www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall To my Canadian brothers and sisters...

Dear Tammy, Please be assured that the Canadians are well aware of the virtues of central heating - and there's oil in Alberta!
The hassle-free way for Americans to go back and forth between Canada and the USA is by driving. Unless you have a distinctive foreign accent or something similar, you will have no trouble at all. It's prudent to carry a passport, but no advance visa is required (unless, of course, you're actually moving to Canada, or job-hunting or the like). Unsolicited suggestion: drive from California to Vancouver. Vancouver is gorgeous, multi-cultural and fun. Drive from Vancouver to Edmonton - it's spectacular. And do this at a time when you can manage a side trip to Lake Louise and Banff National Park.
I know nothing about the health-care system in Alberta so I'm not qualified to offer an opinion.
Alberta politics is often polarized, which makes for interesting political debate.
A definite drawback is the anti-francophone bigotry (coming mostly from Anglos, naturally). I've more than once experienced some unpleasantness myself (I speak French) when sitting with friends in restaurants, speaking in French in a normal conversational tone of voice. Or one may hear people on buses and in public places boasting (!) "yeah, they made me study French in school for 12 years - I can't speak a word of it". My mother, on hearing this, had trouble resisting the temptation to inquire whether these people were proud of their own stupidity in other areas as well, or were simply impervious to education.
Nonetheless, it's beautiful and enjoyable. Have a lovely time! Incognitus

Dear Hritzu:

You say:

While I could simply tell you a "pans'ke slovo" and leave it at that, I will take the high road and point out that what the US Dollar is doing is irrelevant to the question that was posed.

In any event - yes, the US dollar is down to something like $1.25 to the Euro. Still, the Canadian dollar has been in the dumps for far longer. Also, if you read carefully enough, you would have noted that I left open the possibility that a weak Canadian dollar may have a positive effect (Canadian good cheaper overseas, for example).

In short, please be so kind as to not read a diss into my post and respond with one yourself. Thank you.

hal

Dear Incognitus,

Thanks for the advice. When we moved to Phoenix people said, "but it's so HOT there!" Our response was, you go from an air-conditioned apartment to an air-conditioned car to an air-conditioned job, so who cares? I suppose Canada is the same - just replace "hot" with "cold" and "air-conditioned" with "heated"!

I don't speak a word of French - Spanish is the language of choice in Southern California! Actually, I'm more concerned that we don't know Ukrainian, if that's where we would be attending Liturgy. We don't want to be "outsiders" at our parish because we don't have the ethnic prerequisites.

Tammy

Dear Hal,

Thank you for taking the hight road because I certainly did not mean to offend anyone. My language is often geared for a corporate office and not a religious internet forum. It's sometimes hard to separte the two because I'm sending these messages in the middle of meetings. Sorry if I offended anyone.


My brother who is a senior director with the Canada's second largest national bank (there are only 5)once told me that your income, taxes, cost of living, dollar value, etc.. were not important because they were 'elastic' (flexible). What was important was (1) how much you could save at the end of the year (for retirement) and (2) what your quality of life was (including spiritual). So in a nutshell, just quoting the value of a currency means little if you do not look at the whole picture (1+2). My response was an attempt to state what I said in my first post: there are opportunities in both countries.

The US dollar is not really doing poorly, it was overvalued for a couple of years. The massive corporate fraud over the past couple of years caused the US dollar to surge in value. Foreign investors wanted to buy US dollars so they could invest in super performing US corporations over the past decade. When all the fraud (ie: Enron, Wall Street retirement funds, etc..) was exposed, there was a domino effect throughout the economy. Suddenly, American corporations were not as spectacular as the world investment community thought. Some were bogus, but the majority were good but probably not spectacular performers. So now the dollar has come down to reflect the realistic expectations of most American Corporations. This is a good thing and not bad.

Having a lower valued US dollar for a couple of years is a GOOD thing because it will make American goods more competitive on foreign markets and help decrease the unemployment problem. The Canadians did the very same thing a decade ago and as you rightly state, the that currency took a dive. Canada has trimmed it's deficit, become more productive, and voila! - it's currency has risen.

Most economists have been predicting a US$0.82 = Can$1.00 for several years to come.

Tammy,

As far a crossing the border, it incredibly easy.

I live in a border town (Detroit) and my wife lived across the river in Windsor, Ontario (but is of Quebec heritage).

So I had a girlfriend then fianc�e who lived 1/2 hour away, but in a different country.


As far as health care, it is universal, but it tends to be slow and with mediocre equipment.

Unlike it's European systems, the Canadian system allows no privately funded hospitals or clinics. It's government paid, or it's illegal.

So employer funded insurance doesn't get you much other than prescription coverage.

Health Care was my wife's biggest concern about moving over here, and now it's her biggest fear about ever moving back. There's Hospital cutbacks, strikes, friends and family having to drive to London (Ontario) or Toronto for what we over here consider basic tests (MRI, CAT Scans).

My father and sister are Physicians, and they both have patients that are Canadian, but would rather pay themselves for medical care that deal with the Canadian system. So they cross the border and pay cash.

What is also kind of interesting is that when my wife moved over here, she got to keep her same Dermatologist. The Ontario system limits the amount a Doctor can bill in any given year. So he is limited in the # of patients he can see strictly because he can't bill the govmt for any more patients.

So her Doctor works most of the time in Windsor and bills OHIP, but keeps an office in Detroit where he sees American patients and Canadians who would pay extra not to have to wait.

Weird system.

Dear Tammy, It must be nearly 15 years since I was last in Edmonton, but even then one could find the Divine Liturgy in English if one knew where to look. Use of English has probably expanded by now. Best thing to do, unless you already have a line on a parish you like, is to start at the top - speak with Bishop Laurence of Edmonton and ask him where to find a sung Divine Liturgy in English. I'll also ask someone who may know.
On the other hand, there are parishes which were not using English then but which had churches well worth visiting - Saint George's comes to mind at once (it's really beautiful). The cathedral may well have Divine Liturgy in English by now.
Incognitus

Dear Tammy,

Canada is better to live in than the U.S.

Now that that's settled, let's see what else is topical here today . . .

Alex

Alex,

You have such a way with words

In Christ,
mikey.

Dear Alex,

They are all trying to scare me with the cold! But it can't be much colder in Southern Canada than in the Northern US... I see from a map that Toronto is just across the lake from New York. Yes, I'm Southern California born and bred, but so is my hubby and he lived in Mammoth for awhile and LOVED the snow!

Tammy

Dear Tammy,

Yes, I would truly consider all these critical comments about Canada to be an American snow job . . .

Alex

Dear Mikey,

Yes, and it gets me into trouble sometimes!!

I've come to realize that there are some popular Canadian sayings that are just downright offensive to Americans and Virginians in particular!

O.K., I"ll get back to cleaning the house . . .

Alex

Toronto is not in the snow belt. Incognitus

They have just predicted an overnight temperature of between -40 and -50 degrees (with wind chill factor) for Boston tonight. I guess this is what Edmonton feels like.

Hritzko,

So if I moved to Canada to be in the heart of the Ukrainian diaspora, it wouldn't be any colder than moving to Pittsburg to be in the heart of the Ruthenian diaspora?

Tammy

Dear Tammy,

I'm not sure that I would call Edmonton the heart of "the Ukrainian diaspora". It's not more of a "heart" than Toronto, Winnipeg, Philadelphia, New York, or Chicago. There are many Ukes in all of those cities and all generate critical elements for the survival of our community in North America.

In many ways Edmonton is just a foreign to me as it is to you. You see, I have been to California many times but never to Alberta where Edmonton is. I have flown over on my way to Vancouver but I wouldn't call that a visit. I probably could get around L.A. without a map, but would most surely need one in Edmonton.

On top of Mount Royal in Montreal (where I lived most of my life) you can see on the horizon the mountains that form the foothills of the States of New York and Vermont. I can drive to Montreal from Boston in 4 1/2 hours but it would probably take me 4 1/2 days to reach Edmonton.

I guess my point is that Western Canada is far more foreign to me than New England or California. I'm unfortunately not the expert on Edmonton.