Canada Quality of Life: Party Pooper Report

by Barry Artiste | June 30, 2008 at 08:41 am | 609 views | 15 comments

Opinion
Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor
They state Canada's Quality of Life ranked third in the World in the 1970's. In 2008 Canada ranks 11th behind Ireland. The report surther states that Denmark (population 5 million) which is the size of a postage stamp on a tennis court, when compared to Canada population 33 million has less crime than Canada.

My opinion in all this Liberal drivel is as follows, "Who was the Moron who was paid to write this idiotic report?"

Secondly, why would any News Organization publish this Apples to Elephants in comparison?

Third, Aren't you glad a News Organization like Now Public allows people like me to provide Opinion pieces on Tripe such as this Report, because Canadians and especially Canadian unclear on the concept of Population and Geography, after reading my Opinion piece will no doubt come up with the same conclusion as me!

Those who are not as fortunate enough to tune into this Opinion piece will no doubt read this Quality of Life report and go around spreading the news to others that Canada is worse than Denmark or Ireland, when clearly we are not!

As for the President Anne Golden, a Liberal Think Tank who authoured this report, I say this! Perhaps when writing this report, you were overcome by "Smelling your own Farts" to fully comprehend that Size Matters (Country & Population)! Sure, we may not be perfect, but your claim Canada has been on a downward slide since the 1970's neglects to state in your report this slide was under the Liberal Government Watch!

You also fail to mention outsourcing of jobs, world markets and other factors all affect a country.

So in this case when it comes to listening to Liberal Drivel "Silence is Golden" adequately applies!

Party pooper report

Canadian quality of life not what it used to be

By THE CANADIAN PRESS

To many, Canada Day is a time for fireworks displays and contemplating the country's many blessings.

But a new report suggests Canadians may have less to celebrate than they think.

The annual Conference Board of Canada report card measuring quality of life among 17 advanced countries released today concludes that Canada is like a student who started out strong, but is coasting toward the bottom of the class.

In a break from past reports, the Conference Board looked back at Canada's performance to the 1970s and found that although the economy is stronger and per capita income has increased, other countries have passed it by.

Canada's economy was the envy of the world in the 1970s, ranking third. Now it has fallen to 11th place, behind leader Ireland.

Flag this story

Upload

Make your good story a great story. Click here to add your photos & video to this story.

Crowd Power

Scan the web to add photos and videos to this story or add them from the NowPublic Archive.

Rob Walker

at 13:27 on June 30th, 2008

good stuff:

Hey Barry, thanks for posting about this.

It's interesting to see the different areas where Canadian life is slipping.

Cities with a high quality of life are not necessarily the most exciting. "There are a lot of 'sleepy' towns that got high ratings."

Cities are compared to New York as the base city, with an index score of 100. The quality-of-living survey covers 215 cities and is conducted to help governments and major companies place employees on international assignments. The survey also identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based on internal stability, crime, effectiveness of law enforcement and relationships with other countries.

Top 5 cities - Overall

Zurich, Switzerland (1st)

Vienna, Austria (tied for 2nd)

Geneva, Switzerland (tied for 2nd )

Vancouver, Canada (4th)

Auckland, New Zealand (5th)

To encourage employment mobility and keep abreast of the competition, you need reliable information to help you calculate fair, consistent expatriate allowances. Based on 39 factors within ten categories, Mercer’s Quality of Living Reports contain all the key elements you need to calculate hardship allowances for transfers to more than 350 cities worldwide.

“Hardship allowance” refers to premium compensation paid to expatriates who experience – or should expect to experience – a significant deterioration in living conditions in their new host location.

Our reports are based on annual responses to a questionnaire developed by international Mercer professionals, working closely with major multinational companies and other experts in the field.

Canada, which turns a year older Tuesday, is not aging well, according to an annual report card that finds it is slipping further behind its peers economically, environmentally, and with regard to the health and quality of life of its citizens.

The Conference Board of Canada, in its annual report card, notes that it's a lagging performance that has eroded Canada's economic standing among the 17 most advanced economies to 11th from third in 1970s.

Barry Artiste

at 18:01 on June 30th, 2008

Thanks Rob, though I bitch about Vangroovy, it more the Government than the people.

We have quite the mix of politics, so it just makes conversation interesting.

Though they rate countries like Zurich as No1. Come on, I am sure as well to do family of four (Zurich as a population gauge) can do very well versus Vancouver which is just as well to do, but feeds a family of 6 or 8. with extended relatives of 150 (Surrounding towns like Richmond, Surrey, Burnaby etc)

So you can see why I am jaded against these figures, Vancouver is almost double population wise to Zurich, and yet they say they are Number 1? Kind of hard for one salary (VanCity taxes) to pay to feed, clothe, house a family of eight, (With Relatives like the GVRD) than it is for a single salary (Zurich taxes) to feed a family of four. Or am I missing something?

Rob Peters

at 15:43 on June 30th, 2008

good stuff:

Quantifying and comparing locations is a difficult thing to do. My impression of a place usually depends more on my headspace at the time than it does any particular landmark, and how do you quantify that?

Barry Artiste

at 18:04 on June 30th, 2008

Thanks for the comments Rob, as I say to Rob Walker, population, as well as unemployment etc should apply as a even Ratio, To say Canada is 11 th, when we are hundreds of times the size of Denmark is a pretty stupid assessment to say Denmark is number 1, don't you think?

Luiz Castro

at 15:58 on June 30th, 2008

good stuff:

Barry Artiste, I like this story. It's good stuff.

I would be happy to see Brazil at 11th position; although Brazil is the 10th economy in the world our life standards are equal to some African countries. Just a question to challenge you: Do you think that Canada is becoming Americanized?

Barry Artiste

at 19:21 on June 30th, 2008

Thanks for the comments and flag Castro, asking if Canadians are becoming Americanized is a loaded question in which you will get a different answer from either a Canadian or American. If you want just my Opinion, well the answer is a combination of both

I will state in which we are both the same:

Hockey and Sports "Both of us are pretty Friggin Rabid about it"

Beer- Well for some reasons Canadians drink a lot of Coors, US drink a lot of Labatts, both countries drink Microbrew.
Both of us like to hunt, fish, BBQ, camp, holiday and enjoy our beautiful country, including each others when visiting.
Women, and Men hard to tell who is who (Nationality) in a Police lineup.
We both love Movies, including the ones with Apache Attack Helicopters in them, the more the better.
We pretty much have the same warped sick sense of humour.
We all eat the same food and, listen to the same music, wear the same clothes, including daisy dukes, and cut off tees
We both have people whose homes are on blocks.
We all love to Fart with our friends, much to the displeasure of the women folk
We (Guys) all get Monty Python, Homer Simpson, Quagmire and identify with Al Bundy from Married with Children, our Women for some reason don't get it , shake their heads and most times leave the room with a SIGH!
When Drunk, we Men all get magical Superpowers, apparently the women pee a lot and barf, though for some women, the drunker they get the handsomer we look and vice versa.
We both have lefties, righties and middle of the roadies.
We all have politicians who sit on their Handsies, especially if they have a lot of the above in their voting district.
We all manufacture and drive the same vehicles, some of us faster, some slower, some drunker.
If push ever came to shove and someone attacked us, we would not hesitate to help each other out. Though we both have some politicians who prefer to sit on their Handsies on that one.
We both say our Country is the Best in the World, and we are both Right.

Difference:

Canadians wear Toques, Americans wear Big Foam Cowboy Hats with Beer Can holders to Hockey games, Canadians search high and low for them Cowboy hats, but they only make them in Alberta, presumably to sell to Americans.

US had a Presidential front runner, who said if elected President, she would nuke Iran!

Canada had a Member of Parliament who said if she were Prime Minister, she would Nuke Bush!

Both countries agree, it is best these two never get elected to our countries highest Political office.

Other than that , it is each to their own, as I look at some Canadians who do not know our National Anthem, the same way Americans look at their own who do not know the National Anthem. We all say WTF!!!!