Canada and the United States of America share the longest border between any two countries in the world, but in several important areas, Canada performs better.
Parental leave
The U.S. is the only industrialized country that does not offer some sort of federally mandated paid family leave policy. Instead, many new parents are forced to take unpaid time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which allows 12 weeks of completely unpaid time off work.
Meanwhile, Canada’s federal employment insurance program provides new parents with up to 18 months of job-protected parental leave and partial income.
Cleaner cities
Many large American cities struggle with visible litter and poorly funded sanitation departments due to severe socio-economic segregation and localized tax systems.
Canadian cities receive large funding centrally & littering is ingrained as rude behaviour, so major Canadian cities like Calgary and Montreal usually rank among the top of lists for cleanest cities in quality-of-life indexes.
Higher education
Attending university in America usually means accumulating decades’ worth of soul-crushing student loan debt. Tuition for private or out-of-state universities can cost upwards of $40,000-$60,000 per year.
Canadian post-secondary education is heavily subsidized by the government, with average in-country undergraduate tuition coming in at around $7,000 per year.
Retirement security
Retirement in the U.S. relies upon volatile 401(k) plans and an overburdened Social Security system that subjects large numbers of seniors to poverty.
Canada’s Old Age Security is supplemented by the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), a completely funded, universally portable, professionally managed public investment fund that is among the safest retirement systems in the world.
Tap-and-pay infrastructure
U.S. merchants spent years fighting the adoption of anything more advanced than mag stripe cards, and Americans still often get asked to sign a receipt or awkwardly plug their card into a reader.
Canadians adopted Interac chip-and-PIN and contact- less “tap” infrastructure many years before America, and today quick tap payments can be made everywhere from Tim Hortons to remote parking meters.
Mortgage Protection
Predatory, uninsured subprime lending and disastrous 30-year fixed mortgages were a primary cause of the United States housing market collapse in 2008.
Canada’s Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation insures mortgages against default for homeowners who put less than 20% down on a home (eliminating subprime mortgages entirely), helping to keep the whole country’s economy stable in the event of a sudden housing market shift.
Multi-ethnic integration
While the U.S. has long subscribed to a “melting pot” theory that immigrants should assimilate into the American culture, abandoning their unique heritage in favor of creating one American identity, Canada created official multiculturalism.
Canada’s “cultural mosaic” not only allows but encourages new immigrants to retain their cultural traditions, languages and heritages, and they attain citizenship at much higher rates with easier social integration.
Consumer protection
Consumer protection in the United States is a patchwork of state laws and ineffective federal enforcement, leaving consumers confused as to their rights.
Canada offers strong consumer protection by means of powerful provincial laws that require goods to carry an implied warranty of quality; if a product fails prematurely for its price and usage, the retailer must repair or refund it.
Public etiquette
Public life in the U.S. sometimes verges on hyper-individualistic, with aggressive driving habits, loud phone conversations in quiet zones, and a transactional approach to daily interactions.
Canadians pride themselves on social norms of courtesy, apologizing to smooth over small annoyances, opening doors for others, and quietly queuing up.
Immigration
The immigration system in the U.S. is built around strict employer-specific visas and a green card backlog so large that talented foreigners have to wait decades to get permission to stay in the country permanently.
Canada’s system is points-based, which means they grade you directly on your skills, ability to speak English/French, and education level. Qualified foreigners from all over can come to Canada and get permanent residency comparatively faster.
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