8.25.2008

the "how can i move to canada" forum

I get a lot of traffic from this page.

This is a fairly typical example of what you find at these kinds of sites, although it has a higher percentage of correct information than most.

There are the solidly informative answers, the "my hometown is better" plus gratuitous Toronto slams, plus the requisite snarky, non-helpful answer, which often doubles as a Toronto slam. At least one answer must begin with, "Why would anyone want to..." or "I don't understand...".

As I've observed before, in these venues, people from Vancouver are particularly insistent that their town is the place to be and Toronto sucks. Unfortunately, this has given me a negative impression of Vancouver as a city of smug self-absorption. I'm sure this is not the case, and I very much look forward to getting out there one day. But come on folks, everyone can't live there.

What this page lacks is the usual assortment of scaremongering lies about Canada: Canadians hate USians, you'll die waiting for health care, you'll never find a job, Canada is practically the US now anyway. It cannot be a coincidence that MetaFilter costs $5.00 to join. That must seriously cut down on wingnuttery.

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