For all the people I’ve met who think Canada means Shangri-la in some other language… this comes from Toronto housing advocate Cathy Crowe:
..Yes, Canada is at war in Afghanistan. Since 2001, Canadian Forces have been fighting a war that has now lasted longer than World War II…
Our military spending will reach $18.2 billion in 2007-08, the highest annual amount since World War II.
Much of this is being spent on military equipment intended for the war in Afghanistan, like the $3.4 billion for four military transport planes and $1.3 billion for 100 battle tanks.
That $4.7 billion for arms could have provided at least 30,000 affordable homes for homeless families.
The military budget now represents 8.5% of all Federal spending. The Toronto Star reports that Prime Minister Harper intends to boost the Canadian Forces budget to $20 billion by 2010. This flies in the face of housing activists’ long-time demand that an additional 1% of the Federal budget, approximately $2 billion, be put towards a new national affordable housing program.
Homelessness and hunger are well documented and the most painful expressions of the poverty here in Canada. Surely, we should be demanding that our federal government put an end to it.
After all, as Gandhi stated, “Poverty is the worst form of violence.”
If there is such a thing as a moral war, I don’t think this is it.
To sign the Housing Not War declaration or to learn more: www.housingnotwar.ca.
Cathy Crowe’s newsletter is at http://tdrc.net/index.php?page=newsletter.
Photo by Jonathan Greenwald
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Thanks for your comments, Bottleman. Some very valid points… Have you seen the Barbarian Invasions? A good Canadian (and Quebecois, at that – I think a lot of it took place in Montreal) vision of what health care is for those who can afford the private stuff in the U.S., plus just a brilliant movie. Listen to As It Happens online 🙂 Love your blog, by the way. ~ Lauren
If Shangri-La was be a bit duller and more reasonable than you expect, and not absolutely perfect, and also didn’t have Olivia Newton John singing on roller skates, well then it would be Canada. God I miss it.
I’ve lived in Canada and the US — I went to McGill and have done some occasional jobs in Toronto and Montreal. I really didn’t want to leave Montreal when I did but finding work was just too hard at the time. I also remember a few bad things — the many homeless in Montreal for example. And I can still tell you that for some Americans Canada really would be paradise.
You’re probably sick of hearing this, but health care is a huge mess in the US right now — people who are sick can’t get insurance, and even people who have insurance are going bankrupt from all the fees they have to pay. For my family insurance costs more than my mortgage. When I was in Canada I knew people who bitched about the health system, and I saw crowded conditions in the local hospital, but I never met anyone who would have traded it for the system in the States.
As for the military budget here, according to Wikipedia, it’s $440 billion, not including wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. Canada’s military spending is 1% of GDP while the US’s is 4% (again according to Wikipedia).
So: the stats don’t lie. Canada is simply more civilized.
Which isn’t to say that the place doesn’t have its own issues. But it’s so hard to remember them now that I’m not there. Plus I miss it being normal to kiss my guy friends on the cheek when saying goodnight. (this was montreal, obviously, not toronto..) And weirdest of all, I miss hearing “As it Happens” on the radio every night. What’s up with that?