Canada
Canada V.S. World
CANADA
- Population - 35.1 million
- Size - 9.985 million km2
- Second largest country (land size)
Is Canada the greatest country to live in?
Each country in the world has its characteristics and certain factors that make it and its citizens unique. Canada had used these factors and had surpassed an acceptable standard of living and human rights to make it to the number one spot, being named “Best country in the world”. However, all things come to an end, as over the last decade or so, Canada has dropped 11 places on that list. No longer do we hear politicians opening their speeches with: “We are the No. 1 country in which to live.” Based on the fact that we have been falling in rank among 187 countries since 1999.
Canada is the second largest country in terms of land which is further broken up into 10 provinces and 3 territories. It made its entrance as an independent country in 1867, after which, it has improved and now stands as a developed country. Though, the word developed does not necessarily mean, no problems. Canada actually faces several issues which are not yet solved. Without the answer to these problems, Canada will remain in its position without an increase in rank.
Which actually leads to the question: Is Canada the best country to live in? In response to the question, I would say Canada is not, the best country to live in.
Current Population
What really makes a country? Its population. In terms of our population, it’s rather unbalanced. Our current population stands at 35 872 748 and consists of Immigrants, baby boomers, and us. After the second world war, Canada had settled down and at the time, it was ideal for each couple to have children, which created the age of the “Baby Boomers”, a generation with a great number of children born. In present day, these children are now seniors with elderly benefits. As they grow old, they can no longer impact our economy or our success. Though our current situation stands as our birth rate continuously decreases while our death rate which is 8.31 deaths/1,000 population has set itself and does not vary in number. Which means, our overall dependency load increases as fewer children are being born whereas more people are aging and reaching the point of retirement, meaning these seniors can no longer contribute to the growth of Canada.
This state in our population and stats is not good for our country. As our dependency load increases, so will the taxes to accommodate the need of our unstable population. A raise in tax will further, stress citizens at the working age as we are not abundant with jobs in the job market, making it extremely difficult for an average citizen to obtain a job in which they can supply for their family along with paying the taxes. This difficulty in finding jobs can lead to people relying on government funding organizations to get them on their feet, which further increases the money Canada spends. Canada is already in the state of debt and other costs can place us more into debt than we currently are. If Canada continues with its current stats, the future will not be good for the job market, or the citizens themselves. Although the state of population in which we stand currently, is definitely a livable state, it is also not the best state of living.
Immigrants & Refugees
Aside from immigrants, the world is currently facing a huge problem known as the refugee crisis. There are currently about 19.4 million refugees who seek a home. Canada has taken a part to aid for these refugees. Our plan is to take in exactly 25 00 refugees before February, which is a great action to take for Canada but the fact that there are currently 19.4 million refugees reduces the significance of taking in 25 00 refugees. Canada is following its budget, which is respectable, though these refugees are willing to do any job as they are desperate. Meaning these refugees will do more jobs leading to an increase in our money gained. Canada can also drop other useless costs and use it towards this crisis, yet we refuse to. Yet again, denying people of a better life.
Aboriginal Treatment
Another major issue in Canada is something we say is a problem of the past, but clearly is not. This issue is the aboriginals. The problem is not themselves but how we treat them. Who really owns the land we walk on? You guessed it, or did you. The true owners of our land are the aboriginals which after stealing their land we have now pushed aside into small communities for them with poor housing and bad treatment. Our treatment to them in the past has not been great. Europeans kidnapped all aboriginal youth and forced them into residential schools in which the youth were forced to learn from a religion biased teacher. They were tortured in the schools and many were raped. Though this phase is over, our current treatment isn’t the best either.
From our current mindset, stereotypes have taken over as Canadian media has controlled us Canadians. Our view of the first nation is tribal dresses with dark brown skin and very tribal traditions. Many of us accuse them of excessive drinking. These stereotypes are overly false as aboriginals are literally the same as us. Which should tell us to treat them the same, however Canada has not yet processed that. We are continuing to harm them in aboriginal communities we created for them. Our ignorance causes us to continue to take their land and use it for gain in our money. This deeply affects them. Canada’s current oil sands lie near the metis reserve. The toxins released from the oil sands travel straight to this community poisoning its food and preventing the community from continuing their religious traditions such as fishing. Each fish living in the waters surrounding the community is poisoned with horrible diseases. These poisoned fish are then eaten by the desperate metis killing them. Polluted water caused by the oil sands is all literally just dumped into water bodies which lead to these innocent aboriginals. To be specific, about 67 litres of toxic waste is dumped into the water per second, which is causing there to be 400x more arsenic than safe in the land and water! Through these chemicals and radiation, these aboriginals are receiving a high amount of cancer among their population. The result is not only cancer but also many other health issues which lead to bad causes.
Well, why don’t the aboriginals just say something? In fact, they do. There have been many meetings based on this topic in which the minister of oil and scientists spoke with lies and false information in order to reduce panic among the public and avoid trouble with the government. Which is ironic as the federal government is also not helping them and continuously denies the facts which are repeatedly proven by scientists in favour of the aboriginals. So ask yourselves, how can we be considered the best country to live in when we aren’t solving problems that have been relevant for decades.
Pollution
A trending issue around the world is global warming. Global warming is caused by pollution. Canada currently ranks 18th in the world for its CO2 emissions activities such as industrial emissions, coal and gas-fired power plants, vehicle emissions, etc. cause these emissions. Which is crazy. Canada is not doing much to create less pollution. Is climate change really going to help Canada in any way? Nope, as global warming continues, we continue to help the process. Obviously without a clue that a lot of the world's glaciers are actually located in Canada which can lead to a rise of sea levels and flooding as predicted by many scientists in the past.
As the demands increase for certain commodities, we have to supply them. Which is obviously good for the economy, but is in no way good for the environment. Instead of focusing on things to better our environment for the future we choose our polluted way and gain not permanent success, but temporary. Which doesn’t lead to a good future for Canada.
As global warming progresses on, we see more of its raging effects. Global warming does not necessarily only create warm weather; it creates extreme weather. This meaning more countries are in danger as there is an increased chance for a natural disaster to occur. Certain things we do actually can lead to the natural disaster. Though, as we continue to pollute our country with areas such as the oil sands, we put ourselves in danger. So now that we are in the risk of being affected, why don’t we prepare? Canada does not actually have any plan in the case of major natural disasters. This is because our last major natural disaster was Hurricane Hazel which took place in 1954. What we don’t understand is if a hurricane that killed thousands can hit in 1954, a natural disaster like that is more likely to hit Canada presently. Leading back to the main point, can Canada really be called the best country to live in when it doesn’t have plans for its own people’s safety?
Our Economy
An economy is extremely important to a country’s success and stability. It must be managed wisely as it's what controls the stability of the whole country. Presently, Canada’s economy, for the most part, depends on our major primary industries, which are: forestry, energy, agriculture, fishing, and mining. Which is why most of our main exports are these resources. Unfortunately, for the gain on money, we overuse these resources without any planning for the future. Canada uses these resources and mass produces them in order to raise our economy which is not a healthy way to do so. Our temporary success in the economy will not have meaning as a few decades later, we will not have any resources to use.
Our current resource management plans are not the best, as we continue to deny the fact that a day will come in which we will not have any natural resources as our current ways are not sustainable. For example, the oil sands. The project is very unsustainable, as we take too much and kill everything around it. Just for the economy, we don’t use the resources ourselves either but sell them to other countries such as the USA. Through NAFTA, we are in a way forced to sell to America, as it is no longer our choice. However, we are allowed to keep a part of our resources. Which is what Canada should be doing, yet we sell all of it throwing away the great opportunities these resources can give us in the future. These natural resources can lead to a great gain for Canada, it can stabilize the economy slowly but surely, though once again for temporary success in our economy, we let the environment and our future suffer.
In conclusion, we can see that our economy is on its way down. The dollar is decreasing, but the exports are increasing. The GDP has taken a downturn where gradually decreasing over the past years. The chart explains that Canada is weaker than many may think. The value of all products and finished goods is on the decline.
Our Management
Canada is abundant in its natural resources…or is it? Canada has not been the greatest in managing its natural resources, likewise, it’s ability to manage its resources in a ‘sustainable’ way is lacking as well. Canada has many natural resources but its main income or the main ones are oil, uranium, and water. There are also other major industries such as fishing and forestry. Currently, our oil comes from our oil sands. Which is a huge amount of work for us to extract whereas other areas around the globe literally can extract liquid oil from the ground. Canada has yet to understand our poor sustainability method of extracting our oil is not helping whatsoever. We are extracting too much oil not leaving it as a sustainable source for the future. Along with that, the extraction is causing major pollution in the environment surrounding the area, as we extract more, the area which is polluted expands.
With our poor extraction methods, we are only creating a bad future for our own country as most of our natural resources are non-renewable. With draining these resources, we will not have a future in which we can strive. With these methods, we also create a ton of pollution such as contaminated waters and polluted air with toxins. The pollution we cause harms our own country which we have yet to realize. Through the oil sands, we pollute our water. Canada currently has one of the largest freshwater supply’s in the world. With water pollution, we are leading ourselves into total chaos as our water is very precious for the environment as well as the economy. With a problem such as this, can we really call our country the best country to live in?
Conclusion
Bibliography
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