Want the American Dream? Move to Canada!

The New Land of Opportunities is Cold, but Friendly

Many Americans want nothing more than to have the equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and sheer sticktoitiveness. 🙂 But research from the Pew Research Center suggests that there is a growing gap between the country’s rich and poor. As the middle class gets squeezed it is becoming harder for people to realize their dreams. Some consumers in the lower class are in so much financial distress, they can’t even afford to pay their electricity bills. Excuse the pun but these could very well be the darkest times of their lives, literally.

But there is a silver lining to all this. According to Scott Gilmore, a columnist for Macleans magazine, Canada is a better place than the United States to find life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by virtually every measure. 🙂 So maybe the American dream hasn’t died. It just moved north.

Canadians are more likely to have college degrees, be employed, own a home, take more vacation days, and even live longer than our neighbours to the south. 🙂 Scott says one contributing factor to a better life in Canada is thanks to our more affordable, public healthcare system. We don’t have people here going bankrupt because of medical bills. We may have to wait longer than Americans to get treatment. But at least Canadians are less likely to take extreme measures to pay for high healthcare expenses.

 

Economic mobility is also higher in Canada. According to Scott, Canadians are twice as likely to move from the poorest quintile of the population to the wealthiest quintile compared to Americans. Similarly, the link between the income of a parent and a child is half as strong in Canada. In other words, individuals have more influence over their future outcomes than the environment they are born into. 🙂 Canadians are also 6 times less likely to be incarcerated.

The rest of the world seems to be aware of Canada’s opportunities. Refugees and asylum seekers in the United States are fleeing into Canada hoping for a better future. In Latin America, migrants are crossing the U.S. border and continuing to travel north so they can reach Canada. And in overseas countries, ESL students are increasingly choosing Canada over the U.S. I work for a private college. About one in three students are from abroad. With Canada being a hotbed for new immigrants it’s no surprise that our real estate market continues to be an attractive asset class.

The former Canadian prime minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, once claimed that “Canada shall be the star towards which all men who love progress and freedom shall come.” It looks like he was right. 😀

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Random Useless Fact:

According to an Ipsos survey in 2016, roughly 3 in 10 Canadian drivers don’t use winter tires during the winter months.

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DebtGirl
DebtGirl
03/16/2017 9:28 pm

Thats depressing if you are an american!!

Tim
Tim
03/17/2017 6:55 am
Reply to  DebtGirl

The Average American is in a bad place economically… and will be for years if not decades…

PinkFace
PinkFace
03/21/2017 3:09 pm
Reply to  Tim

Canadian pesos ain’t worth so much these days.

Brett
Brett
03/17/2017 4:29 am

Ha, I’d rather live in the United States than Toronto or Vancouver, where you have to make about 500,000 a year just to afford an average four bedroom home!

Stephen
Stephen
03/18/2017 10:13 am
Reply to  Brett

You’re comparing to of the biggest cities to all of America? You should view Toronto and Vancouver as our NYC and LA. Toronto is a massive city and the outer areas aren’t as expensive.

Chriscd
03/17/2017 5:16 am

I sure hope many, many more immigrants keep migrating your way. After 10 – 20 years of an open border, let’s see where things are. Oh wait, Canada doesn’t actually have much of an open border.

ross
ross
03/18/2017 1:01 pm
Reply to  Chriscd

our position today is the result of more than 20 years of inviting and celebrating immigration.

our previous government tightened things up a bit. hopefully we can undo that and get back on track.

passivecanadianincome
03/17/2017 5:33 pm

great breaking bad pics, while its all good. I don’t really like the idea of a tonne of immigrants swarming to Canada. Slowly is great but Trudeau is just waving em in, like hes a 3rd base coach

ross
ross
03/18/2017 1:12 pm

well you can relax then! 🙂

in Harper’s final year the target total was 279k. in Trudeau’s first year the target is 300k. hardly a flood.
the economists would rather we brought in more.

the only thing there’s a flood of is a handful of politicians and media companies trying to pursuade people foreigners are to blame for all their troubles .

Garrett
Garrett
03/18/2017 1:08 am

Come to Australia! We get something like 250 days of sunshine every year. The summers don’t go above 40 degrees, and the winters don’t go below 10 degrees! And plus we have a ton of awesome beaches.

Stephen
Stephen
03/18/2017 10:14 am
Reply to  Garrett

That’s damn good weather. Summer around 25-30 is more than enough for me tho!

fbgcai
fbgcai
03/19/2017 7:40 am
Reply to  Garrett

also bloody hard to get in – which is ok

Taking over my portfolio
Taking over my portfolio
03/18/2017 3:57 am

In the Montreal area..you can cancer. treatment starts in 2 years. runs to USA for faster treatment.

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[…] Freedom Thirty Five Blog points out just how much better it is to live in Canada versus the United States. As much as I ideologically like the idea of free market health care, the U.S. is proof such a […]

PinkFace
PinkFace
03/21/2017 3:08 pm

“Canada shall be the star towards which all men who love progress and freedom shall come.”

Until Trump employs a border tax and utterly destroys the Canadian economy 🙂

But, in all seriousness, the job opportunities, tax rates, and weather in Canada are all inferior to that of the United States.

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[…] Where’s the American dream? I heard the same thing on the radio as well and it was what prompted my post on how much healthcare costs in Canada. […]

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[…] Where’s the American dream? I heard the same thing on the radio as well and it was what prompted my post on how much healthcare costs in Canada. […]