Standard of Living: Canada vs Us

Very few Canadians have made the same impacts on Canadian quality of life as Pierre Trudeau did as his time as a politician. During his time as a prime minister, he brought forth many changes that greatly improved the quality of all Canadians living in the country. He made the diverse population of Canada feel safe and included. Pierre trudeau has caused a significant increase on Canadians’ quality of life by helping introduce legislation such as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Official Languages act which made Canadians feel safe, protected and included. Although this influential Canadian has caused many and important positive impacts on the lives of Canadians, Pierre Trudeau has also brought forth negative, but temporary

c) Increase in the inflow of new immigrants- One of the primary reasons behind the rise in the issue of homelessness in the country can be the recent trend of increased immigration in the country from other parts of the world. Canada, in the last few years, has developed immensely regarding economic and industrial aspects and the country currently boasts of its robust industrial, service and export sectors, which in turn attracts a lot of potential workers from all over the world, for a better standard of living. Apart from the employment sector, the education sector of the country is also one of the primary attractions in the country. Canada has some of the finest universities in the world, which attracts a huge number of students from across the country, which in turn increases the demand for housing in the country, thereby increasing their prices.

The unemployment rate for March 2016 is at 7.3% compared to 6.6% in 2014. With the rising unemployment rate, people looking for jobs will have a much more difficult time. People will be looking longer for jobs and will not be receiving a salary to pay for costs of living. Right now, each month the unemployment rate climbs by 0.4%. This results in a loss of 35,700 jobs per month. Chapter six of Dinner Party explains the inflation costs. We can relate this to the inflating cost of living and the rising unemployment rate. Canada needs to change quick, as 35,700 jobs lost each month is not good for people trying to support

Canada, is well known for being immigration friendly over the course of history and it is an ideology that Canadians value. Immigration offers an opportunity for Canadians to seal in crevasses within the Canadian economy and stabilizes it from leaks which causes inflations and recessions. However, as opportunity presents itself, trade-offs are likely to follow. Today, Canadians are facing challenges regarding unemployment rates as well as increases in the cost of living. According to Collacott Martin, a senior at Fraser Institute who represented Canada in the department of external affairs, the housing prices are rising due to an increase in population among large cities in Canada. Collacott, predicted that newcomers of Canada cost between

Although Canada is a rich country there are still people who live in poverty, “In 2011, the government classified about 4.7 million men, women and children –– almost 15 percent of the Canadian population –– as poor” (Macionis, Janson, Benoit, & Burkowicz, 2017) but Canada calculates its poverty rate by “one popular measure known as the LICO, a family has an income below the low income cut-off of it spends more than 63 percent of its after-tax income on the necessities of food, clothing, and shelter, including corrections for different family sizes and the cost of living in particular communities.”

Poverty is an ongoing problem in Canada. Poverty is defined as the inability to obtain the necessities for life . Despite poverty being an ongoing problem, how to properly measure it is disputed among scholars. There are two basic formations for the measurement of poverty: the relative measurement and the absolute measurement. In Canada they are called the low income cut off, or LICO, measurement and the market basement measure, or MBM, measurement. The LICO measurement is individuated to Canada whereas the MBM measurement is a worldwide standard. Of the two the LICO measurement of poverty is most relevant for Canadian politicians. This because a relative measurement allows for policy makers to understand poverty based upon what it means

Even though Canada sits in the middle of the scale, while considering inequality, it stays behind countries like Denmark, Norway and Sweden. In wake of the globalization, public austerity programs, middle class incomes are getting lower and fiscal challenges at all government levels are threatening education, pensions, and public health care. It is more difficult how for 20 and 30 years old people to get a better life than their parents had. In Canada, middle class is vanishing and a big gap is between poor and rich. The wealth is in the hands of 1% going after US strand and disparity between C.E.Os. and workers is so evident. In 2012, the ratio was 1:122 while a decade earlier

Income inequality is increasingly becoming a significant concern for many countries around the world. The income difference between the highly-educated, skilled, wealthy class and the poor, low to mid-skilled workers is growing larger and larger. In fact, the incomes of the rich are increasing significantly, while the low skilled workers’ incomes have been declining (The Economist, “Wealth Without Workers”). According to The Economist, real median wages have been decreasing since 2000 in half of the member countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In the United States, there was a 4% increase from 1980 to 2012 in the share of national income that was distributed to the top 0.01% (The Economist, “True Progressivism”). Canada is facing a similar problem of rising inequality.

Explain the key factors that have allowed Canada to enjoy such a high standard of living compared to nations in the developing world. Your answer must refer to both Canada and the developing world.

This income inequality started with Canada’s most recent recession, but as we left this recession income inequality continued to rise.

As you already mentioned, that Canada performs better on two health outcome measures, infant mortality rates, and life expectancy. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), indicated that life expectancy is associated with multiple factors outside the health care system, such as modifiable risk factors to health (smoking, alcohol consumption, nutrition habits, and physical activity), but access to high-quality primary care and treatments also plays an important role (OECD, 2017). Life expectancy in Canada is 81.5 years in 2011, which is about three years higher than in the United States (U.S.) according to the OECD statistics reported on Health at a Glance 2015 OECD Indicators (OECD, 2017).

Inequality in Canada is not as prominent as many other places around the world, although it does remain in certain segments of Canada. There are many forms of inequality in Canada and internationally, although this papers main focus is going to be the inequality of wealth. According to Steven Kerstetter “Canadians may view their country as a land of opportunity, but it is also a land of deep and abiding inequality in the distribution of personal wealth” (Kerstetter 2002). The “gaps between the rich and poor remain evident in Canadian statistics” (Kerstetter 2002), Canadians have always kept financial security as an essential element of life and have tried to obtain and sustain it within their lives. Frank Cunningham’s article, “What’s

Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, however, many citizens are below the blurred poverty line. (251). The poverty line in Canada is measured by the LICO-IAT (boooook) and the MBM (253). The resources for those below the poverty line are very poor; food banks and shelters are unable to uphold the amount of people that are in need of them. (252). Among the poor, many people have paid employment, however, it is not enough.

Canada is regarded as one of the wealthiest industrialized countries in the world. This indication is contrary to the well-being reality affecting Canadians. Despite being part of the Organization for Economic Co-operation Development (OECD), Canada has lagged behind her otherwise wealthy counterparts in the industrialized countries being position 19 out of 22 nations (Breznitz and Zysman, 2013). This has been attributed to the precarious levels of poverty in a majority of Canadian households. The country has not recognized any official poverty measurement although other universal measures such as LICO is used for measuring relative poverty, a more determinable measure of poverty for wealthy countries.

Canadian and American cultural views were different which was proved because one is multicultural and the other is not. Canada was known as “mosaic” which means immigrants from any ethnic group were accepted here and were allowed to practice their religion. Therefore, they have a double identity ,meaning they are their ethnic group before a Canadian citizen as in Japanese-Canadian, Asian Canadian and so on . Whereas ,American culture was known as the “melting pot “, where they accept other cultures however they encouraged their citizens to give up their original culture ( Wells ,10 and 11 ). Canadian’s usually describe themselves as “NOT AMERICAN“(Wells,35) . Many Americans view Canada as a positive nation and as a better environment to live in then the United States . A legal sectary from Gastonia ,North Carolina said “Canada’s such a terrific place, I’d move there tomorrow if I could” (Wells, 35). This proves that Americans want to come to Canada since it is a safer environment due to it’s unique culture. Canadians are recognized as more modest, less aggressive and more down to earth then their southern neighbors (Wells,35).