day grind here is taxing and disappointing. It is expensive here, with those extra costs going towards an unhelpful and inconvenient health care system. The variety of goods and services is lacking. And the access to the outside world - even to local events - is almost dystopian. It's funny how Canada likes to look down upon the US as a barbaric, rude, and laughable society, and yet, it does everything it can, in a most dysfunctional manner, to be as much like the US as possible. But at this point in my time spent in Canada, I have reached the conclusion that I would rather live in the United States than here in the Great White North. The famed politeness of Canadians is a fallacy. The storied wonders of it's socialized medicine is nothing but a myth. And Canada is to blame for the unleashing of Justin Bieber on the world. Like Vegas, Canada looks very sparkly and inviting and exciting from a distance, and is a great place to visit, but you really don't want to live there.
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Appreciate the honesty. I was worried how I would get my fancy baking chocolate, etc.
ReplyDeleteI have not come across any Scharffenberger, Godiva, or Ghiradelli products up here, either.
ReplyDeleteKing Arthur's web site does ship their Guittard bittersweet minichips, which are AWESOME, and their Merckens big bittersweet chunks, and their chips. They indicate what ships Canadian. This doesn't address the high costs, and I would recommend waiting until cooler to ship chocolate (I usually do this in February) but it is at least a source.
ReplyDeleteOh care package lady? Yes, that's me. I'm on it. Message me your address (again). Nothing would make me happier. Care packages saved us overseas, and always, ALWAYS included chocolate chips!
ReplyDeleteOne quick note:
ReplyDelete"It is expensive here, with those extra costs going towards an unhelpful and inconvenient health care system."
Even if we exclude the private sector portions and look *only* at government spending on health care, Canada still spends marginally less per capita on its system than the U.S. does. So I'm a little baffled how you come to the conclusion that it is a price driver of "extra costs" here.
(Yes, the US has higher levels of government spending on it's largely private sector system than a nation with a universal government run national health insurance plan... chew that over for a while)
The reason taxes are higher in Canada is actually a combination of support for an extensive network of *other* social services, the inevitably higher per capita costs of maintaining infrastructure in a less densely populated nation, and that mostly/usually balanced budget thing.
Just sayin'...
My point is that the higher tax rate here has not produced any noticeable difference in the quality of life here based on improved infrastructure or social services. If anything, the BC interior lacks fundamental public transportation and ease of access on roads. The higher tax rate does go towards funding a state-run healthcare system here in Canada - whereas your point about the US gov't spending more is accurate only in regards to Medicare and Medicaid payments made to doctors and hospitals for services rendered to patients old enough to have paid into the system via taxes throughout their lives. Unlike Canada, the gov't doesn't pay doctor or healthcare worker salaries or wages as Canada does vis a vis taxes.
ReplyDeleteMy larger point was that all these everyday costs that are supposed to yield greater benefits like free healthcare is moot if you can't even get in to see a doctor. The wait times for seeing and (so far, in my own experience here in Kelowna)the quality of the doctors is not worth the huge hit to the bankbook. If I'm to pay into a system, then I'd rather pay a monthly standardized premium (as opposed the fluctuated tax rates of whatever/how much I consume per month) to ensure I can see who I want when I want. Until I can call a doctor's office here & get in within the week, and not have them question the veracity of my 5x confirmed diagnosis, and practice some semblance of friendly bedside manner, I refuse to acknowledge that the Canadian Health Care system is better or preferable to the US system - and this from someone who has battled with both doctors and insurance companies for decades for quality care.
The higher taxes aren't hitting me in any discernible manner that would move me toward calling Canada a better place to live than the US. I say this as an open-minded, liberal, world-traveled, educated person. I say that without any underlying jingoistic sentiments about America. I say it based upon day to day observation and day to day living.
Ugh. Entire post wiped out by finicky mouse, let's try this again...
ReplyDeleteI think we have a case of miscommunication here. Reading through your response you seem to be under the impression that I was saying that the US system spends more on a *patient* in the publicly funded portion of it's system (aka, on a senior in medicare and a select other subgroup of people) than the Canadian system spends on it's average patient. While that is true, by a lot, it's not what I meant.
TOTAL US public sector expenditures on health care, as a percentage of the entire national GDP, were 7.2% in 2010.
In Canada it was 7.0%.
It is thus mathematically impossible that "the higher tax rate does go towards funding a state-run healthcare system". It does not. It goes to other things. Like, as I mentioned, a balanced federal budget. At least when the global economy isn't in the toilet. The health care system has no bearing whatsoever on the tax rate being higher.
You seemed to be irritated that you were paying high taxes for health care and not seeing a return. I was pointing out that you're not paying high taxes *for health care*.
...
And now, I apologize in advance for getting all nitpicky on fine details of health care policy but it's kinda one of my things.
Canada does not have a state run health care system. Health care provision in Canada is almost entirely private sector. Odds are any given doctor you are currently trying to get an appointment with is private practice. What Canada has is a state-run health *insurance* system.
And I can see no possible argument that that is not a vastly superior system to the one in the US. For one simple reason:
TOTAL health care spending (public and private) in the US: 17.4% of GDP (2009)
TOTAL health care spending (public and private) in the US: 11.4% of GDP (2009)
I use 2009 numbers because the US total figures for 2010 don't seem to be available to the OECD database yet.
Now, the decision to allocate that much spending to the Canadian system is mostly a policy decision. You can certainly argue the merits of that decision. However, if we are going to evaluate system efficacy then we need to look at how each system performs given the same resources. Whichever system gets more out of the same amount is the better system, it's just that simple.
So, take the American system, which using 17.4% of the national GDP leaves something like a quarter of its population without coverage and still bankrupts a good chunk of the population that actually is "covered"... and slash it's available funding to 65% of current totals then think about what happens. Do you think it's plausible that the result would be even in shouting distance of Canadian system performance for the average citizen?
Alternatively, increase funding to the Canadian system by a little over 50% and think about what happens then for the average system user.
That said, I recognize that you are not the average system user and are in a category/situation where the adverse effects of limiting funding to the system are highly exaggerated... but that's doesn't change the calculations of which system is more effective. Given X amount of funding the Canadian system will produce superior results. Hands down. No question.
Of course being better that the system in the US is hardly much of a bragging right. Most European systems crush both the US and Canada in performance.
None of this was intended to argue Canada is the better place to live. Having lived in Canada for over 20 years and the States for over 10, there's tradeoffs to living in both and overall I'd rank them pretty evenly. (Although push comes to shove I prefer Canada.)
Dammit... that should be
ReplyDelete"
TOTAL health care spending (public and private) in Canada: 11.4% of GDP (2009)"
Grant,
ReplyDeleteRegardless of who pays for what & where the tax money goes, from a very basic standpoint, I stand by my 2 complaints:
First: As much as I appreciate that I do not have to pay out of pocket to see a doctor or to get a prescription, I do not appreciate the quality of the care I am receiving here, nor the choice of doctors. Now, I understand that I am in a smaller city, but at the same time, it is unusual that of a population center of over 130,000, there is only one dermatologist, and that I have had to wait from June 30th until November 25th to see this person. I also do not appreciate that there are so few doctors that are accepting patients, and that those who do have similar waiting lists. I am on methadone for pain due to my rare immune disorder, but am treated with disdain and suspicion by both doctors and pharmacists here because of my use. I do not appreciate having the healthcare "professionals" here look down their noses at me because I use a medication that is both effective, and was prescribed due to the ineffectiveness of other opiate pain relievers. I take issue with a system that has ER patients waiting over 18 hours to be seen for chest pains (per the local paper). And I take issue with the doctors here discounting and dismissing the years of care/diagnosis/management of my condition by my US doctors.
As for the taxes, I again stand by my statement that I have not seen any discernible or outward improvement to infrastructure or government services as a result of said higher taxes. If anything, my choice of available goods is smaller, and the roads are no better than ones in the US. There is no public transportation to speak of, and I live a mile away from UBCO. From my experiences here, I can only say that Canada is unnecessarily more expensive and that it's healthcare system, while thankfully less expensive, is lacking in the more important aspect of quality and availability.
Grant, I appreciate you standing up for your country. I appreciate you taking a stand and making an educated and well-thought-out argument. But in terms of this blog, my intention is only to provide a first-person account of adjusting to life in Canada as an American, and that includes my perceived issues and problems as they pertain to my circumstances. I am sure that things are far different in the larger cities like Vancouver, or in different provinces - it is silly to make generalizations based on such a ginormous nation. But the point of the blog is not so much to be scientific as it is to be allegorical and personal. I DO appreciate that you are taking the time to read it, respond to it, and be involved in the conversations and I hope you continue to do so. Your comments, for those who are looking here to find some applicable information and guidance while making their own moves to Canada should find your input and comments just as helpful, so thanks.
Alright, Grant, one last time.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your commitment to "setting things straight" but you also need to realize that this is an entertainment blog and not a news/political blog. I use anecdotes to illustrate arguments made in my own community in Kelowna, thought I should have pointed out that not only were there op-eds in reference to wait times at the hospital, but reporting about the topic itself in the news section of the local paper, including pool reporting from national news organizations. But again, this is an entertainment blog based upon my own experiences and opinions. I am not writing a treatise on the health care systems, but simply writing about my own less than positive experiences with doctors here in Kelowna (and in comparison with the treatment I received in the States. This blog is not the forum for heated arguments like the ones you are making. This blog is for people to read about one person's experiences, observations, and perceptions as a fish-out-of-water.
I concur that both systems have problems, inefficiencies, cost and funding issues, and quality concerns. But this is not a health care forum. However, until you are diagnosed and live with a life altering, incurable, debilitating, expensive, and painful disease that has caused you to go on disability, forgo dreams of career advancement or furthering your education, and putting undue burden and stress of care on your spouse, then you cannot understand nor empathize with my opinions and point of view. It is easy to make pro and con arguments armed with cold hard facts, but facts do not tell a human story, and the reliance upon facts and numbers and statistics by insurance and government institutions will always result in distant and impersonal care. From this point, I would personally appreciate you refraining from continuing this discussion on this blog. My readers are educated enough and smart enough to make their own assessment of my opinions and not to take them as gospel. You are more than welcome to continue to comment on the blog, as long as you keep it in the spirit of entertainment and accept that our discussion of healthcare is finished.
Thank you.