Posted Sat Apr 5, 2003, 11:19pm Subject: Re: So is this crappy day over yet? :)
CoffeeKid Said:
UPS screws up yet another shipment between the US and Canada for me. They've been holding a Capress F7 in customs clearance for five days now, and it looks like I have to spend 2, 3 hours of my time tomorrow driving down to their "port" at the airport to handle the paperwork in person, and eventually turn over $500 of my money for their excessive brokerage fees, and equally excessive govt taxes.
This, and numerous other comments that I have heard you and others make in posts, make me think that Canada is a major pain in the arse place to live, assuming you need to interact with or buy things from the US.
I would love to spend a lot of time in BC, semi move there, but these kinds of stories make me think I would be charged for the shirt on my back if I tried to do so.
Posted Sun Apr 6, 2003, 12:46am Subject: Re: So is this crappy day over yet? :)
hachcafe Said:
This, and numerous other comments that I have heard you and others make in posts, make me think that Canada is a major pain in the arse place to live, assuming you need to interact with or buy things from the US.
Amen to that! Not to mention that BC was just cited by the U.N. International Labor Organization as being as bad on labor unions as Chile & Argentina. See this article.
As soon as I earn my Master's degree, I'm heading back home down south of the border.
Dana Leighton - Espresso hack and CoffeeGeek moderator
plragde Senior Member Joined: 1 Jan 1970 Posts: 93 Location: Waterloo, Ontario Expertise: Intermediate
Espresso: Elektra Micro Casa a Leva,... Grinder: Mazzer Mini, Rancilio Jacky Drip: 1-cup mesh filter Roaster: Hearthware Precision
Posted Sun Apr 6, 2003, 1:56pm Subject: Re: So is this crappy day over yet? :)
hachcafe wrote:
This, and numerous other comments that I have heard you and others make in posts, make me think that Canada is a major pain in the arse place to live, assuming you need to interact with or buy things from the US.
Some of us chose Canada over the US deliberately. Yes, the border is a nuisance (it's free trade for all but individuals, it seems), more for its unpredictability than anything else. But there are a few compensations up here: universal health care, more equity in income distribution and education, no permanent underclass, and vibrant multiculturalism. Not that any of these are perfect; some are fraying at the edges (particularly in BC, which seems to be more polarized than most places in Canada). But, on balance, it's worth investigating. --PR
Posted Sun Apr 6, 2003, 3:21pm Subject: Re: So is this crappy day over yet? :)
plragde Said:
hachcafe wrote: Some of us chose Canada over the US deliberately. Yes, the border is a nuisance (it's free trade for all but individuals, it seems), more for its unpredictability than anything else. But there are a few compensations up here: universal health care, more equity in income distribution and education, no permanent underclass, and vibrant multiculturalism. Not that any of these are perfect; some are fraying at the edges (particularly in BC, which seems to be more polarized than most places in Canada). But, on balance, it's worth investigating. --PR
Well, as we said, we think Canada, the country, is great and BC, the place, beautiful. It was just all this idea that there were tax and brokerage robbers intercepting every poor soul and private shipment traveling north at the border that set us back a bit... :)))
Posted Sun Apr 6, 2003, 3:50pm Subject: Re: So is this crappy day over yet? :)
hachcafe Said:
Well, as we said, we think Canada, the country, is great and BC, the place, beautiful. It was just all this idea that there were tax and brokerage robbers intercepting every poor soul and private shipment traveling north at the border that set us back a bit... :)))
MarkPrince Moderator Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 5,144 Location: Vancouver Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Frankenstein'ed LM Linea Grinder: Anfim Super Caimano Vac Pot: 1922 Silex Drip: Krups Moka Brew Roaster: Hottop
Posted Mon Apr 7, 2003, 2:40am Subject: Re: So is this crappy day over yet? :)
plragde Said:
hachcafe wrote:
Some of us chose Canada over the US deliberately. Yes, the border is a nuisance (it's free trade for all but individuals, it seems), more for its unpredictability than anything else. But there are a few compensations up here: universal health care, more equity in income distribution and education, no permanent underclass, and vibrant multiculturalism. Not that any of these are perfect; some are fraying at the edges (particularly in BC, which seems to be more polarized than most places in Canada). But, on balance, it's worth investigating. --PR
I can't say I'd choose Canada over the US if I was given the choice. To take this completely OT for a brief paragraph,
I'm so sick of a government that patently ignores the wants and needs of a population, right down to the constituent. I'm tired of working for various levels of the government for more than half the year. I'm sick of one level of government that spends 500 million dollars of taxpayers' money on garbage, then another replacement government that turns down the offer to sell that $500 billion worth of equipment for around $90 million, then settles for auctioning it off for less than $20 million. I most other democracies, that would be a call for impeachment or recall. Not in our system of 4 years of non-responsible rule followed by 2 to 4 months of intense democracy. And I'm sick of a supposed "universal health care system" that makes my Mom wait up to 3 months to get the tests and scans she needs immediately.
Bottom line? I don't get my money's worth from any level of government in Canada. And there's no apparent responsibility, esp. if you live in the west - after Quebec and Ontario have spoken, the jig's up, and politicians know it.
Posted Mon Apr 7, 2003, 4:38am Subject: Re: So is this crappy day over yet? :)
CoffeeKid Said:
Bottom line? I don't get my money's worth from any level of government in Canada. And there's no apparent responsibility, esp. if you live in the west - after Quebec and Ontario have spoken, the jig's up, and politicians know it.
plragde Senior Member Joined: 1 Jan 1970 Posts: 93 Location: Waterloo, Ontario Expertise: Intermediate
Espresso: Elektra Micro Casa a Leva,... Grinder: Mazzer Mini, Rancilio Jacky Drip: 1-cup mesh filter Roaster: Hearthware Precision
Posted Mon Apr 7, 2003, 9:33am Subject: Re: So is this crappy day over yet? :)
Mark -- I'm not crazy about our current government, either (though it's our fault, collectively, for letting one party grab the broad middle while left and right go off and sulk instead of rolling up their sleeves and trying to win broader support), and if you think Quebec and Ontario get to dictate, well, you should try living over here. On the other hand, you are not going to get your money's worth from an American government, either -- most state governments are in deficit mode, the feds are in full-blown tax cut mode, but there's still plenty of pork if you look at appropriations bills. There seems to come a point at which governments get out of touch, and it has to do with size. Perhaps the best we can hope for is a strengthening of local government -- the one place where grass-roots action can still make a difference. --PR
MarkPrince Moderator Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 5,144 Location: Vancouver Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Frankenstein'ed LM Linea Grinder: Anfim Super Caimano Vac Pot: 1922 Silex Drip: Krups Moka Brew Roaster: Hottop
Posted Mon Apr 7, 2003, 3:21pm Subject: Re: So is this crappy day over yet? :)
plragde Said:
On the other hand, you are not going to get your money's worth from an American government, either -- most state governments are in deficit mode, the feds are in full-blown tax cut mode, but there's still plenty of pork if you look at appropriations bills.
Not entirely true - yes, the federal US Government has a massive debt (I don't know if they are currently running a deficit though). But many States have laws that specifically say that the government (at the state level) cannot run a deficit (Oregon is one such State with that kind of law). I wish Canada and/or some provinces had laws like that. The thing is, the average political mind in Canada would not consider such a law - it takes away some of their percieved "rights".
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