dre

Is it the outright loathing and disdain that causes such large 'Merkin consciousness in Canada ?  

Would there be nothing else to do instead ?

No there is no loathing or disdain. In fact in a poll taken of opinions on the US Canadians had the most favorable opinions of the US in the world with the exception of one african country. As much as clowns like you try to drum up anti-american sentiment and pretend theres some kind of rift between Canadians and Americans the truth is that both Canadians and Americans have a very high opinion of each other. And Canada and the US have the most successful international relationship, and the most successful economic partnership in the history of the human race.

Is there a handfull of clowns like you and AW, on both sides of the border with this wacky obsession? Sure... But clowns will be clowns.

Even after years of observation, I am not sure why America and Americans figure so prominently in the Canadian consciousness

Wow... weird you cant understand something so patently obvious.

Sure, society would probably be more balanced and healthy if people weren't covetous and greedy. But the premise proposed was that the 10 Commandments are values that are necessary for a civilized society. If that's the case, then our society simply isn't civilized, because coveting is an institutionalized and celebrated part of our society. I'd suggest that the only serious attempts to create a greed-free society in the modern world have been in communist states where the net result was that people ended up coveting food and shelter instead of wives, asses, or servants.

-k

Not to mention our entire economy is completely driven by "people wanting things".

Manitoba doesn't have the ER wait time problem that Ontario does. We have other problems. Overall, the system works far better than most people estimate.

Yup it used to be really good... its still ok... but what happens when prices double over the next ten years?

It's great, when you don't have to use it. Anyway, the boomer gen will likely force some positive change to our ailing system, as enough people will be sick at one time.

No the system will continue to get worse and worse for the reasons I stated on the previous page. Healthcare costs will continue to increase faster than the rate of inflation, until the government can afford to provide less and less service. Like I said before its a macro economic problem. Theres two separate economies... the healthcare economy... and everyone else. Wages are rising in the healthcare economy, but they are stagnant for everyone else. Healthcare costs will double in the next decade, and again in the decade after that if the trend is not reverse, and the trend cant be reversed without radically changing our trading policy.