Margaret Wente lists the “Seven Things You Can’t Say In Canada” in Reader’s Digest Canada. “In spite of our belief in our own enlightened tolerance,” she writes, “some things are simply not open to debate. If you try, you’re bound to shock the neighbours” (yes, neighbors with a “u”!). Among Wente’s forbidden topics:

Only Private Enterprise Can Save Public Health Care

… Today we (Canadians) have a system where controlling costs is more important than treating patients, and where ideology is crippling us. In some places, including Toronto, people go blind waiting for cataract surgery. The government could restore their sight tomorrow simply by sending them to a private clinic instead of to a hospital. The cost to the government would be exactly the same. But in Canada, private is a dirty word, and so the government would rather you go blind. …

A national daycare program won’t do a thing to help poor kids.

(we agree; see our post here)

The United States is the greatest force for good the world has ever known.

Of all the shocking things you can say around the dinner table, this is the most shocking one. After all, America-bashing is part of our national identity. At best, we see our neighbour as a well-intentioned but arrogant and blundering bully that throws its weight around too much. At worst, we see our neighbour as one of the most evil nations in the world …

This writer lived in Toronto for a while and has great affection for the country and the people. In fact, I’m a member of an ethnicity not recognized by the Census Bureau — Canadian-Americans.

But — Canadians have a certain smugness about them, including telling Americans that according to some UN quality of life index that Canada is the best country in the world in which to live.

It’s an arguable point. Nicer public amenities, yes — but also undercapitalized businesses and far less discretionary income for individuals. In general, everything is pushed to the middle.

That holds true for political discourse as well. The article captures nicely one difference I noticed — whereas in the States nearly every conversational topic is in bounds, that isn’t true up north.

Of course, that could be the result of one other out-of-bounds topic I discovered: “If Canada is so great, why do so many smart Canadians head to the States?”

[Hat Tip: Lex Communis]

This entry was posted on Friday, June 24th, 2005 at 4:00 am by A Senior Administration Official and is filed under Brilliant, but uncategorizable. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.