5 Reasons Why Canada Isn’t As Great As You Think

With Canada and the US both having celebrated their birthdays recently (1 and 4 July, respectively), inhabitants of both countries have been thinking about their respective national identities.
To illustrate Canada’s relationship with the US, imagine a beaver sleeping with an elephant: the beaver has to be aware of everything the elephant does or it will get crushed, while the elephant can generally ignore the beaver with no consequences. Canadian issues tend to get swallowed up by those of our neighbours to the south, regardless of which country we get our news from.
When Americans pay attention to Canadian issues, it is almost invariably from a position of envy: we seem to have a functional healthcare system; we seem to have a competent, caring leader; we seem not to have a problem with racism — dishonest attitudes which, in the vicious cycle of Canadians’ over-consumption of US media, have managed to become a defining point of Canadian identity.
I would like to say, to envious Americans and precocious Canadians alike, that I hate to burst your bubbles, but I actually take great pleasure in it. Here, then, are 5 of the many reasons why Canada Isn’t as Great as You Think.
1. Our Healthcare System
Yes, believe it or not, there are a lot of failings within the Canadian Healthcare system. (Please note: this list is by no means all-inclusive, nor is it an absolute over the whole country — like the states in the US, the Canadian provinces have some degree of autonomy, so healthcare coverage varies.)
- Glasses and dental work are not covered, and generally must be paid for out-of-pocket.
- Many vital drugs (including inhalers for those with asthma, as well as epi-pens for those with anaphylaxis and insulin for diabetics) must also be paid for out-of-pocket.
- There is a horrendous waiting period to receive healthcare.
- End-of-life care is drastically underfunded.
Yes, most of our healthcare is publicly funded, but it is still far from being good.
2. Our Prime Minister
We get it. Justin Trudeau is good-looking. He’s *rolls eyes* a shade better than our previous Prime Minister, but that is nothing to brag about. Among other things, Justin Trudeau:
- Listed Electoral Reform among his campaign promises, (page 27) then abandoned that promise entirely once elected.
- Gave permission for the construction/expansion of 2 major pipelines, then scolded the US President’s decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement and made a fraudulent claim about his “unwavering” commitment to the environment.
Yes, he has some shirtless pictures floating around on the internet. Yes, he sometimes takes selfies with members of a marginalized group. Yes, he used to be “quite a good” boxer, to the extent that he somehow believes he could beat Russian President, former KGB officer Vladimir Putin, in a fight. But appearing to be a normal human being does not, by any means, make Justin Trudeau a great leader.
We get it: Donald Trump is bad. You don’t need to pretend Trudeau is some shining beacon of progressive goodness to say that.
3. Our Racism
Due in no small part to the overexposure of US media in Canada, many Canadians have the false idea that US racism is the only kind of racism.
It isn’t.
The causes and effects of racism vary greatly between different countries and cultures, and Canada is far from innocent by any definition. Shockingly, Canada and the US do not have exactly the same history, which means that Canadian and US racism do not function in exactly the same way. Here are a few examples, both historical and contemporary, of what Canadian racism looks like:
- South African Apartheid was based on Canada’s Indian Act (which, as a side note, is still called the Indian Act despite “Indian” falling out of colloquial usage as a term for the original inhabitants of North America).
- The highest-ranked Prime Minister in Canada’s history got his PhD from Harvard for writing a dissertation opposing Asian Immigration.
- Many Canadian cities had, or still have, a “Carding” policy which enables police officers to stop, question, and document individuals for no reason. You can probably guess which groups get disproportionately carded.
- Many First Nations reserves do not have access to clean drinking water.
- Numerous indigenous women have gone missing and been murdered, and the federal government is doing a pitiful job of investigating it.
4. Our Education
The price of post-secondary education in Canada is high, and it’s getting higher. I recently finished the fourth year of my undergrad degree, and many of my classmates have debts exceeding $40 000 — an unacceptable burden for any young adult to bear. Outside of Quebec (which is, according to the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, a society “distinct” from the rest of Canada), there has been very little in the way of student protests and activism against such tuition hikes.
At the pre-university level, the only languages that are consistently found being taught in schools are English and French; with the latter usually becoming optional upon entering high school, and the various other commonly spoken languages (Arabic, Korean, and Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese, not to mention the numerous languages of the various indigenous groups) rarely being taught at all.
5. Our Lack of Self-Awareness
My father once described Canada as “80 percent of the bad stuff as the US, with 10 percent of the self-awareness”, and I believe that to be an accurate, if simplistic, assessment. A pervasive Canadian attitude involves looking at the issues mentioned and, rather than addressing them, basking in the glory of our own superiority complex.
I have heard, from many people I consider intelligent, cynical, and worthy of my respect, the idea that Canada is the Most Progressive Country in the world, or some similarly tone-deaf superlative. Whether Canada is “better” or “worse” than the US, than Britain, than the rest of Western Civilization, than the rest of the world, is irrelevant — we have major problems that need to be addressed, and dismissing them is not helping.
As with any country, there are good things about Canada, and those good things might even outweigh the bad.
Sometimes.
Despite my cynicism, Canada is my country. It is my home, and I do love it.
Sometimes.
But this is a tough love, and it’s far from unconditional. I know that Canada’s healthcare system can be better. I know that we, as Canadians, can elect better leaders. I know that we can own up to our past and make amends; we can improve our education system; we can stop letting cursory knowledge of Canada from uninformed non-Canadians’ inform our understanding of it. And wherever Canada goes in my lifetime, I’ll be right there, trying my hardest to nudge it in the right direction.
Always.

