Close Reading

I'm from Montreal but live in Vermont. I hold Canadian AND American citizenship. I've NEVER been so proud to be a Canadian. Yet, here in Vermont, MOST of us, including Governor Scott, detest Trump and his minions. Love 'n optimism, Heather in Newport Vermont

can't give an opinion about living in USA, because I never stayed for long (only for vacations or short visits), but as a visitor, I used to go once or twice a week in the 90's (I used to live 5 minutes drive from the border), as a visitor, I was always welcomed and made friends very easily. Of course, being only a visitor, I didn't have to experience day to day life or any major problems. About police presence, I guess it depends where you go in USA, I'm from Montreal & we also have a very visible police presence (guess it's common in bigger cities). Didn't have any problems with police in USA, like everywhere, if you comply, you'll have good relationship with policemen. If you try to play or disrespect them, you're in for some trouble--no different here in Canada.

I live just outside of Montreal, pretty near the border. One of my good friends used to live in Vermont, right near the border and we would visit each other several times a year. She moved to Tennessee, and I flew down to visit her a few years ago (haven't been down since COVID) while Trump was still president and I'm not even joking when I say that as soon as I left Nashville I was highly anxious 100% of my time there. And I'm white, I'm not a visible minority, I suppose if I kept my mouth shut nobody could tell I'm not from there, it really hit me how sad it is that I even felt that. All these patriotic gun toting Americans I feared would shoot me for whatever reason they could come up with. I understand that that's not ACTUALLY likely, I was glad I left my husband and children at home, and while I enjoyed my weekend there I couldn't WAIT to get back home. New England was easier to handle, but I'm not cut out for the openly racist, homophobic, anti women's rights, you name it kind of discussions. I was horrified that not only do people ACTUALLY think like this, but those who are being oppressed, or those who simply support those being oppressed are having to keep quiet for fear of being murdered because of this. Nashville was really cool, I loved it, but I truly feared for my safety outside of the city, despite being a straight white woman. I can't imagine what it's like for the minorities, it's so sad. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that you're just numb to it, because being on the outside looking in, it's hard to believe what's actually going on, it looks as though the country is regressing,

I am an American born in NY, raised in VA. I also lived in Van Nuys for a year, also lived in Texas before my job industry moved me to Canada. \ni have been in Canada for 7yrs, been to Vancouver, Toronto and MTL and to be honest i like a lot of things in Canada like the health care differences and of course the lower insulin cost for my husband but i still want to go back home. If anything i would stay in Toronto because it's the closest similarity to home but where Aba and Preach live, in Montreal, it's literally been my nightmare. I feel like the tap water at least in my area has gotten worse over time. \nOne thing i feel like they didn't mention that I have to tell people from America to watch out for is the credit card vs debit card thing. \nI grew up only having debit cards because i didn't want to get into debt. when i came to Canada i continued getting a debit card and realized the hard way that not everything accepts debit cards and you NEED to also have a credit card to access certain things.\nbut overall i do feel much safer in Canada even though the crazy trump lovers are showing up here and there it's significantly less than i see when I'm back home.

First of all I'm guessing you are in Toronto or Vancouver or Calgary maybe Montreal, The most expensive places in Canada to Live for sure. I live in Manitoba where the cost of living is pretty close to the cheapest in Canada. Yes minimum wage is $11.95 and apparently going up shortly. I totally agree with you about being taxed to death and the only reason Trudeau legalized pot was for another way to get more tax dollars. I wonder how the pot-heads feel about him now. Free health care you mentioned waiting 8 hours in emergency but you failed to mention if you need to see a specialist your talking months and you'll probably die first. As far as Canada being boring, where have you been? Being bored is a choice, I've lived here my whole life I'm never bored. Having said that I am retiring in Thailand where I can afford to retire. If I stay her I cannot retire. My take away from your video is if you don't know about this issues of living in Canada, you didn't do your research. So those of you looking into Canada as an option to live and work listen to these ladies because it's 95% true.\nBTW your comments about earning more in the USA, wrong! On average the min. Wage in the USA is $7.50 US Funds a few states are better but states like New York and California where the min. wage is higher it also cost a fortune to live there. \n$7.50 US Funds = $9.80 Canadian Average Min. wage is 0ver $13.50 CDN Funds = $10.33 USD

I'm from Ontario but live in Quebec for most of my life. I wonder where you got the cheap rents in Montreal, I always hear about how expensive the apartments are over there.

I'm from Quebec and moved to Alberta and I agree it could be a great province to live in, except if your job is in Montreal and you want to commute. The traffic of Montreal is horrible, even worse than Toronto's. The healthcare and education systems of Quebec are also inferior to Alberta, BC and Ontario because of the very heavy bureaucracy. Oh and heavy bureaucracy = Higher taxes than elsewhere in the country. But Quebec has a good quality of life in general because of its low cost of living in general and its strict controls on rent, car insurance and electricity prices, which prevent these from going up by too much. People tend to benefit from more government protections towards abusive businesses in Quebec than elsewhere in the country. Quebec also has cheaper beer, but wine and spirits are cheaper in Alberta. That province also doesn't have a lawsuit culture because of its no-fault rules in many aspects (For ex: You cannot be sued for causing a car accident or failing to clear snow from your driveway.) Alberta is more boring (At least, Edmonton. Calgary looks very cool.), but has better public services and better economic potential than Quebec. It's better in my opinion to raise a family in Alberta. And many people think you can move to Quebec without knowing French. That's false, except if you really wanna hate your time in Quebec. In terms of the climate, Quebec has a milder climate than Alberta but has more snow and their summers are very damp, while Alberta has more comfortable and dry summers. Owning an A/C is imperative in Quebec.