Sunday, July 11, 2010

Need A Job? Try Canada

I first visited Canada as child of about five with my mothers parents, crossing into Ontario near the Seaway Locks in northern New York. Later as a teenager I crossed the border with friends at Niagara Falls and visited the beautiful beaches on the north shore of Lake Erie. But I fully fell in love with Canada - and British Columbia in particular _ when my son (pictured in the photo above at Whistler) and I visited Vancouver, Whistler, Victoria and other parts of British Columbia in July, 2004. Not only is Canada relatively gay friendly - it's utopia compared to Virginia - but now, Canada has much more to offer economically. Canada - even tough far, far smaller than the USA - is producing more new jobs that the USA, but it also has a vibrant housing market. The loons of the far right and Christianist controlled GOP may malign Canada, but the USA has much it should learn from our neighbor to the north. I can honestly state that if our circumstances were different, Canada could well be a possible destination should we decide to emigrate. Here are highlights from a piece at Huffington Post:
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Stubbornly high unemployment rates got you down? Not sold on the economic recovery? Look no further than America's polite neighbor to the north, where jobs numbers are surging and home prices have been rising steadily for nearly a year.
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Last month, Canada, a nation with roughly one tenth of our population, created about 10,000 more new jobs than America.
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Yes, Canada's economic recovery is outpacing our own. In terms of sheer job creation, June saw Canada create jobs at a pace that was five times the rate predicted by economists, Bloomberg News reports. Canada added 93,200 jobs in June, while U.S. private employers added just 83,000.
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Thanks to strong hiring in the service sector, Canada's unemployment rate fell to 7.9 from 8.1 percent, while America's unemployment rate came in at 9.5 percent in June, falling only because of a large exodus of Americans looking for work.
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Canadian real estate broker Royal LePage predicts Canada's home prices could rise an average of 6.8 percent in 2010. Meanwhile, the IMF, though remaining relatively upbeat on the U.S. housing and job markets, warned that the foreclosure crisis could lead to a double-dip in home prices.
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With gay marriage rights - British Columbia was one of the first provinces to approve gay marriage - and a far more robust economy and tolerant society, Canada has far more to offer LGBT Americans that does the USA where religious based discrimination - even though unconstitutional under a straight forward reading of the Constitution - remains the norm in the majority of states.

3 comments:

Kyle J said...

Im glad you gave a stunning review of Canada!! As an American citizen myself, who has lived in Canada for the past year and a half with my husband, I know that this country has alot to offer. From the Mountains and waterfalls of B.C. to the great metropolitan cities of Toronto and Montreal, Canada does have alot to offer us Americans who are disenfranchised. Though I will have to go back to the backward state of Tennessee next year (im only up here on a study permit), Canada forever will be a place I can call home.

Michael-in-Norfolk said...

I love Canada. If we did not ave elderly parents, the boyfriend and I might welll consider a move to B.C. Canada is progressive, out performing the USA and isn't controlled by Christo-fascists like so many parts of the USA.

Michael-in-Norfolk said...

I love Canada. If we did not ave elderly parents, the boyfriend and I might welll consider a move to B.C. Canada is progressive, out performing the USA and isn't controlled by Christo-fascists like so many parts of the USA.